The traditional idea that workplace power should lie in the hands of a few is being challenged by a growing body of research.

“People often worry that if you give power away you have less of it, but in reality, it’s not a fixed-sum game. Power is expandable,” says Lindy Greer, Associate Professor for Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Faculty Director of Michigan Ross’ Sanger Leadership Center. “When I give power to someone else, they respect me more, so I actually gain more power now and in the future.”

Greer’s work focuses on how to lead effective organizational teams, specifically in the areas of conflict management, diversity and inclusion, vision crafting and the communication of emotions. She has done multiple studies of power dynamics, suggesting that

this foundational shift in the way we view power is the key to being more influential and effective leaders.

“Many executives feel sharing power is a sign of weakness,” Greer admits. “But in truth, it creates respect and gives the team a reason to believe you have more to give. We all have the ability to show up with an adaptive level of power.”

The perception of who has the power changes second to second, so being able to identify those shifts and respond accordingly is crucial to individual and team achievement.

“Good leaders and team members know this and adapt their power to the situation and the people in the room.”

With this new understanding of the dynamics, leaders can design more effective team structures to harness the power of individuals and groups for better organizational performance.

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USING POWER DYNAMICS TO BUILD BETTER TEAMS

Boost effectiveness with a deeper understanding of power structures

WINTER 2020

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UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF HIERARCHIESIt’s important to understand how different types of hierarchies affect groups. In the business world, two structures exist: ladders and triangles.

Ladders are traditional ranked structures that most people are familiar with and have worked in for years. In a paper titled “On Ladders and Pyramids: Hierarchy’s Shape Determines Relationships and Performance in Groups,” Greer and a team of other researchers found that ladder-shaped hierarchies undermined social relationships and group performance compared to pyramid-shaped hierarchies.

These structures reduce voluntary cooperation in team projects and may even increase aggression during conflicts. Additional research indicates that working in a ladder-like system on even one activity reduced trust in counterparts during a subsequent, unrelated task. It’s no surprise, then, that teams stuck in a ladder-like hierarchy perform the worst, according to a study led by Greer and reported in the paper “Why and When Hierarchy Impacts Team Effectiveness: A Meta-Analytic Integration.”

By contrast, triangular hierarchies allow power-sharing regardless of rank. They emphasize the connectedness of team members and produce positive relationships. These bonds increase trust and collaboration, reduce power struggles and conflicts, and boost individual and group performance.

DESIGN TEAMS TO OPTIMIZE OUTCOMESA paper Greer co-authored, “Blurred Lines: How the Collectivism Norm Operates through Perceived Group Diversity to Boost or Harm Group Performance in Himalayan Mountain Climbing,” suggests that different team structures are required to successfully reach different goals:

FLATTER STRUCTURES, which distribute power more equitably among the group, are best for tasks that all team members are required to complete to proceed to the next step in the process. When individuals — especially those from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds — feel like a valued part of the team, they are more likely to be

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HARNESS THE POWER of the Hippopotamus

Too often, leaders are afraid to cede power, fearing it will weaken their positions in the hierarchy.

But Lindy Greer, Associate Professor for Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Faculty Director of its Sanger Leadership Center, says true power lies in the ability to adapt to situations.

“I was talking to a CEO of a company in the Netherlands who talked about how he learned to go ‘underwater,’” she recalls. By stepping back or even leaving the room, delegating power to others or making his physical presence smaller in meetings, he gave his teams the freedom and flexibility to work. When he needed to assert his power or influence, he would resurface into the leadership position, like a hippopotamus.

“He still owned the ‘pond,’” Greer notes, “but his employees were in charge of their own ‘islands’ where he could deliver resources or act as liaisons between them. Regardless of his position moment to moment, he was always a hippo. This enabled him to adapt his power to optimize team performance.”

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Flexible hierarchies are the most effective because the power structure can morph to meet the team’s day-to-day needs.

— LINDY GREER, Associate Professor of

Management and Organizations Michigan Ross

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self-motivated and accept help to achieve the goal. The flatter hierarchy deemphasizes rank or relational differences within the group and increases cohesion and team mentality.

HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES are more effective for groups whose success is largely dependent on the performance of its strongest members. In these cases, differentiation and expertise identification are critical to completing the task. Structures that build on beneficial differences and expertise among group members create confidence and trust in others and a willingness to follow the leaders.

To yield the best results, leaders avoid relying too heavily on one power structure or another, instead adapting the dynamic in real time.

“No one way of interacting is appropriate for all situations,” Greer says. “Flexible hierarchies are the most effective because the power structure can morph to meet the team’s day-to-day needs. You need a clearly defined leader, but that person needs to be flexible in sharing power among team members for specific tasks.”

Use these insights to share power and build teams to motivate higher performance from individuals and the entire group.

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