Influence Another stream of my research has examined influence in the contexts of organizations. Much of the data reported in the influence studies that my colleagues and I conducted has been gathered in organizational settings. These studies include data collected from health care professionals, steel grinders, engineers, accountants, software systems developers, governmental employees, and educators. The concept of power has been central to these studies. It is my belief that research in our discipline has given far too little attention to the impact of power upon communicative choices.
Power is defined as the degree to which a person has control over meaningful outcomes of another.
The relationship between communication and the inherent power structure has been an important issue in several articles written by Kevin Lamude and myself. Upper-level managers may have less direct contact with subordinates and be less oriented toward working with subordinates than lower level managers. Similarly, it can be argued that our research involving physicians and patients also involves power differences because status differences in these formal role relationships are normally accompanied by power differences as well. My current research goes beyond my previous studies of influence by considering the role that emotion has on influence and the expression of aggression. In summary, my present research interests are related to influence and technology as it impacts communication.