Positive Power vs. Force


By Tim Connor


Force can be defined as – coercion, pressure, to compel, to restrain, compulsory, obligatory, etc., etc. There are many managers, as well as organizations, who still rely on this unproductive approach to motivation and productivity. Management by coercion (force or fear) contributes to:

· poor morale
· high turnover
· low productivity
· poorly motivated employees
· dissatisfied customers
· vulnerability to competitors
· poor organization communication
· uncertain organizational environment (culture)

On the other hand, positive power can be defined as – vigor, strength, significance, influence, clout, potency, greatness etc., etc. Management by positive power contributes to:

· empowered employees
· creative solutions to problems
· an atmosphere of mutual respect
· employees’ positive self-esteem
· long term loyal employees
· validated individuals
· effective communication
· peak performance behavior
· customer loyalty

When you review the two lists above, why would any manager, executive, business owner or organization want to maintain a management style that contributes to the first set of results? I have been asking myself that same question for over 25 years. I don’t know. It defies logic and common sense. I can only guess that earlier in this century this approach to dealing with people was – more than less – common. As a result, there were massive strikes, poor working conditions, a progressive labor movement and an entire litany of other employee issues and problems.

Times have changed, thankfully. But for some managers, the inheritance of the past is hard to release. Some still practice some degree of negative force to get employee performance. There are some very subtle ways this is accomplished in today’s work environment. Here are just three examples:

1. Outdated quota systems and approaches to compensation.

2. Heavy top-down and no bottom-up employee communication.

3. Top-down decision making without bottom-up participation or contribution.

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; Soft Sell, That’s Life, Peace Of Mind, 91 Challenges Managers Face Today and Your First Year In Sales. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at http://www.timconnor.com


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Management Information:

Related Articles


Seeking Help
Where does the time go? Billable time. As a consultant, your practice may be doing reasonably well; you're charging $100-150 an hour.
Lessons From Innovative Companies
What do the companies 3M, Polaroid, and Walt Disney have in common? All have innovation in their blood. All encourage an innovative spirit at every level of their organization.
Why Your Company Needs An E-Mail Policy
Everyone at the office thought that using the company e-mail system to share jokes and funny stories was great fun. That is, until one offended employee decided to sue his employer for having helped to create a hostile work environment.
Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Begin With Goals
Goals are critically important for the success of a meeting. You must know what you want so you can ask for it.
Using, Choosing, and Using an educational consultant
IntroductionThe aim of this document is to provide advice and guidance in choosing a consultant in the field of education. You may be the headteacher or principal of a school or college, an officer in a local education authority (LEA) or school district, or the director of a private company wishing to undertake work in the educational sector.
How to Get the Best from Outsourcing
There's a great little article ('Business Lifeforms') on the back pages of the UK's leading management magazine, Management Today each month. It's a spoof (at least I think it is!) about some fictitious key player in a fictitious organisation.
25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!
For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I don't believe in it).
6 Steps to Effective Communication
Effective leaders are known for being excellent communicators. Here's what to do.
Get Down With OCP: Evaluating DBA Job Applicants in an OCP World
Not long ago, weeding through DBA applicants with a tech interview was a straightforward process. You'd ask candidates 200 or so technical questions.
Creativity and Innovation Management :- Thought Leadership
Leadership is only sustainable when leaders consistently come up with good ideas - when they are dependable thought leaders. It follows then that leaders would be more effective if they knew how to manage creativity and innovation.
Avoiding The Sheep Dip
It is a sad fact that many employees are still being subjected to the age old training ritual of "sheep dipping". This is a process by which employees are "refreshed", "cleansed" and "re-invigorated" by ensuring they attend set training courses or, perhaps, are placed on the ubiquitous "refresher" course.
Leadership in Troubled Times
Leadership in Troubled Times The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive. - Joe BattenLeading an organization can be challenging, even when times are good.
Dont Hire Squirrels to be Your Top Dogs
Bad hiring decisions cost organizations, both in dollars and lost opportunities. But getting the right people in the right places doing the right thing is not easy.
How Managers Can Help Retain Their Best Employees
A major problem for employers today is attracting the best talent, and then retaining key employees. Research shows that the key ingredient for retention lies within the manager's ability to understand what employees really want.
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines:Choosing an Effective Employee Recognition Program
This article relates to the Recognition competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It tells the story of how one company found the right recognition program by paying attention to employee feedback.
3 Ingredients of Highly Profitable Organizational Change
As waves of organizational change sweep across the business landscape, a huge question arises: What must a leader do to make sure change produces highly profitable results?To find out, I uncovered exactly what executives did who planned and implemented organizational change that produced $10-million - $1-billion in profit improvement.I discovered that highly profitable organizational change requires three key ingredients.
Juggling Demands in an Organization
JUGGLING DEMANDS: All leaders constantly juggle a multifarious array of demands from those of their organization, employees, and themselves. Good leaders, never drop one demand at the expense of another equally important requirement.
The Professor Makes A Minus Power Move
If you think the power move has costs, consider the alternative. We are talking -- four friends -- bringing one another up to date on our personal and professional lives.
Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Creating a Culture of Empowerment
This article relates to the Culture & Climate competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. AlphaMeasure defines climate as the effect an organization has on the employees, while culture refers more to the acceptable behaviors, attitudes, and habits of the organization as a whole.
Quality Staffing: Stop Placing the Wrong People in the Wrong Jobs
You can possibly teach a turkey to climb a tree - but it is a lot easier to hire a squirrel. Quality staffing means selecting the right people with the right skills for the right jobs and at the right time.