How — and Why — People Lose Power: Studies of the effects of power on the power holder consistently find that power produces overconfidence and risk taking, insensitivity to others, stereotyping and a tendency to see other people as a means to the power holder’s gratification. In a study all too reminiscent of what goes on in workplaces every day, David Kipnis put research participants in a simulated work situation with a subordinate. Some people in the managerial role had little formal control over resources and had to influence through persuasion, while others were given the power to reward and punish those working for them. The more control participants had over levers of power such as pay increases or decreases, the more attempts they made to influence their subordinates. Moreover, those with more power came to see their subordinates’ job performance as resulting from their control and less from the efforts or motivation of those they were supervising. And because the supervisors with power saw themselves as superior to those they were supervising, they evidenced less desire to spend time with their subordinates and wanted to distance themselves from those less powerful — even though in this experimental study who was a supervisor and how much power that person had was randomly determined and temporary. (Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t )
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 04:57:14 +0000
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