EXPLORING KNOWLEDGE
Photo : Alan Decker
POWER PLAY
With great power comes great misconception .
BY HATTIE JACOBS
POWER SHOWS ITSELF in many aspects of human interaction : from the boardroom to the living room . Yet while most research into power dynamics comes out of business organizations or artificial laboratory environments , a study from the Rady School of Management reveals surprising insights about power and how it plays out naturally in and out of the workplace .
A recent research project led by Rady Professor of Management Pamela K . Smith repeatedly surveyed 210 U . S . adults at random times throughout a three-day period , asking them how powerless or powerful they felt at the moment and whether they held a position of power over someone , or vice versa .
Smith and her colleagues found that power differences were definitely a common experience . Of the 83 percent of participants who reported taking part in some form of power exchange , people more often experienced someone having power over them rather than having power themselves . In such cases , participants also reported feeling worse — worse mood , more stress and more mental exhaustion .
Yet when participants had power over others , they reported feeling closer to others and more responsible for them .
“ People in powerful positions are typically seen as cold , uncaring and distant ,” Smith says of the results . “ But our findings show this is an oversimplification . We found having power over others actually made individuals have more concern for those people and want to interact with them more .
“ We think the difference is that stereotypes of powerholders focus on power in the workplace ; however , power exists in many forms , including between parents and children and in romantic relationships . Power is embedded in our personal relationships .”
Feelings of power were also seen to stem more from the unique situations participants were in rather than from stable personal characteristics . For instance , most demographics , such as gender , education level and race / ethnicity , were not consistently related to how power was experienced . This suggests that stereotypes of powerholders as white men may be out of date .
" We found having power over others actually made individuals have more concern for those people and want to interact with them more ."
Another important takeaway , Smith believes , is about how we perceive power daily . The research findings imply that individuals are able to find power in many different situations .
“ In this study , participants could define power as it related to all aspects of their lives . That allowed us to study a rich variety of powerful and powerless experiences . We found that participants ’ feelings of power came from more than just the position they held . In particular , even when participants reported that someone currently had power over them , they sometimes still reported feeling powerful . This is good news , since such powerless moments are more common than moments when we hold powerful positions .”
Learn more about the Rady School of Management study at tritonmag . com / powerplay
16 TRITON | WINTER 2017