Psych 185S Term Paper Final PDF

Preview

Summary

Final Paper...

Description

POWER

1

Power Distribution and Work Outcomes Justin Virzi University of California-Irvine

●

12. Discuss differences in power distribution in organizations, the influence of power on work outcomes, and ways to increase power in work situations.

https://vpn.nacs.uci.edu/ +CSCO+0h75676763663A2F2F66726E6570752E63656264687266672E70627A+ +/psycinfo/docview/763257494/abstract/25412E6DA46642A5PQ/43?accountid=14509

POWER

2 Introduction

Power is a necessary tool to motivate people to act in the workplace. The power dynamic in the workplace is fundamental to understanding work behavior. Without having the ability to exercise power, managers and employees would have a difficult time accomplishing their goals. The use of power can be very impactful on a worker’s experience as an employee. The relationship an individual builds and knowledge the individual possesses are just some of the means an individual can utilize to compel others to achieve certain objectives that the organization has. Power is apparent is most social settings. Work-Related Experience I worked a medium-sized law firm in Orange County as a part-time legal assistant. It was a growing firm that went from 5 to 25 employees over the course of a year. My ranking in the firm was the lowest because even my co-workers with the same job title as me were fulltime employees and have been in the firm longer than I have. I had many superiors, but the one that I was in contact with was the office manager. Although she was nice and helpful, there were a few problems that occured during my employment at the workplace. There were a few components that the firm lacked such as a Human Resources department and new-employee training system. Job ambiguity also negatively impacted my job satisfaction. One aspect of my experience that I would like to highlight my power, or lack thereof, in the workplace was a large part of my dissatisfaction. My desk was in the hallway because the firm did not have the space for me to have my own desk as only the full-time employees, which was everyone, but me. In addition, all of the noise from everyone else working distracted me frequently. It was also the furthest away from

POWER

3

the rest of my co-workers and my office manager, so as a result, it was more difficult and intimidating to ask for help. The culture shock alone was enough for me to be very uncomfortable. The office manager as well as my other superiors did not do much to help with my discomfort due to budgeting issues. However, it seemed to me that I was the only one suffering from these financial restrictions. It was not very inspirational to go above and beyond in my work because my power in this workplace environment was limited. My co-workers did not show me any empathize with me because they were too concerned with completing their own work tasks. There were some complaints from my co-workers about their jobs, but it was not often or specific to their position. The power hierarchical structure of the firm was relatively flat: lawyers, office manager, case managers, and then legal assistants. The majority of the workers were case managers. I/O Theory from Book The origin of my real-life work-related problem was my lack of power in the organization. Riggio identifies five bases of power an individual can have: coercive, legitimate, referent, reward, and expert (2017). These were originally identified by John R. P. French and Bertram Raven. We can examine each of these bases in the workplace environment. Legitimate power is the formal authority or rights a person has over another. For example, a supervisor has legitimate power over a regular employee. Coercive power is the ability to punish or threaten others. This can take shape in the form of demoting or firing an employee. A person with high referent power is one who is respected, admired, and liked. This is when someone does another person a favor because that person likes the other. Reward power is the ability to give rewards

POWER

4

or positive incentives, such as bonuses. Expert or knowledge power is an individual’s workrelated knowledge or skill that one possesses. An individual can have one or more of these bases that he/she can draw power from. Consequently, the more power bases a person can utilize, the more powerful the person is (Riggio, 2017). People have to be careful with exercising their power, however, due to the power collary. This is the idea that when the a person exerts power on another, the other person will respond with power. For example, if a manager exercises coercive power, it decreases the manager’s reverent power because people do not like being punished and will be less likely to willing do something for the manager. Problem Related Scientific Research The purpose of this empirical study was to determine whether equality or differentiation in power is more effective in group function. In this study, Greer and van Kleef (2010) was attempting to make sense of paradoxical conclusions about power dispersion and conflict resolution . Power dispersion refers to relative differences in power between individuals and conflict resolution is defined as the ability to overcome perceived incompatibilities within the group. This study references other studies analyzing similar questions that resulted in different conclusions. One study concluded that high dispersion could create a helpful heuristic for the group to have a mediator. Another study concluded that high power dispersion could create a sense of inequity and injustice within the group which is detrimental to the group. So, Greer and van Kleef concluded that conflict resolution is critical indicator to the overall success of the group (2010). Although this study recognizes the five bases of power, it is important define power in

POWER

5

this case as legitimate power or authority. The hypothesis was that the average power of the whole group would be the predictor of whether power dispersion would be facilitate or hinder group function. The independent variables were average group power and power dispersion. The dependent variable was conflict resolution. When individuals who have low power on average, power dispersion was positively correlated with conflict resolution. These findings suggest that power hierarchies serve an important function for conflict mediation between low power individuals. However, when individuals with high power on average, power dispersion was negatively correlated with conflict resolution. This means that people with high power prefer a more equally shared leadership dynamic than a hierarchical power structure. Therefore, these findings support the hypothesis and show that the relative predictability is determined by the average power of the individuals in the group. ● Describing an article related to their topic ● Briefly describing the methodology & findings of the study ● This means that the article will have a methods section and a results section, given that the authors collected data. Resolution of the Problem ● Be sure to tie your solution(s) back to the book AND back to the article (in other words, see if you can get at least one solution based on what the book says and at least one solution based on what the article says). ● Next, in your own words, describe how you would solve the real-life work problem that you discussed in the first section of the paper. Imagine that you are an industrial/organizational consultant who has been asked to step in and solve the

POWER

6

problem/case study that you described. That is, based upon what you have learned from reading the text, from attending classes, and from reading the article you selected, what steps would you take to solve this specific problem? Although the study acknowledges my perspective of being intimidated, the evidence suggests that power differentiation should be positively correlated with conflict resolution. Since a group with individuals of low power on average seem to benefit the heuristic of a hierarchy, conflict resolution should be facilitated. A conclusion that can be drawn from these findings is that flatter hierarchical, such as my workplace, would have a more difficult time managing conflict because the

Riggio (2010) suggests that there are ways to increase power such as by forming a coalition, developing a relationship with a higher-ranking member, and gaining work-related expertise or knowledge.

Expert power is related to effective job performance. Exercising coercive power causes a negative perception of the power wielder. Every action has a reaction and this is true with the exercise of power. Final Paper due to the Canvas dropbox and to turnitin.com by 11pm on Sunday, June 2nd

FINAL GRADING RUBRIC (60 points) College-Level Writing (10 points) ● Reference(s) cited in the body of the paper (and are in APA style): 2 points Journal Article (4 points)

POWER

7

● Journal article is a published, empirical journal article with a method and results section: 2 points COMMON ERRORS TO AVOID General APA formatting ● Seeing as you are summarizing information from your textbook, your textbook should be cited in the body of the text; this will look something like: According to Riggio (2017),…. OR Stress is prevalent in many workplaces (Riggio, 2017). I/O Theory (From your book) ● For the purposes of this paper, it is only necessary to cite the book once per paragraph. ● Be sure to include some possible causes of the problem as stated in your text. ● This means that the article will have a methods section and a results section, given that the authors collected data. ● If describing an experiment or quasi-experiment, be sure to indicate what the independent variable(s) and the dependent variable(s) are. ● Be sure to indicate what type of study you are describing (experimental, correlational/observational, or meta-analysis) and describe a bit about the methodology (what did they do in the study)? ● Be sure to indicate what the findings/results of the study were and whether the hypotheses were supported. ● Always include the year after the authors when citing a source. Overall writing quality

POWER

8

● Read the chapters in Elements of Style concerning use of commas and other grammar tips (http://www.bartleby.com/141/), and then proofread your own paper with those rules in mind

References Greer, L. L., & van Kleef, G. A. (2010). Equality versus differentiation: The effects of power dispersion on group interaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(6), 1032-1044. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0020373 Riggio, R. E. (2018). Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

POWER

9...