Enterprise Management: It Is A Great Taboo For Managers To Regard Management Power As A Means Of Giving Orders

　 power The rational use of human beings is one of the most fundamental and controversial topics. Power embodies the most shining and despicable side of human nature. People who hold power and are subject to power will have the most instinctive complex taste. Leaders can mobilize subordinates for personal or collective interests. They can enhance or destroy potential. How to better use power? I hope today's article can give you inspiration.

The traditional definition of power is to control others, but this is not the best strategy, or even a strategy. Most leaders will find that the effective exercise of power has never been straightforward. Power is often not the most effective way to exert influence. In the face of the following situations: when there are disputes about the enterprise's forward route or whether it needs to change, when actively looking for new opportunities rather than busy fighting the fire, when the authoritative opinions may be ambiguous or controversial, and cross departmental cooperation is needed, leaders should adopt different ways. For decades, we have come up with a way to use power: to mobilize the energy and enthusiasm of others beyond management control. Our power model focuses on three core dimensions: context, relationship and dynamics. Your depth in these three aspects determines the effectiveness of your work.

The situational attribute of power

　　 leader Power is often seen as pure personal competence, which comes from previous positions and titles, qualifications, skills and experience, and from the information, reputation and charisma, resilience and energy they possess. But power also comes from and depends on situational factors such as goal, environment and power cornerstone. Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at Stanford University, found that the main reason why leaders cannot fully exercise their power is that they fail to find and cultivate other sources of influence besides official appointment and personal charm. We suggest the following steps to find and deploy situational sources of power. think broadly about the change you're looking forward to. Consider the nature of your goal first. For example, are you promoting structural change or optimizing existing processes? Are you dealing with crises or advancing new projects? And then think about how to achieve this by mobilizing the energy and enthusiasm of others. In addition to asking yourself why this goal is so important to you, ask why it is important to colleagues, the company and society. Only by thoroughly understanding these problems can you acquire the emotional elements needed to win over others' body and mind, and accumulate the resilience and energy needed for future work. In this situation, people tend to unify their own passion and power if they need to. turn hidden roadblocks into advantages. A lot of people believe that the world is fair, pay as much as you get. But this perception may become an obstacle to the effective development and use of power. MIT professor Emilio Castilla's research on the so-called elite management paradox shows that if the environment only focuses on who pays the most, there will be more bias. Situational power first needs to recognize that working harder and being smarter often doesn't "earn" results. Leaders who want to get results should evaluate the situation with trusted colleagues and stakeholders to find blind spots. How does your goal fit into the current situation? Why has the problem you want to solve not been solved before, or why your innovation project has not been realized before? What are the obstacles along the way? Don't be limited to titles and qualifications. Kathleen and her colleagues, one of the authors of this paper, studied the formal positions and identities of successful business leaders and entrepreneurs, and how they can help leaders achieve their goals. One executive said his motivation to enter business school at the age of 40 was: "to join the ranks of executives, you have to speak the jargon Going to the best business school and doing well can help you gain credibility. " Titles and qualifications may earn you a place, but they're not enough for the effective exercise of power.

The relation attribute of power

In addition to personal characteristics and organizational context factors, it is you and others that influence power interaction 。 The alliances you make can provide you with support, advice, information and resources. Relationships that you ignore or ignore may trigger potential conflicts. There are several steps you can take to develop a relationship. Analyze the situation. Think about who can help you realize your idea, and analyze potential allies, opponents, etc. who may influence the plan. This will help you understand your colleagues' positions and priorities, identify problems that actually exist or are likely to be opposed, and small groups that may hinder or support your plan. Ask yourself, what influence resources can I use to mobilize other people's participation? How to judge the effect? ; gain insight from key parties and cooperate to create solutions. It helped a pediatrician at a large hospital in New England. "I tend to come up with ideas that I think are good and then think about whether others can accept them," she says. "But that doesn't make a difference: there's resistance, both overt and covert. Now, I'm going to spend a lot of time with other people to create solutions We want to make sure that we have enough resources to help doctors and nurses get on board, and we have the support of the leading doctors and head nurses in implementing this somewhat radical new process. The hospital can't refuse. " One of the authors, Elizabeth, found that executives and entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of putting ideas before people. Instead, leaders may find that they don't have to rely on personal influence to solve problems. Cultivate reciprocity and interdependence. Pfeiffer said that when leaders evaluate power, they should sort out the dependence relationship. Who depends on you? Who do you rely on? Who controls the company's resources, and why? Your position in the resource flow may be as important as a formal title. By controlling and creating the resources needed by others, you can accumulate authoritative influence. The less alternative resources you control, the more power you have. But inevitably, sometimes you rely more on others than on you. The goal at this time is to find ways to create value for the other party and increase his dependence on you. take advantage of other people's relationships. Sociologist Ron Burt has found that relational power often comes from the use of relationships between others, which may require some skills. Although leaders can use information gap strategically to obtain information and value from others, this method may damage trust and professionalism. In her years of research on global music industry leaders, Elizabeth found that to put a good idea into practice, she needs to find a strategic opportunity and way to bring people together. make a wise trade-off. So, what kind of relationship and how often we need to invest. Herminia Ibarra of London Business School found that successful professionals need two types of relationships: supportive relationships that provide workplace information, support and resources, and supportive relationships that provide social emotional support and reliable high-quality feedback based on personal trust. It is particularly important to balance the two relationships when there is uncertainty and pressure to wait for a promotion or to implement a new project.

The dynamic attribute of power

Many leaders have a static view of power: once they have influence, they assume they are ready to use it. However, our research shows that leaders must constantly adapt to changes in organizational and social systems in order to maintain power. The influence strategy that applies to the moment may not work tomorrow. To keep up with the pace, try the following methods. pause, reflect and change direction. Both entrepreneurs and innovators know that the process of product or service's coming out is not linear, and it should be constantly modified to reflect the new perspective, feedback and change of competition or technology. The same is true of power: sometimes the best way to use power is to postpone decisions, reconsider in the light of new information or changing situations, and revise the direction ahead. There are also times when the wisest choice is to leave and improve before starting. In such cases, it is important to think creatively about how to attract target customers in new ways. the advantage was gained by experiment. Every new stage and new task in the career will bring new power environment and new ways to gain influence. Many successful leaders try different ways under similar conditions through formal and informal experiments and observe the ways of others. Although your ultimate goal may be to bring about significant change, the best way to start using power is to "let go.". And share your small successes. Give opponents time to think about it. People will adapt to the distribution of power in the organization, and they are more accustomed to helping and loyal to people they know well, thus hindering new leaders. In this case, the way we mentioned earlier will have its place. It can help you refer to the experience of your predecessor. Is this leader effectively managed? Is your power base similar or different? Who are the key intermediaries in your organization and how do you build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with them? New leaders should understand that it takes time for people to transfer loyalty.

Let power work

According to psychologist herb Kelman, there are three kinds of social influence: compliance, identity and internalization. The power with the goal of compliance will affect people's behavior in a certain period and a certain situation. It needs to rely on formal means such as policy, practice and guiding principles. The power with identity as the goal is more lasting and relies on the trust of leaders rather than rules. Leaders need to gain the trust of followers by elaborating the vision and goal, and connecting the vision and goal with the expected results of followers. It comes from leaders' stories about themselves. power aimed at internalization relies on corporate stories, perhaps changing the language, norms, culture and beliefs that have been used for a long time. This form of power is the most subtle and effective. Employees may not even realize that they are affected. Symbolism and visualization are the key factors in the formation of internalization. They can influence the way information and events are understood and played. Homer and Steve jobs are masters in this field. power appears and disappears, which makes people covet, gives people strength and is despised. Power embodies the most shining and despicable side of human nature. People who hold power and are subject to power will have the most instinctive complex taste. The rational use of power is one of the most fundamental and controversial topics of human beings. Leaders can mobilize subordinates for personal or collective interests. They can enhance or destroy potential. If we want to make better use of power, we need to carefully analyze the expected and unexpected effects of influence, and pay equal attention to the way and conclusion.