Majority Influence Essay
INFLUENCES, POWER, AND LEADERSHIP LOS ANGELES SOUTHWEST COLLEGE DR. BETTYE FORD PSYCHOLOGY 43; # 0533 CHAPTERS 7-9 Majority Influence: The Power of the Many and the Few Power and Leadership Avie M. Johnstone
Majority Influence: The Power of the Many and the Few Aspects of social influence as such as majority influence and minority influence will be discussed in terms of their underlying psychological processes and how they differ. Majority influence or conformity refers to the desire to belong or to fit in within a particular group which involves adopting certain attributes, behavior and attitudes of a …show more content…
particular group. As a result individuals consequently experience group pressure. (Asch Experiment; Sept. 2011). Moreover, one study into majority influence was that of Asch’s. Asch devised a non ambiguous task and presented participants with a series of lines and the possible answers. All participants were confederates apart from one participant. Another limitation is that the study lacks vag as women tend to be more conformist than men therefore suggesting a gender difference in the way in which males and females respond to minority influence. An ethical issue present in the study was that participants were deceived and not fully informed about the nature of the study. In addition, the study lacks ecological validity. (Asch Experiment; Sept. 2011).
Power
Why is it that so many people obey when they feel coerced? Social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative even when acting against their own better judgment and desires. Participants demonstrated a range of negative emotions about continuing. Some pleaded with the learner, asking the actor to answer questions carefully. Others started to laugh nervously and act strangely in diverse ways. Some subjects appeared cold, hopeless, somber, or arrogant. (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009).
Obeyed but justified themselves. Some obedient participants gave up responsibility for their actions, blaming the experimenter. If anything had happened to the learner, they reasoned, it would have been the experimenter’s fault. Others had transferred the blame to the learner: "He was so stupid and stubborn he deserved to be shocked." (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009).
Obeyed but blamed themselves. Others felt badly about what they had done and were quite harsh on themselves. Members of this group would, perhaps, be more likely to challenge authority if confronted with a similar situation in the future. (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009).
Rebelled. Finally, rebellious subjects questioned the authority of the experimenter and argued there was a greater ethical imperative calling for the protection of the learner over the needs of the experimenter. Some of these individuals felt they were accountable to a higher authority. (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009). Power is the ability to influence others. One of the most influential theories of power comes from the work of French and Raven, who attempted to determine the sources of power leaders use to influence others. French and Raven identified five sources of power that can be grouped into two categories: organizational power, personal power. Generally, the personal sources of power are more strongly related to employee’s job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance than are the organizational power sources. (Luthans, F. (2011). One source of organizational power coercive power is negatively related to work outcomes. According to French and Raven, power must be distinguished from influence in the following way: power is that state of affairs which holds in a given relationship, A-B, such that a given influence attempt by An over B makes A 's desired change in B more likely. (Luthans, F. (2011). Conceived this way, power is fundamentally relative it depends on the specific understandings A and B each apply to their relationship, and, interestingly, requires B 's recognition of a quality in A which would motivate B to change in the way A intends. A must draw on the base or combination of bases of power appropriate to the relationship, to effect the desired outcome. Drawing on the wrong power base can have unintended effects, including a reduction in A 's own power. French and Raven argue that there are five significant categories of such qualities, while not excluding other minor categories. They are legitimate power, referent power, expert power, reward power, and coercive power. (Luthans, F. (2011). Implicit in these concerns is recognition that top managers, as organization’s major power holders, can abuse their positions in the pursuit of selfish goals that disadvantage shareholders and other stakeholders. A theory that suggests that power can influence the cognitions of power holders is metamorphic theory of power. (Luthans, F. (2011). Top dyad 's power, and hence their exposure to potential metamorphic effects, is assessed by five proxy variables such as tenure within the top job and organizational insider versus outsider status, while values are measured by counting word frequencies in organizational documents. We find that top dyad characteristics and values expressed in organizational documents are associated, and that the associations broadly conform to predictions derived from the metamorphic theory of power. Implications for corporate governance and potential improvements in the study design are discussed. (Luthans, F. (2011).
Leadership
Leadership development programs are a good investment for companies and individuals alike. If you are in a decision making position in the company, invest in or encourage your colleagues to invest in leadership development for employees. Leaders and followers do completely different things. Rather, leaders and followers must be work together toward a common goal. Nobody leads without the consent of the followers. In some cases, "followers" work together as "co-leaders," meaning they operate via democracy or consensus toward meeting common goals. Skills such as communication and acceptance of responsibility are important for those in both leadership and followership roles. (David Kipnis, 1990). Leaders and Managers Need Different Skill Sets? Wrong again! one theory is that leaders are innovators and managers are good at overseeing mundane tasks. That may have been true at one time, but in today 's work environment, successful leaders and managers are using the same skill sets. They both set the direction and tone of the workplace; keep the group focused on the common goal, and serve as role models for the rest of the crew. They must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills in order to keep everyone on track and ameliorate any problems that may crop up. Leaders and managers both need to be motivators. (David Kipnis, 1990). The Fiedler Contingency Model was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler, a scientist who studied the personality and characteristics of leaders. The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader 's effectiveness is based on the situation. This is the result of two factors "leadership style" and "situational favorableness" later called "situational control". Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called Least-Preferred Co-Worker. (David Kipnis, 1990). John Adair believed that to be an effective leader, you need to be aware of leadership in three areas: the task, the individual and the team, as shown in the circle here. Each circle overlaps and influences the other. A good leader recognizes that a healthy interaction between the team, the task and the individual is vital. So for example, if a team is working on a project, then the leader thinks about three aspects task, team and individual. (David Kipnis, 1990).
A Participative Leader, rather than taking autocratic decisions, seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinates, peers, superiors and other stakeholders. Often, however, as it is within the managers ' whim to give or deny control to his or her subordinates, most participative activity is within the immediate team. There level of participation depends on the type of decision being made. (David Kipnis, 1990). Decisions on how to implement goals may be highly participative, whilst decisions during subordinate performance evaluations are more likely to be taken by the manager. Transformational leadership may be found at all levels of the organization: teams, departments, divisions, and organization as a whole. Such leaders are visionary, inspiring, daring, risk takers, and thoughtful thinkers. They have a charismatic appeal. (David Kipnis, 1990). The dual challenges of understanding the nature of leadership development and implementing effective leadership development practices will likely be greater than ever before.
At the same time, we find ourselves guardedly optimistic about the field’s future. Our optimism is directly tied to some of the trends that make the future both challenging and interesting. For example, leadership development practices will need to become better integrated in the broader context of organizational business challenges and systems. (David Kipnis, 1990).
REFERENCES:
Asch Experiment - Conformity in Groups." The Scientific Method, Science, Research and Experiments. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. <http://www.experiment-resources.com/asch-experiment.htm
Group Dynamics.(March 19, 2009). Donelson R. Forsyth. Power
Luthans, F. (2011). Organizational behavior (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw - Hill Irwin.
The Metamorphic Effects of Power (1990). David Kipnis. Technology and Power; Pages pp 37-50/ DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-3294-0_3; ISBN 978-0-387-97082-0; Springer New
York.
Majority Influence: The Power of the Many and the Few Aspects of social influence as such as majority influence and minority influence will be discussed in terms of their underlying psychological processes and how they differ. Majority influence or conformity refers to the desire to belong or to fit in within a particular group which involves adopting certain attributes, behavior and attitudes of a …show more content…
particular group. As a result individuals consequently experience group pressure. (Asch Experiment; Sept. 2011). Moreover, one study into majority influence was that of Asch’s. Asch devised a non ambiguous task and presented participants with a series of lines and the possible answers. All participants were confederates apart from one participant. Another limitation is that the study lacks vag as women tend to be more conformist than men therefore suggesting a gender difference in the way in which males and females respond to minority influence. An ethical issue present in the study was that participants were deceived and not fully informed about the nature of the study. In addition, the study lacks ecological validity. (Asch Experiment; Sept. 2011).
Power
Why is it that so many people obey when they feel coerced? Social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative even when acting against their own better judgment and desires. Participants demonstrated a range of negative emotions about continuing. Some pleaded with the learner, asking the actor to answer questions carefully. Others started to laugh nervously and act strangely in diverse ways. Some subjects appeared cold, hopeless, somber, or arrogant. (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009).
Obeyed but justified themselves. Some obedient participants gave up responsibility for their actions, blaming the experimenter. If anything had happened to the learner, they reasoned, it would have been the experimenter’s fault. Others had transferred the blame to the learner: "He was so stupid and stubborn he deserved to be shocked." (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009).
Obeyed but blamed themselves. Others felt badly about what they had done and were quite harsh on themselves. Members of this group would, perhaps, be more likely to challenge authority if confronted with a similar situation in the future. (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009).
Rebelled. Finally, rebellious subjects questioned the authority of the experimenter and argued there was a greater ethical imperative calling for the protection of the learner over the needs of the experimenter. Some of these individuals felt they were accountable to a higher authority. (Donelson R. Forsyth; 2009). Power is the ability to influence others. One of the most influential theories of power comes from the work of French and Raven, who attempted to determine the sources of power leaders use to influence others. French and Raven identified five sources of power that can be grouped into two categories: organizational power, personal power. Generally, the personal sources of power are more strongly related to employee’s job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance than are the organizational power sources. (Luthans, F. (2011). One source of organizational power coercive power is negatively related to work outcomes. According to French and Raven, power must be distinguished from influence in the following way: power is that state of affairs which holds in a given relationship, A-B, such that a given influence attempt by An over B makes A 's desired change in B more likely. (Luthans, F. (2011). Conceived this way, power is fundamentally relative it depends on the specific understandings A and B each apply to their relationship, and, interestingly, requires B 's recognition of a quality in A which would motivate B to change in the way A intends. A must draw on the base or combination of bases of power appropriate to the relationship, to effect the desired outcome. Drawing on the wrong power base can have unintended effects, including a reduction in A 's own power. French and Raven argue that there are five significant categories of such qualities, while not excluding other minor categories. They are legitimate power, referent power, expert power, reward power, and coercive power. (Luthans, F. (2011). Implicit in these concerns is recognition that top managers, as organization’s major power holders, can abuse their positions in the pursuit of selfish goals that disadvantage shareholders and other stakeholders. A theory that suggests that power can influence the cognitions of power holders is metamorphic theory of power. (Luthans, F. (2011). Top dyad 's power, and hence their exposure to potential metamorphic effects, is assessed by five proxy variables such as tenure within the top job and organizational insider versus outsider status, while values are measured by counting word frequencies in organizational documents. We find that top dyad characteristics and values expressed in organizational documents are associated, and that the associations broadly conform to predictions derived from the metamorphic theory of power. Implications for corporate governance and potential improvements in the study design are discussed. (Luthans, F. (2011).
Leadership
Leadership development programs are a good investment for companies and individuals alike. If you are in a decision making position in the company, invest in or encourage your colleagues to invest in leadership development for employees. Leaders and followers do completely different things. Rather, leaders and followers must be work together toward a common goal. Nobody leads without the consent of the followers. In some cases, "followers" work together as "co-leaders," meaning they operate via democracy or consensus toward meeting common goals. Skills such as communication and acceptance of responsibility are important for those in both leadership and followership roles. (David Kipnis, 1990). Leaders and Managers Need Different Skill Sets? Wrong again! one theory is that leaders are innovators and managers are good at overseeing mundane tasks. That may have been true at one time, but in today 's work environment, successful leaders and managers are using the same skill sets. They both set the direction and tone of the workplace; keep the group focused on the common goal, and serve as role models for the rest of the crew. They must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills in order to keep everyone on track and ameliorate any problems that may crop up. Leaders and managers both need to be motivators. (David Kipnis, 1990). The Fiedler Contingency Model was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler, a scientist who studied the personality and characteristics of leaders. The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader 's effectiveness is based on the situation. This is the result of two factors "leadership style" and "situational favorableness" later called "situational control". Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called Least-Preferred Co-Worker. (David Kipnis, 1990). John Adair believed that to be an effective leader, you need to be aware of leadership in three areas: the task, the individual and the team, as shown in the circle here. Each circle overlaps and influences the other. A good leader recognizes that a healthy interaction between the team, the task and the individual is vital. So for example, if a team is working on a project, then the leader thinks about three aspects task, team and individual. (David Kipnis, 1990).
A Participative Leader, rather than taking autocratic decisions, seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinates, peers, superiors and other stakeholders. Often, however, as it is within the managers ' whim to give or deny control to his or her subordinates, most participative activity is within the immediate team. There level of participation depends on the type of decision being made. (David Kipnis, 1990). Decisions on how to implement goals may be highly participative, whilst decisions during subordinate performance evaluations are more likely to be taken by the manager. Transformational leadership may be found at all levels of the organization: teams, departments, divisions, and organization as a whole. Such leaders are visionary, inspiring, daring, risk takers, and thoughtful thinkers. They have a charismatic appeal. (David Kipnis, 1990). The dual challenges of understanding the nature of leadership development and implementing effective leadership development practices will likely be greater than ever before.
At the same time, we find ourselves guardedly optimistic about the field’s future. Our optimism is directly tied to some of the trends that make the future both challenging and interesting. For example, leadership development practices will need to become better integrated in the broader context of organizational business challenges and systems. (David Kipnis, 1990).
REFERENCES:
Asch Experiment - Conformity in Groups." The Scientific Method, Science, Research and Experiments. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. <http://www.experiment-resources.com/asch-experiment.htm
Group Dynamics.(March 19, 2009). Donelson R. Forsyth. Power
Luthans, F. (2011). Organizational behavior (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw - Hill Irwin.
The Metamorphic Effects of Power (1990). David Kipnis. Technology and Power; Pages pp 37-50/ DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-3294-0_3; ISBN 978-0-387-97082-0; Springer New
York.