power styles

The characteristic ways in which different managers attempt to influence the behaviour of employees and others, overcome resistance, and acheive their goals. Power styles can be characterized as either competitive or collective.

• Impression management is a competitive power style in which information is controlled and manipulated in order to influence peoples' attitudes to events, policies, or personalities. This reliance on presentaion and 'spin' may at times amount to actual deceit.

• Consensus and charismatic power styles are forms of the collective use of power. The consensus power style involves participative decision making and joint problem solving, whereas the charismatic style makes use of the manager's personality to inspire the members of an organization to work together for a common purpose (see charismatic leader; transformational leadership).

• A transactional power style involves the use of negotiation and contingent reinforcement (rewards and penalties) to influence others; it can be either competitive or collective, depending on the decision maker. Cooperation is needed for any transaction to take place: if that transaction involves the use and allocation of scarce resources it could become very competitive. See transactional leadership See also leadership style; sources of power