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Dr. Pfeffer Videos

When researching videos on Dr. Pfeffer, I came across one video on YouTube which intrigued my interest within his take on organizational power.

The first video was titled "Jeffrey Pfeffer: How to Win Power and Influence People". In this video, Dr. Pfeffer was being interviewed by Gary Hamel for Management Innovation Exchange television (MIX TV). In his interview, Dr. Pfeffer touched on three particular topics that I found very interesting within the topic of organizational power.

The first topic of discussion involved him discussing what it takes for personnel within key positions of an organization to understand what personal qualities are needed to produce power. His biggest talking point on this was to have personnel invest the time and effort in getting themselves a personal board of directors who are not competitive with them and also not located within the same organization as them.

It is important that, when investing in this concept, that one surrounds themselves with personnel who will give you honest and objective advice on how well you are developing within your organizational and leadership skillset, and will also hold you accountable on personal development plans.

The second topic of discussion involved him discussing social networks within the workplace, and why there are so few people who are effective on building social networks. Dr. Pfeffer key point during the discussion was mentioning how for most people, networking is viewed as a task and not a skill that must be learned and mastered.

Dr. Pfeffer points out that most personnel do not see establishing social networks as something that can be worked on a developed over time, instead saying that most personnel view it as a constant repetitive task which get in the way of everyday activities. Dr. Pfeffer stressed that building efficient and personable networks must be treated more as a skill that one can better at as long as they recognize it is something they can develop internally and over time.

The third topic of discussion involved him discussing the need for personnel to develop the ability to respond and overcome setbacks and failures within their professional and personal lives. Dr. Pfeffer noted that it is important for personnel to not take things too personally or get depressed when things do not go their way.

Examples like when the boss rejects your work for more fine-tuning or when projects take longer than expected for completion are just some instances that Dr. Pfeffer brings up where it is important for the professional to showcase their bounce-back ability instead of letting emotions and feelings of hurt/anger get the best of them.

Figuring out how to get better and take in feedback to be effective, successful, and persistent is essential to showcasing that bounce-back ability, and in essence establishing a reputation as someone that superiors can ultimately relying on when the going gets tough within a professional setting.

I found this video by Jeffrey Pfeffer to be very useful in understanding organizational power because I feel it lays the initial foundation for establishing sources of power within the professional individual. Improving on personal qualities, establishing social networks, and showcasing the ability to respond and overcome setbacks really demonstrates ones' ability at becoming a resilient and commanding presence within the organization, and can lead to further establishment of sources of power such as referent, expert, and ultimately legitimate power.

The talking points that Dr. Pfeffer touched on really go a long way in establishing relationships between leaders and subordinates (Anderson, 1998, p. 37), solidifying your knowledge base and expertise around the organization (Anderson, 1998, p. 37), and ultimately allowing one to rise up the ranks within the hierarchy so as to have your formal authority attributed to one's rank and/ or organizational role (Anderson, 1998, p. 37). From the concentration on these key points, I found the video to be very useful.

My impression of Dr. Pfeffer's speaking and presentation style was very high. I believe that he indeed projects expert power in the manner that he presents himself and relays his thoughts and knowledge when speaking on organizational power.

He has shown that he is one who is able to influence others because of his acknowledged skill or experience in his particular areas and subjects (Haneberg, 2012. P. 49), and he is widely known to be one to be credible and trust-worthy within his position and data. I definitely believe that Dr. Pfeffer is one who practices what he preaches because he attains such a wide range of information within organizational power in various ranges of organizations, and not just in a particular field of business or profession.