Exam 10: Power and Influence in the Workplace

When the issue is extremely important to listeners,the speaker's personal characteristics are more important than the message content in persuading listeners.

Commitment typically results when people are influenced using which power bases?

As organizations rely increasingly on knowledge rather than on machines and physical resources as the means of production,employees:

In organizational settings,power is defined as:

Employees with low power distance are more likely to comply with legitimate power.

In most countries,a national accounting profession controls access to the profession while legislation prevents anyone other than its members from auditing public corporations.These conditions increase the accounting profession's power through which of the following?

A bread products manufacturer relies on maintenance employees to keep its rather old production equipment operating.Whenever the equipment breaks down,the maintenance team is able to repair the equipment quickly.However,they are less effective at avoiding these breakdowns and cannot predict when the equipment will break down.The maintenance group has modified the equipment over the years and,in any event,the manufacturer of the production equipment is no longer in business.The maintenance employees teach each other how to repair the equipment,but have refused to document any of this information (saying that it is too difficult to document these details).The company owner has thought about firing the maintenance staff unless they document the maintenance procedures,but realizes that there is no one else who can repair the equipment.Discuss the sources and contingencies of power among the maintenance employees in this situation.

Playing the "face game" instead of working productively behind closed doors is a strategy for gaining increased visibility at work.

Which of the following is NOT a distinct source of power?

Until recently,a large sales organization gave supervisors all key information for further distribution to their employees.But with the introduction of a company intranet and other information technologies,this information is now mostly available directly to employees.By distributing corporate information directly to employees rather than through their supervisors,the company has:

Establishing a free flow of information and using effective change management practices help to minimize organizational politics.

Which of these sources of power originates mainly from the person rather than the position?

By engaging successfully in networking,employees increase their:

Organizational politics may be reduced by:

People who have expertise tend to have more influence using persuasion.

The CEO of a large organization once commented how,earlier in his career,he rented expensive artwork and displayed it in his office.'Top management would drop by my office and immediately get a sense that I was sophisticated and professional',the CEO explained.'I believe the artwork helped me get promoted.' The artwork helped this executive gain power:

Which of the following is considered a "hard" influence tactic?

Organizational politics can result in lower job satisfaction,and high levels of work-related stress.

Which of the following statements about countervailing power in organizational relationships is TRUE?

'Soft' influence tactics such as persuasion tend to build compliance rather than commitment to the influencer's request.