motivational analysis of organizations

❚❘ THE VISIBILITY/CREDIBILITY INVENTORY:
MEASURING POWER AND INFLUENCE
W. Brendan Reddy and Gil Williams
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The concept of power is important in organizational and group dynamics. However,
behaviors called “power moves” or “plays” are often misinterpreted. In fact, most group
members are not aware of the ways in which they use power and influence among
themselves. Consequently, the authors have developed an instrument that assists group
members in understanding their own and one another’s functioning with regard to power
within the group.
This instrument is based on two of the primary components of power: visibility and
credibility. Visibility results from those behaviors that permit a person to be “up-front”
and physically visible; the focus is on the person’s visible, external attributes.
Credibility results from those behaviors that give a person influence so that he or she is
believed—and believed in—by others; the focus is on the person’s credible internal
attributes.
These two components are interactive, and an individual’s behavior in a group can
be rated along a visibility continuum as well as along a credibility continuum. The two
continua thus form a matrix on which the individual’s position with regard to visibility
and credibility within a particular group can be plotted (see the profile sheet following
the inventory and scoring sheet). For purposes of discussion, we focus on the more
extreme or “pure” types that the matrix helps to identify:
1. High Visibility/High Credibility. People who fall in Quadrant I are both “seen
and heard.” They exhibit behaviors that permit them to be physically seen by others as
well as to have influence on others. In large organizations these people are typically the
upwardly mobile and young leaders, and they are often referred to as “water walkers”
and “fast trackers.”
2. Low Visibility/High Credibility. Quadrant II locates those who are “heard but not
seen.” These people are “behind-the-scenes” influencers who are content to have power
but wish to stay out of the limelight. In this quadrant is included the “sage” or the
opinion leader whose sound input is sought before major decisions are made.
3. High Visibility/Low Credibility. Those “seen but not heard” reside in Quadrant
III. This quadrant houses a wide range of organizational types who are visible but who
have little credibility or influence. One of these people is the resident “gossip"; he or she
may be well known among colleagues but cannot be trusted and has little influence.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 19, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 179