How Power is Lost: Illusions of Alliance Among the Powerful

Effective leadership in organizations is predicated not only on technical, but also social competence (Barry & Crant, 2000; Huselid, 1995; Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999; Weick, 1979). Leaders rely heavily on their social interactions and relationships with others to succeed in organizational contexts. As a result, leaders need to be able to establish relationships and alliances to effectively engender acceptance and compliance from others. However, leaders often fail to establish effective alliances and consequently are unable to successfully lead and maintain their power. This dissertation investigates the psychological processes that inhibit the ability of powerholders to effectively form alliances and maintain power. Specifically, I examine the impact illusions of alliance, which I define as the overestimation of the strength of one's alliances with others, on the loss of power. I argue that powerholders who hold illusions of alliance fail to promote and develop effective alliances, and ultimately lose power. Moreover, building from the literature on the psychological effects of power, I also argue that power itself increases the propensity to hold illusions of alliance. This deleterious effect of power might explain why power is often said to lead to its own demise. In two studies, I found that power increases the propensity to hold illusions of alliance. In Experiment 1, I investigated the impact of self-perceptions of dispositional power on illusions of alliance in long-term project teams that met over several months. As hypothesized, I found that individuals who believed they were dispositionally powerful also tended to hold illusions of alliance. In Experiment 2, to examine the causal role of power on illusions of alliance, I experimentally primed high (or low) power among individuals engaged in long-term project teams and found that individuals primed with high power were more likely to hold illusions of alliance as compared to those primed with low power or controls.In a separate set of studies, I also found that powerful individuals lose power to the extent that they hold illusions of alliance. In Experiment 3, I developed a task in which three individuals of varying power participated in a coalition building exercise. Participants in the high power role who overestimated their alliances were more frequently excluded from the final coalition. In Experiment 4, to examine the causal role of illusions of alliance, I used a similar coalition building task and manipulated the extent to which the high power actor held illusions of alliance. As in the previous study, high power actors who held illusions of alliance were excluded from the coalition more frequently. Taken together, these findings address one way in which powerholders fall from positions of power. Specifically, while most accounts of power loss focus on ethical breaches or performance deficiencies, my findings speak to the social and interpersonal dynamics that lead individuals to lose power. I argue that the possession of power increases the propensity to form illusions of alliance, and that such illusions lead to the loss of power. By overestimating the strength of their alliances with others, powerholders fail to effectively form and maintain alliances. In addition to examining the psychological effects of power, these findings have important implications for a number of outcomes critical to leaders and other organizational actors, including selection, turnover, and the development of leadership competencies

Overconfidence and the Attainment of Status in Groups

Individuals who occupy positions of high status and authority tend to engage in overconfidence more than others. While prior work suggests that this excessive overconfidence is partly a product of their elevated status, the current research tested whether overconfidence can also lead to status: Are individuals with overly positive self-perceptions of ability more likely to attain status in the first place? Three studies of task-focused dyads and groups involving laboratory and field settings found support for this hypothesis. Further, the relation between overconfidence and status was consistently mediated by peer-perceived competence: overconfident individuals attained status because others inaccurately perceived them as more competent. An experimental manipulation established the causal priority of overconfidence, and a longitudinal study found the effects of overconfidence endured over time. This research contributes to our understanding of status distribution systems in groups and organizations, the consequences of overconfidence, and the psychology of status

A Carnegie plus Self-enhancement (CSE) model of organizational decision making under ambiguity

Although ambiguity is a pervasive feature of organizations, its influence on organizational decision making is often overlooked. We aim to advance understanding of decision making under ambiguity in organizations by combining insights from organizational research within the Carnegie perspective with psychological research on fundamental human motives. We propose the Carnegie plus Self-Enhancement (CSE) model, integrating the influence of self-enhancement—a fundamental psychological motive—on organizational decision-making under ambiguity. To develop our model, we review existing literature on how self-enhancement influences interpretation of ambiguity in organizational decision making. We then expand on this research by linking self-enhancement to individuals’ social categories (gender and social class), identifying previously unexplored sources of variation in self-enhancement in organizational decision-making. Our analysis elaborates on how belonging to a social category influences decision-makers’ self-enhancement and, consequently, decision-making in ambiguous situations. This approach offers a nuanced decision-making model that considers societal positions, thereby contributing to a more complete understanding of organizational decision-making

Media tablets for mobile learning

As consumers continue to shift everyday activities onto personal mobile devices, organizations seek to provide similar capabilities for their employees. Introduction of the iPad in April 2010 and ensuing explosion of the worldwide media tablet market was yet another impetus to the rising importance of mobility in the enterprise. Tablets offer a sweet spot for mobile workers looking for media, collaboration, and basic personal productivity capabilities on the go. Forrester Research expects almost one-third of tablets to be sold directly to businesses by 2016

Running head: STATUS-ENHANCEMENT ACCOUNT OF OVERCONFIDENCE A status-‐enhancement account of overconfidence

In explaining the prevalence of the overconfident belief that one is better than others, prior work has focused on the motive to maintain high self-‐esteem, abetted by biases in attention, memory, and cognition. An additional possibility is that overconfidence enhances the person’s social status. We tested this status-‐enhancing account of overconfidence in six studies. Studies 1 through 3 found overconfidence leads to higher social status in both short and longer-‐term groups, using naturalistic and experimental designs. Study 4 applied a Brunswikian (1956) lens analysis and found that overconfidence leads to a behavioral signature that makes the individual appear competent to others. Studies 5 and 6 measured and experimentally manipulated the desire for status and found that the status motive promotes overconfidence. Together, these studies suggest that people might so often believe they are better than others because it helps them achieve higher social status

A status-enhancement account of overconfidence

In explaining the prevalence of the overconfident belief that one is better than others, prior work has focused on the motive to maintain high self-esteem, abetted by biases in attention, memory, and cognition.An additional possibility is that overconfidence enhances the person’s social status.We tested this status-enhancing account of overconfidence in six studies. Studies 1 through 3 found overconfidence leads to higher social status in both short and longer-term groups, using naturalistic and experimental designs. Study 4 applied a Brunswikian (1956) lens analysis and found that overconfidence leads to a behavioral signature that makes the individual appear competent to others. Studies 5 and 6 measured and experimentally manipulated the desire for status and found that the status motive promotes overconfidence. Together, these studies suggest that people might so often believe they are better than others because it helps them achieve higher social status

Vers un modele de vigilance collective : quelques apports conceptuels

Available from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : DO 6338 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

Les pratiques de vigilance au sein des projets de conception de produits

SIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : DO 8115 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc