Employee attitudes to the distribution of organizational influence: Who should have the most influence on which issues?

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between how individuals actually experience influence in organizational issues and which actors in the organizational structure are preferred to have the most influence over different issues. In this way the article also highlights links between different forms of direct and indirect influence. Four different Danish companies applying teamwork, varying in size and type, participated in the study. The total sample size included 526 employees involved in teamwork who returned the questionnaire (response rate of 72 percent). The results indicated that employees would like the actors who already have responsibilities for a given area to control that area. The results of the regression analyses show significant associations between the degree to which influence was experienced and desires for which organizational actors should have most influence. Furthermore, employees who experience the highest degree of influence within a domain want similarly placed colleagues to have high levels of influence. The results emphasize the significance of considering the level of employee influence in understanding employee attitudes to the distribution of organizational influence and leadership.