Lesson 7 Wrap-Up

In this lesson, we discussed the interaction of power and leadership. We differentiated between power and influence. Power is the capacity to cause change and influence is the degree of actual change in attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. Furthermore, influence tactics are one person’s actual behaviors designed to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors.

We also discussed sources of power. Power can be communicated in many ways, from the way an office is designed to the type of clothes that an individual is wearing. There are five types of power that an individual can display: expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. Using each of these types of power has pros and cons. Leaders and follower utilize different types of power in different situations.

People vary in their personal motivation to have or wield power. Some people are high in need for power and high in motivation to lead, while others are low. There are two types of need for power: need for personal power and need for socialized power.

Leaders and followers use a number of influence tactics in order to influence behavior. These tactics include: rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, ingratiation, personal appeals, exchange, coalition tactics, pressure tactics, and legitimizing tactics.

Finally, knowledge of some basic human tendencies can allow a person to use social influence. The 6 principles are: liking, social proof, commitment and consistency, authority, scarcity, and reciprocity. Uses these principles can trigger automatic behaviors in others to comply with requests.