What is it about?
Power is not limited to one’s hierarchical position in an organization. Employees may strategically use proactive behaviors to harness power and drive positive changes. Specifically, we find that when employees speak up with improvement-oriented ideas (i.e., promotive voice), it boosts their sense of power which further motivates them to voice ideas. Conversely, when employees (with trait prevention focus) speak up about problems (i.e., prohibitive voice), it deflates their sense of power and reduces their motivation to voice ideas subsequently. By unpacking these positive and negative cycles, our research explains how employees may leverage their actions to gain and maintain power at work.
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Why is it important?
These positive and negative cycles of voice and power may exert long-term implications. Being careful about how you choose your words when proposing changes can lead to greater influence or silence and withdrawal in the long run. Thus, strategically framing issues in a positive tone (vs. negative tone) makes a difference for employees’ ability to cultivate power and exert influence in the workplace.
Perspectives
Employees’ efforts to proactively initiate change is often a double-edged sword. Although these proactive changes may benefit work processes it also poses costs for employees who may been seen as “rocking the boat”. Through this research, we hope to provide employees with insights on how to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of their proactive efforts by being strategic about how they speak up and call attention to workplace issues.
Shereen Fatimah
Singapore Management University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A regulatory focus theory perspective on the dynamics between action and power., Journal of Applied Psychology, April 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/apl0001198.
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