Module 1 – Background

A good place to start is a short video from Dr. DeRue from the University of Michigan as well as a short article from Marine Corps Gazette that will introduce you to some of the basic concepts from this module:

DeRue, S. (2015). Bases of power: Structural, personal, and cognitive. Retrieved from https://www.coursera.org/learn/influencing-people/lecture/Gt3Ht/01-07-bases-of-power-structural-personal-and-cognitive-part-1

 Anderson, D. A. (1998). Using power and influence tactics for better results. Marine Corps Gazette, 82(12), 37-38. Available from ProQuest in the Trident Online Library.

[Note: In general when looking up articles or books in the search engines start with just the title of the article rather than the whole reference. For better results, enter the following search term into the search engine. For example, Using power and influence tactics.]

Now take a closer look at source of power and influence tactics in the following two book chapter readings. The first book chapter is written by Dr. Fred Luthans of the University of Nebraska and the second book is by Tayla Bauer of Portland State University. They are both leading authorities on management and organizational behavior:

 Luthans, F., Luthans, K. W., & Luthans, B. C. (2015). Chapter 10: Power and Politics. Organizational behavior: An evidence-based approach. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, pp. 280-287. Available in the EBSCO eBook Collection in the Trident Online Library.

[Note: you don’t have to read the whole chapter above, just the first part on organizational power. You will be reading the last section on organizational politics for Module 2.

Also, when looking up books in eBook collections, don’t copy and paste the entire reference into the search engine. Instead, only include the name of the author and title of the book. For example, to find the above book, enter the following search terms into the search engine: Organizational Behavior: An Evidence-based Approach Luthans]

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Chapter 13.3: The power to influence. Organizational Behavior. Flatworld Knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Organizational%20Behavior.pdf

Finally, test your knowledge with the following tutorial which includes a quiz on some of the concepts from the module:

Power tactics. (2014). Pearson Learning Solutions. New York, NY.

Required Case Assignment Reading

Schulman, D. (2014, July). Koch vs. Koch. Mother Jones, 39(4), 16–27. Available in the Trident Online Library.

Tomsho, R. (1989, August 9). Blood feud: Koch family is roiled by sibling squabbling over its oil empire: Fired by his brother, William sues often, helps feds to probe Koch Industries, haling mother into court. Wall Street Journal [ProQuest]

Optional Reading

Pfeffer, J. (2010). Power play. Harvard Business Review, July-August, Vol 88 Issue 7/8, p. 85-92. [Business Source Complete]

Robbins, S. (1997). Chapter 11: Power and politics. Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Pearson Education, New York, NY. Retrieved from www.rim.edu.bt/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/OBCDCH116.pdf

Hellriegel, D. & Slocum, J. (2004). Chapter 9: Power and political behavior. Organizational Behavior 10th Edition. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Retrieved from http://www.swlearning.com/management/hellriegel/ob10e/isc/web_chapters/00-032C09.pdf

Haneberg L. (2012). Chapter 5: Positively using your power. The ASTD Management Development Handbook: Innovation for Today’s Manager. Alexandria, Va: American Society for Training & Development. [EBSCO eBook Collection]

For the Session Long Project this session you will be applying the concepts from the background materials to your own personal experiences in the workplace. You likely have experienced many if not all of the concepts at one point or another in your career, but you may not have been familiar with the precise terminology.

In preparation for the SLP, make sure you have a thorough grasp of the terminology from the background materials including the main sources of power and types of power tactics. Once you are comfortable with the terminology and concepts from the background materials, think of a manager that you worked with closely who held a fair amount of power at the organization you worked for. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing each of the following questions. For each answer, make sure to cite at least one reference from the required background readings.

1. What were this manager’s main sources of power? Include a discussion of reward power, legitimate power, and expert power as well as other sources of power discussed in the background readings.

2. Discuss some influence tactics used by this manager. Include a discussion about whether or not this manager used the influence tactics discussed in Anderson (1998) and Luthans et al. (2015) from the background materials.

3. Did this manager make good use of their sources of power and influence tactics, or did they misuse or abuse their power?

SLP Assignment Expectations

· Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

· Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.

· Make sure to cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the required background readings as your sources of information.

· Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations.

Could you be able to do this work according to my job. I could always adjust to whatever you give me.

The managers at my type of job on the rail road is called a Road Forman. They supervise all the Locomotive Engineers. One of the managers there is very knowledgeable and caring person. He knows all the jobs because he has done them as a locomotive engineer himself. He is a terrific contributor to Con Rail. He’s always there to answer any questions and always looking out for the guys.

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