PSY 365 Module 7 Power, Influence and Ethics Analysis example

Power, Pressure and a Scanning Shortcut: An Analysis of Influence at a Parcel Depot

[Student Name]

Southern New Hampshire University

PSY 365: Leadership and Motivation in the Workplace

Module Seven Assignment

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[Date]

The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.

Power, Pressure and a Scanning Shortcut: An Analysis of Influence at a Parcel Depot

The Situation

Saturday delivery had been running for six weeks at Marcus Hale's depot, a composite operation in central Pennsylvania, when the regional office sent a message to all depot managers: Saturday on-time performance across the region was below the 95 percent target, and depots under 90 percent would be reviewed. Marcus's depot was at 88 percent, mostly because new residential routes produce more missed deliveries. In a planning meeting, a senior dispatcher pointed out that some depots were having drivers scan difficult packages as "customer not available" at the start of a route and return them unattempted, which counts as a timely exception rather than a late delivery. The dispatcher did not recommend it but said, "That's how the others are getting to 95." The situation involves power, influence and ethics at once, and this paper examines each.

Marcus's Power

French and Raven (1959) described five bases of social power. Table 1 applies them to Marcus and notes how each has shifted since his promotion.

Table 1

Marcus Hale's Bases of Power

Note. Composite analysis based on interviews and observation.

What the Power Profile Means

Marcus's position gives him legitimate, reward and coercive power, which he gained all at once when promoted. His expert power predates the promotion and remains strong: drivers say no one knows the routes better. His referent power has declined as he has distanced himself from his former peers. The pattern matters because the personal bases, expert and referent, are generally associated with commitment, while the positional bases are associated more with compliance. In the current situation, Marcus's strongest asset for leading drivers through Saturday problems is his expertise; his weakest is the goodwill that would lead drivers to go beyond compliance when the work is hard.

Influence Tactics in Play

Influence is flowing in two directions. The regional office is influencing Marcus with what Yukl and Tracey (1992) would classify as pressure and legitimating tactics: a target, a deadline and an implied threat of review, backed by the office's authority. In their study of managers' influence attempts, those tactics were among the least likely to produce commitment, while rational persuasion, inspirational appeals and consultation were the most effective. The research predicts what is happening across the region: managers complying with the number rather than committing to the underlying goal of reliable Saturday service, and in some depots finding ways to meet the number without improving the service.

Marcus, in turn, must influence his drivers. If he passes the regional pressure straight down, he would be using the same low-commitment tactics on drivers whose goodwill is already thin. The alternatives research favors are available to him: rational persuasion, using route data to show where misses cluster; consultation, asking drivers on the new routes what would reduce misses; and an inspirational appeal to the pride experienced drivers take in delivering what others cannot. These tactics draw on his expert power, which is his strongest base.

The Ethical Pressure

The scanning shortcut illustrates how ethical pressure arises in ordinary organizations. No one has instructed anyone to misreport. A target with consequences, a measurement system that counts an exception as on time and the example of peers together create a path of least resistance. Marking a package "customer not available" without attempting delivery would record something false and shift the cost to customers, who wait an extra day, and to Monday drivers, who carry the backlog. The pressure does not come from bad people; it comes from a number that can be met more easily by changing the record than by changing the work.

Brown et al. (2005) described the ethical leader as someone who models proper conduct in how they act and treat people, and who spreads that conduct to others by talking it through with them, rewarding and correcting it and making decisions by it. In their studies, followers' ratings of ethical leadership were related to perceptions of the leader's honesty and fairness, to satisfaction with the leader and to followers' willingness to report problems to management. The last finding is particularly relevant. Whatever Marcus decides will be watched by the dispatcher who raised the shortcut and by drivers who will hear about it. His choice will teach the depot whether problems are to be solved or hidden, and it will affect whether people bring him bad news in the future.

Analysis of the Options

Marcus has three broad courses available. Using the shortcut would likely raise the reported rate above 90 percent quickly, avoiding review, at the cost of false records, customer harm and a lesson to staff that numbers matter more than accuracy. Passing the pressure to drivers through targets and warnings would keep the records honest but, based on the influence research, would likely produce compliance at best and more departures at worst. Reporting the real rate to the region with an explanation of why residential routes miss more often, a plan built with drivers to reduce misses and a request for a realistic ramp-up period would use rational persuasion upward and consultation downward. It carries the risk of a review, but it aligns his conduct with what the ethical leadership research suggests builds trust and candor.

The analysis also points beyond Marcus. The regional measurement system rewards the shortcut, and as long as it does, some depots will use it. A leader's individual ethics matter, but the design of targets and measures shapes how often individuals face this kind of pressure in the first place.

What the Case Shows About Power and Ethics Together

Taken together, the three lenses explain one another. The regional office has only positional power over depot managers, so it relies on pressure; pressure produces compliance with the number; and a number that can be met by changing the record creates the ethical pressure point. At the depot level, Marcus's own power profile shapes his choices. Because his referent power is weak, passing pressure downward is tempting, since it requires no goodwill. Because his expert power is strong, he has a credible basis for explaining the real causes of missed deliveries to the region and for leading drivers through them. How a leader uses power in a moment like this also changes the power itself: an honest, consultative response could rebuild the referent power he has lost, while a shortcut, once known, would likely erode the expert respect he still holds.

References

Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002

French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150-167). University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research.

Yukl, G., & Tracey, J. B. (1992). Consequences of influence tactics used with subordinates, peers, and the boss. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77(4), 525-535. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.77.4.525