chapter 10 power and politics - हे buddy · pdf filepower and politics • power...

Power and Politics

Build capacity to get things done

Study Questions

• What are power and influence?• What are the key sources of power and

influence?• What is empowerment?• What is organizational politics?• How can we be effective at office politics ?

Power and Politics

• Power– A capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B so

that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes.• Dependency: B’s relationship to A when A possesses something

that B requires

• Politics– Behaviour to influence or attempt to influence the

distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.

What are power and influence?

• Power– The ability to get someone to do something you

want to be done– The ability to make things happen in the way you

want

• Influence– Expressed by others’ behavioral response to your

exercise of power

What are the key sources of power and influence?

Divide into Formal and personal power• Position power /Formal power

– derives from a person’s position in the organizational hierarchy

– stems from roots associated with the position


• Types of position power– Legitimate power– Reward power– Coercive power– Process power– Information power– Representative power


• Legitimate power– The extent to which a manager can use

subordinates’ internalized values or beliefs that the boss has the “right of command” to control their behavior


• Reward power– The extent to which a manager can use extrinsic

and intrinsic rewards to control other people

• Coercive power– The extent to which a manager can deny desired

rewards and administer punishment to control other people


• Process power– The control over methods of production and

analysis that a manager has due to being in a position to influence how inputs are transformed into outputs for the firm


• Information power– The access to and/or control of information

• Representative power– The formal right conferred by the firm to speak for

a potentially important group composed of individuals across departments or outside the firm


• Personal power– resides in the individual – independent of that individual’s position


• Bases of personal power– Expertise– Rational persuasion– Reference– Coalitions


• Expert power– The ability to control another person’s behavior

through the possession of knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person does not have but needs


• Rational persuasion– The ability to control another person’s behavior by

convincing the other person of the desirability of a goal and a reasonable way of achieving it


• Referent power– The ability to control another’s behavior because

the person wants to identify with the power source


• Coalition power– ability to control another’s behavior indirectly

because the individual owes an obligation to you or another as part of a larger collective interest


• Building influence– Power-oriented behavior is action directed

primarily at developing relationships in which other people are willing to defer to one’s wishes

– Downward, upward, lateral

Three Dimensions of power and influence


• Ways to build position power– Demonstrating work unit relevance to

organizational goals and needs– Increasing task relevance of one’s own activities

and work unit’s activities – Attempting to define tasks so they are difficult to

evaluate


• Ways to build personal power– Building expertise

• Advanced training and education, participation in professional associations, and project involvement

– Political savvy• Learning ways to negotiate, persuade, and understand

goals and means that others accept– Enhancing likeability

• Create personal attraction in relationships with other people


Using information and Influence Techniques• Ways that managers increase the visibility of

their job performance– Expanding contacts with senior people– Making oral presentations of written work– Participating in problem-solving task forces– Sending out notices of accomplishment– Seeking opportunities to increase name

recognition


• Controlling decision premisesExecutives also attempt to control or influence decision premises– A decision premise is a basis for defining the

problem and for selecting among alternatives– Executives who want to increase their power will

make their goals and needs clear and bargain effectively


• Perfecting influence techniques– Reason(facts and data to support logical argument)– Friendliness(Flattery, goodwill and favorable

impression)– Coalition(relationship with other people for

support)– Bargaining(Exchange of benefits-negotiation)– Assertiveness(Forceful)– Higher authority(support for ones request)– Sanctions(Using rewards and punishments)

How are power, Obedience and formal authority intertwined in an organization

Why subordinates should respond to a managers authority or Right to command ?

• Interdependence • Legitimacy• Obedience• Acceptance of Authority• Zone of Indifference


Acceptance of authority• Subordinates accepted or followed a

managerial directive only if subordinate :– must understand the directive– must be capable of carrying out the directive– must believe directive is consistent with

organization’s purpose and personal interests


• People seek a balance between what they put into an organization (contributions) and what they get from an organization in return(inducements)

• Zone of indifference(Chester Barnard)– range of authoritative requests to which a

subordinate is willing to respond without subjecting the directives to critical evaluation or judgment

Hypothetical psychological contract for a secretary

What is empowerment?

• Empowerment– The process by which managers help others to

acquire and use the power needed to make decisions affecting themselves and their work


Keys to empowerment• Changing position power

– Moving power down the hierarchy alters the existing pattern of position power

– Changing this pattern raises the following important questions:

• Can “empowered” individuals give rewards and sanctions based on task accomplishment?

• Has their new right to act been legitimized with formal authority?


• Expanding the zone of indifference– Management needs to recognize the current zone

of indifference and systematically move to expand it

– Management should show how empowerment will benefit people and provide the needed inducement


• Power as an expanding pie– Employees need to be trained to expand their

power and their new influence potential– The key is to change from a view stressing power

over others to one emphasizing the use of power to get things done

What is organizational politics?Organizational politicsStudy of power and influence inevitably leads to the subject of

politics-Politics may conjure up thoughts of illicit deals, favors, special

personal relationships-this image of shrewd-often dishonest practices of obtaining one’s

way is reinforced by Machiavelli’s work Machiavelli’s – The Prince(how to obtain and hold power via

political action• Machiavellian tradition of organizational politics

– Emphasizes self-interest and the use of non sanctioned means

– Organizational politics is defined as the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through non sanctioned influence means.

What is organizational politics?The Traditions of Organizational politicsTwo traditionsOne –self interest and use of non sanctioned means• Alternate tradition of organizational politics

– Politics is a necessary function resulting from differences in the self-interests of individuals

Second tradition treats politics as necessary function viewed as:-

– Politics is the art of creative compromise among competing interests

– Politics is the use of power to develop socially acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective interests

What is organizational politics?The Traditions of Organizational politics

Second tradition treats politics as necessary function viewed as:-

– Politics is the art of creative compromise among competing interests

– Politics arises because individuals need to develop compromises ,avoid confrontation and live together

– Individuals join, work and stay together because their self interest are served

– Important to remember that goals of organization and the acceptable means of achieving them are established by organizationally powerful individuals in negotiation with others

– Organizational Politics is also the use of power to develop socially acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective interests

What is organizational politics?Political Interpretation• Organizational politics is not automatically good

or bad• It can serve a number of important functions • Including overcoming personal inadequacies-

coping with change and substituting for formal authority

What is organizational politics?Political skill as an Antidote for stress-Political skill linked to lower executive stress• Ever wonder why executives under tremendous daily

stress don’t burn out ?• Some argue it is their political skill that saves them• Think of these:-• The ability to use practical intelligence (as opposed to

analytical or creative intelligence)• The ability to be calculating and shrewd about social

connections

What is organizational politics?Political skill as an Antidote for stress(contd)• The ability to inspire trust and confidence• The ability to deal with individuals having a wide

variety of backgrounds , styles and personalities

What is organizational politics?

• Political Behaviour• Those activities that influence, or attempt to

influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.– Legitimate: normal everyday behaviour– Illegitimate: extreme political behaviours that

violate the implied rules of the game


Why Do We Get Politics?• Organizations are made up of groups and individuals

who have differing values, goals and interests• Resources in organizations are limited• Performance outcomes are not completely clear and

objective

Factors Influencing Political Behaviour

Political behaviour

Low High

Individual factors

• High self-monitors• Internal locus of control• High Mach• Organizational investment• Perceived job alternatives• Expectations of success

Organizational factors

• Reallocation of resources• Promotion opportunities• Low trust• Role ambiguity• Unclear performance

evaluation system• Zero-sum reward practices• Democratic decision making• High performance pressures• Self-serving senior managers

Favourable outcomes

• Rewards• Averted punishments

Types of Political Activity

• Attacking or blaming others• Controlling information• Forming coalitions• Networking• Creating obligations• Managing impressions


Political Forecasting• Managers may gain a better understanding of political

behavior to forecast future actions by placing themselves in the positions of other persons involved in critical decision events

• Each action and decision can be seen as having benefits for and costs to all parties concerned

• Where costs exceeds benefits the manager may act to protect his or her position

Political payoff matrix for the allocation of resources on a sample project

What is organizational politics?• Subunit power• To be effective in political action managers should also

understand the politics of subunit relations– Line units are typically more powerful than are staff

groups– Units toward the top of the organizational hierarchy

are often more powerful than those toward the bottom

– Power differentials are not as pronounced among units at or near the same level in an organization

What is organizational politics?The Politics of Self -Protection(1)Avoidance is quite common where the employee must

risk being wrong or where actions may yield a sanction • Common techniques for avoiding action and risk taking

– Working to the rules– Playing dumb– Depersonalization– Stalling


(2)Common techniques for redirecting accountability and responsibility– Passing the buck– Buffing (or rigorous documentation)– Preparing a blind memo– Rewriting history– Redirecting

• Scapegoating• Blaming the problem on uncontrollable events• Escalating commitment


(3)Defending turf– Defending turf is a time-honored tradition in most

large organizations – Defending turf results when:

• Managers seek to increase their power by expanding the jobs their groups perform

• Also results from coalitional nature of organizations• Competing interests exist among various departments

and groups

What is organizational politics?Politics and GovernancePolitics of the executive suite(recent account of

alleged,proven criminal actions emanating from executive suits of Enron,WorldCom etc )

• Agency theory :-Problem in today’s modern corporation comprises from separation of owners and managers (managers agents of the owners)

– Suggests that public corporations can function effectively even though their managers are self-interested and do not automatically bear the full consequences of their managerial actions


• Key arguments of agency theory– By protecting stockholder interests, all the

interests of society are served– Stockholders have a clear interest in greater

returns– Managers are self-interested and unwilling to

sacrifice these self interests for others (stockholders) and thus must be controlled


• Types of controls instituted for agents– Pay plan incentives that align the interests of

management and stockholders– The establishment of a strong, independent board

of directors– Stockholders with a large stake in the firm taking

an active role on the board


• Resource dependenciesExecutives behavior can be explained in terms of resource dependencies– The firm’s need for resources that are controlled by others

• The resource dependence of an organization increases as: – Needed resources become more scarce– Outsiders have more control over needed resources– There are fewer substitutes for a particular type of resource

controlled by a limited number of outsiders


Resource dependencies• Political role of the CEO is to develop workable compromises

among the competing resource dependencies facing the organization-compromises that enhances the executives power

• For larger organizations many strategies may centre on altering the firms degree of resources dependence

• Through mergers and acquisitions may bring key resources within its control


• Organizational governance– The pattern of authority, influence, and

acceptable managerial behavior established at the top of the organization

– This system establishes what is important ,how issues will be defined ,who should and who should not be involved in key choices and the boundaries for acceptable implementation

What is organizational politics?Organizational governance• While organizational governance was an internal and private

matter in the past

• It has now become public and controversial

• It is argued that senior managers don’t represent the shareholders interest as noted in the agency theory

• The question of downsizing illustrates the point• Fortune 500 corporations have cut some 8 million positions in

the last 15 years of downsizing• In the new millennium few employees feel confident that the

management philosophy of their firm includes their interests

What is organizational politics?The Ethics of Behaving politically• Choosing to be ethical often involves considerable personal

sacrifice and at all corporate levels it involves avoiding common rationalizations

• CEO’s and employees alike may justify unethical actions by suggesting that

1. The behavior is not really illegal and so could be moral2. The action appears to be in the firms best interests3. The action is unlikely ever to be detected4. It appears that action demonstrates loyalty to the boss, the

firm ,or short term stock holder interest• Each deserves close scrutiny if the firms organizational

governance system is to avoid being dominated by more unsavory side of organizational politics

What is organizational politics?Minimizing Organizational Politics and its Consequences• One strategy to keep organizational politics in check is to

introduce clear rules and regulations to specify the use of scarce resources

• Corporate leaders also need to actively support the all-channels communication structure so that political employees do not misuse power through information control

• Politics can become a problem during times of organizational change .

-Effective organizational change practices particularly education and involvement can minimize politics during the change process

What is organizational politics?Minimizing Organizational Politics and its Consequences• Supporting team norms and a corporate culture that discourage

dysfunctional politics

• Having leaders who model organizational citizenship rather than political savvy

chapter 10 power and politics - हे buddy · pdf filepower and politics • power...

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