More About the “Influence Model”

August 18, 2012
by: handfield
categories: Category Management, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Management

My last post was on the influence model applied to product design for the supply chain, following an interview with an engineer. A prior post a few months ago also referenced the importance of working with stakeholders in category management.

Clearly, this is a topic that has generated a lot of interest, as the headline article in this month’s copy of Inside Supply Management also discusses the influence model. The article “Building Relationships…Measuring Satisfaction” discusses how important it is to identify stakeholder feedback on sourcing. They recommend using face to face discussions, surveys, cross-functional teams, and other ways to ensure that the voice of the stakeholder is heard.

Former CPO of Ministry Health, Tom Nash, was interviewed for the article. Tom has been extremely supportive of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at NC State, and during his stint at Ministry, involved many of our students in projects with his staff. Tom is quick to point out that “supply management doesn’t own internal stakeholders’ budgets, we don’t own their spend, and we don’t run their business unit/functions. Supply management provides stakeholders with fact-based proposals on how to better manage their spend based on reality, our expertise, and best practice.”

Well said Tom. This blogger couldn’t agree with you more. And I also experienced first hand another method of eliciting feedback that wasn’t mentioned in the article. This occurred during a visit to a large pharmaceutical company’s annual meeting of Supply Directors. A new CPO had just come on board, and sat his entire team down in a room to make sure they were very clear on what his expectations were. But he didn’t express them directly to them. Instead, he brought in the Senior VP’s of Finance, Marketing, R&D, and Manufacturing to come in and tell the people exactly what kind of a job they were doing. I saw them at the end of the day – and needless to say, it wasn’t a pretty sight. Having been run through the wringer, they recognized that they were not only falling short, but actually doing a darn right poor job.

No survey was needed in this case.

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3 Responses

Wandspiegel
August 27, 2012 @ 9:24 am
Influence is a key factor iŋ any business organisation ,a business without influence on its customers would have a short life span…
Abacus
August 29, 2012 @ 7:09 am
The Influence Model, also known as the Cohen-Bradford Influence Model, was created by Allen R. Cohen and David L. Bradford, both leadership experts and distinguished professors. The model was originally published in their 2005 book, “Influence Without Authority.”
Cohen and Bradford believe that authority can be problematic. It doesn’t always guarantee that you’ll get support and commitment from those around you; and it can create fear, and motivate people to act for the wrong reasons. This is why it’s so useful to learn how to influence others without using authority.
The Influence Model is based on the law of reciprocity – the belief that all of the positive and negative things we do for (or to) others will be paid back over time.
For example, if you give your boss a tip that cuts hours off her workload, you might expect, perhaps subconsciously, that she’ll do something nice for you in the future.
mad.madrasi
August 29, 2012 @ 10:06 am
Supply Chain is usually at the heart of problem of most industrial setbacks. As a sailor and shore manager, ensuring connection of supplies was a constant headache. It was frustrating to see avoidable delays and I can totally concur with ‘influence with authority’. Though I’ve never read the book or come across it before, I can understand and witness the fact that it exists. Like my own problem – the situation arises because the stakeholders – the ship and me, the shore manager – have no authority over supply chain. The supply chain is controlled by Purchases Dept., is being paid by Finance Dept., and are selected by Administration Dept. – leaving the Technical Dept. to suck our collective thumbs.