Power and influence are two cardinal ingredients that are instrumental to leaders in an organization. Power denotes the ability to influence decisions or actions that are undertaken by various individuals in the organization. This means that an agent has substantial control over what the target undertakes. On the other hand, influence is personal in nature. This means that a person can have immense influence over a leader regardless of his or her position in the organization. Therefore, influence is more superior to the power. In many organizations, these two concept play a big role in shaping the direction in which policies and measures adopted will take the company. For example, if the CEO or the Board of Directors have a lot of power or influence over others members, then most of the decisions adopted by the company will originate from him. However, if a certain personal has significant influence over the CEO, then it will be easier for him to influence which direction the company goes.
The Restview case study illustrates this point clearly. Mary was the assigned project manager to ensure that investigations were conducted to find out the best billing software for the company. Therefore, she was supposed to work in a professional manner and inform the CEO and the board of directors on the most ideal software. She did her work meticulous by collecting data from relevant sources about the most competent software companies. She interviewed their various salespersons and settled on Reliable computers. In her capacity as project manager, she went further to prepared a comprehensive report and make a recommendation on why Reliable Computers was the ideal choice for the organization.
However, Mary not only had significantly less influence over the chairman, but also had less positional power. Her persuasive power was also less significant. She tried to demonstrate to him the software from Standard computers was faulty without success. In fact, the Jack had significant positional power and influence over her. He coerced her into including Standard Computers into the list of bidding companies without her will. She failed to convince Jack that despite the fact that he was friends with the appropriators of Standard Computers, such a business deal would prove costly to the organization. The fact that the board adopted Jack’s proposal despite Mary’s report demonstrating that it was the less effective software illustrates his influence in the company.
My role as the O/I consultant is to persuade beyond a reasonable doubt, the CEO and the Board of Directors that the software from Reliable Computers is ideal for the organization. In order to achieve this underlying objective, it is critical for me to exert expert power over the CEO and the board of directors. I will have to work closely with Mary as the project manager. She has already carried out a comprehensive research that has revealed the merits and demerits of all the top considered companies. The principal strategy that I will employ in order to ensure that I influence the decisions adopted by the organization is by demonstrating expert power. This is because Mary and I do not have positional power. Therefore, we must strive to have personal power. We can only achieve this through task-relevant knowledge, experience, expertise and skills. This is a recognized significant source of personal influence in an organization. I need to help Mary demonstrated to Jack and the entire Board of Directors that it is only her and myself that have the competency and capacity to determine the right software to be used for billing. It will be vital to demonstrate to her superiors that they are dependent on her for crucial advice. For example, it will prudent to indicate that if the board had relied on her initial report recommending Reliable Computers to supply the software millions of dollars would have been saved. This will increase the trust that her superiors have over her and, in turn, increasing her influence over them significantly. However, it will not be enough for her to only demonstrate that she is an expert in software procurement. She has to build her reputation and demeanor as a reliable person and source of advice. For example, I will use the interviews that she had earlier conducted to illustrate that her recommendation to buy the software from Reliable Computers was influenced by empirical research rather than friendly ties.
There are significant differences between leadership influence and consultant influence upon a leader. A consultant has to have informational and expert influence while a leader may simply have positional power to influence another leader. A consultant only advises a leader. In order for his advises a leader. On the other hand, leadership influence can be coercive rather than persuasive.
Therefore in order to succeed as an O/I consultant it will be vital to list my objectives. This will be done once the person seeking consultation has indicated what area they need help. My objectives will be to ensure that the leader achieves their goals. I will then ask for a suggestion from the leader on how to tackle the situation. I will carefully examine all the available option. To achieve this, I will conduct my own interviews of all the salesmen. I will also conduct an investigation in all other hospitals that are currently using all the available software. I will prepare my report and compare it with that from Mary. I will then draft recommendations on how to ameliorate the process. This will be in the form of a tentative proposal to Mary, Jack and the Board. It will also be extremely vital to involve all parties, if available, in the procurement process. Each board member needs to make an informed decision; therefore, I will send the each one of them a copy of the recommendations report. Moreover, it will be vital to seek leave of the CEO to present the facts to the board members in summary form.
However, there are missteps that can lead to failure. It is crucial to have the right attitude and behavior when dealing with leaders. A consultant should ensure they respond to all real or perceived concerns that any party may be having. It will also be prudent to involve them in the entire decision making. Failure to do this will make them view the decision as foreign and develop a negative attitude towards it. Lack of planning can also be a cause of failure. It is critical to plan the whole process and ensure transparency. Lack of critical information, expertise, experience or skills can also make the leaders lose trust in a person and thus reject their proposals.
References
Nahavandi, A. (2009). The art and science of leadership (5th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Gill, R. (2006). Theory and practice of leadership. Chicago: Sage.
Griffin, R. W. (2011). Fundamentals of Management. New York: Cengage Learning.
Yulk, G. (2010). Chapter 6: Power and Influence. In Leadership in Organizations, Seventh Edition. New York: Pearson Education.
