Lecture 10 HRM784 - Power, Politics and Stakeholder Management - Compatibility Mode

Chapter 10
Power, politics and stakeholder

management
1
Power and politics
?
● Are organizations well-integrated entities within which
everybody works harmoniously together?
● Do people share similar views of the world around them

and do they act to promote the interests of the
organisation as a whole?
● Are decisions made logically and rationally?
© John Hayes (2014), The Theory and Practice of Change Management, 4th ed. 2
Organisations are political arenas
● Organisations can be conceptualised as a collection of
individuals, groups and communities of practice, each
pursuing their own objectives.
● When there is a conflict of interest it is the
power and influence of those involved that
determines the outcome rather than logic
and rational argument.
● Consequently, those responsible for

managing change cannot afford to ignore © PhotoDisc/Getty Images\Lisa Zador
issues of power and influence.
Political behaviour is most intense in times of
change
Ø Change upsets the balance of power

Some will defend the status quo and
others will seek change to improve their
position
Ø People will resist change because of: © Thinkstock
Threat from anticipated future state

Threat from process used to secure change
Implications for change managers
● In order to manage change successfully, change managers
need to be alert to the identity of important stakeholders
(any individual or group who can affect or will be affected by the
outcome of a change) and to their predisposition to either
support or resist the change.
© PhotoDisc/Getty Images\Lisa Zador
Power and authority
● Some stakeholders are more powerful
than others and, because of their power,
they are able to act in ways that will either
support or block a change.
● Power is not confined to those who have © ImageSource
been given the authority to determine how

certain things will be done.
● Sometimes individuals and groups who do not have any
legitimate authority have more power than legitimately
appointed managers.
Exercise
• Who are the most powerful individuals or

groups in your organisation?(work organization,
university, sports club or similar)
• Why? What is the basis of their power?
Exercise (cont.)
Power is inherent in any relationship in which one person
or group is dependent on another.
The power to control or influence others resides in

control over the things they value, which may range all
the way from oil resources to ego support. In short,
power resides implicitly in the other's dependence
(Emerson).
Review your answer to the question posed on the previous slide.

• Are the powerful individuals or groups you identified powerful
because others are dependent on them?
Acquiring and exercising power and influence
Those leading change can increase their ability to
influence others by:
1. promoting their reputation for delivering successful
change
2. taking steps to increase others’ dependence on them
3. minimizing their dependence on those they are
seeking to influence
4. building collaborative relationships with others
5. negotiating advantageous agreements
©Digital Vision/Getty Images
1. Promoting their reputation
Change recipients’ are more likely to follow leaders when they
perceive them to be competent and able to deliver benefit.
This points to the importance of leaders doing

everything they can to not only develop the
competencies they need to deliver successful change
but also to ensure that they are seen to be competent
by change recipients.
2. Increasing others’ dependence on them
Leaders can assess how dependent others are on them by:
• taking stock of what it is that targeted others seek from them
(e.g. information, contacts or some other resource)
• assessing how important these resources are to the targeted others
• exploring how readily they can obtain these resources from
elsewhere
Increasing others’ sense of dependence
• Making others aware of their dependence on those leading the change,
but doing so within a climate that supports mutual help and co-operation.
• Heavy handed threats to withhold a vital resource could provoke others to:
Ø search for alternative sources of the resources they require
Ø seek out counter dependencies which they could use against the
leaders as bargaining points.
3. Minimizing their dependence on those they are
seeking to influence
Leaders can assess their dependence on others by:
• Taking stock of what they need from others
• Searching for alternative sources of the resource(s) they

require
• Challenging assumptions about their dependency where

they suspect that others are exercising power over them
because of dependency relationships that prevailed in the
past, but which no longer reflect the current situation.
4. Building collaborative relationships with others and
enlisting their help by:
1. Communicating their needs with those they can trust

in order to encourage them to provide the resources
they require.
2. Enlisting the help of others to influence third parties

inaccessible to the leader.
5. Negotiating advantageous agreements
Most change relationships are based on some degree of
reciprocity or interdependence.
Leaders who are good at influencing others are those who
are able to:
• assess, realistically, what it is that they can offer to others
and what it is that they need from them
• set this alongside an equally realistic assessment of what
others have to offer them and what they need from others
• use these assessments to negotiate working agreements
up, down and across the organization that will support their
efforts to implement change.
Avoid win-lose battles wherever possible
Negotiations do not have to occur within the fixed
framework of a zero-sum ('I win, you lose') game, and it is
not always necessary for leaders to seek ways of eroding
the power of others in order to progress a change.
More political awareness and a willingness to involve

others in the context of an increasing-sum game can often
lead to better outcomes and a more successful change.
Checklist for the acquisition and exercise of power
Think about those situations in which you are satisfied with your ability to
influence others. Using the checklist presented on the next slide, build a
profile of what you typically do to acquire and use power in those
situations.
Next, think about those situations in which you are dissatisfied with your
ability to influence. Repeat the procedure and build a profile of what you
do when you are less successful.
Compare the two profiles and look for differences in your behaviour.
Differences between the two profiles might point to possibilities for
changing your behaviour in ways that will improve your ability to influence
others.
To what extent did you take steps to:
1. Promote your reputation as somebody who can deliver change?
2. Increase others’ dependence on you by:
• taking stock of what resources others want from you?
• assessing how important these resources are to them?
• exploring whether they can obtain the resources you provide from other sources?
• raising others’ awareness of their dependence on you?
3. Minimize your dependence on others by:
• taking stock of what you need from others?
• searching for (and establishing) alternative sources of supply?
• challenging historic assumptions about your dependence on others when
situations have changed?
4. Build collaborative relationships with others and:
• identify new ways in which you could help target others?
• communicate your needs with those others you can trust in order to encourage
them to provide the resources your require?
• enlist the help of others to influence third parties inaccessible to you?
5. Use all of the above to negotiate advantageous agreements?
Identifying and managing stakeholders
?
Should change managers take account
of all or only selected groups of
stakeholders?
Which stakeholders are most important?
Normative theories
According to normative or ethics-based theories of stakeholder
management, the interests of all stakeholders have intrinsic value and
should be taken into account when planning and implementing change.
While pressures from investors might make it difficult for

managers to address the concerns of all stakeholders,
adopting a normative approach can make business sense
over the longer term because sustained corporate
citizenship can create reputational capital that can provide a
platform from which other opportunities may spring. © PhotoDisc/Getty Images
Which stakeholders are most important?
Instrumental theories
The basic premise of instrumental theories is that managers will
only attend to the interests of stakeholders to the extent that
those stakeholders can affect their interests.
Managers are selective in who they attend to

and that are not motivated by a concern for the
welfare of stakeholders in general.
© PhotoDisc/Getty Images
Jawahar and McLaughlin’s approach to
stakeholder management draws on:
• Resource dependence theory

• Prospect theory
• Organizational life cycle models
The contribution of resource dependence
theory
• Change managers pay most attention to those stakeholder
groups who control resources critical to the organisation's
survival.
• Different levels of attention are manifest in different forms
of stakeholder management strategies:
• Proacting
• Accommodating
• Defending
• Ignoring
The contribution of prospect theory
In the absence of threats a gain frame will be adopted, and
leaders will follow a risk-averse strategy. They will do their best
to address the concerns of all stakeholders in order to persuade
them to support the change.
In the presence of threats a loss frame will be adopted, and

leaders will pursue a risky strategy. They will only address the
concerns of those stakeholders who are relevant to the
immediate loss threat.
The contribution of organisational life cycle
theory
Resource requirements will vary depending on the stage of the change
project life cycle.
Consequently at different stages certain stakeholders become more
important than others because of their potential to satisfy critical needs.
● When the flow of resources is not threatened, change managers adopt
a gain frame, pursue a risk-averse strategy, and actively address the
concerns of all stakeholders.
● When the fulfilment of resource requirements is threatened change

managers adopt a loss frame and interact proactively with those
stakeholders who control the critical resources.
... and ignore other stakeholders
Jawahare and McLaughlin's stakeholder theory
• It is possible to identify which stakeholders are likely to be

more or less important at each stage of the life cycle.
• The strategy that will be used to deal with each

stakeholder will depend on the importance of that
stakeholder relative to other stakeholders.
Managing stakeholders
Key steps are:
1. A stakeholder analysis to identify the power and
commitment of stakeholders
§ Stakeholder brainstorm
§ Assessment of stakeholders’ power and influence
§ Assessment of stakeholders’ attitude towards the
change
2. The development of a strategy for persuading influential
stakeholders to support the change.
Stakeholder brainstorm
1. Stakeholder brainstorm to
identify all those who might be
affected by or could affect the
outcome of the proposed
change.
© CORBIS
Stakeholder analysis (continued)
2. Assess how much power and influence each stakeholder has.
3. Assess stakeholders’ attitudes towards the proposed change.
Positive attitude
(Potential sponsors)
Strong
Weak support support
(champions)
Low High
power power
Strong
Weak
opposition
opposition
(blockers)
Negative attitude
(Potential blockers)
Developing a strategy for persuading influential
stakeholders to support the change
Winning the support of those who oppose the change and who
have the power to influence the outcome
Attitude
Power
Blockers
Reducing the influence of powerful blockers
Attitude
Power
Blockers
Increasing the influence of those stakeholders who are already
supportive
Attitude
Weak
sponsors
Power
Building a coalition of supportive stakeholders who
will be prepared to work together to support the
change
Attitude
supportive
coalition
Power
© John Hayes (2014), The Theory and Practice of Change Management, 4th ed.
Fragmenting existing coalitions who are antagonistic
towards the change
Attitude
Power
Coalition of
blockers
Bringing new sponsors or champions into play
N
sp ew
on
Attitude so
r
Power
Changes over time
● An important point to remember is

that as a change project unfolds and
as circumstances change the identity
of key stakeholders may also change.
© PhotoDisc/Getty Images/Harnett/Hanson

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Chapter 10

Power, politics and stakeholder

● Do people share similar views of the world around them

● Are decisions made logically and rationally?

● Consequently, those responsible for

issues of power and influence.

Ø Change upsets the balance of power

Ø People will resist change because of: © Thinkstock

Threat from anticipated future state

© PhotoDisc/Getty Images\Lisa Zador

been given the authority to determine how

• Who are the most powerful individuals or

• Why? What is the basis of their power?

The power to control or influence others resides in

Review your answer to the question posed on the previous slide.

©Digital Vision/Getty Images

This points to the importance of leaders doing

• Searching for alternative sources of the resource(s) they

• Challenging assumptions about their dependency where

1. Communicating their needs with those they can trust

2. Enlisting the help of others to influence third parties

More political awareness and a willingness to involve

While pressures from investors might make it difficult for

Managers are selective in who they attend to

• Resource dependence theory

In the presence of threats a loss frame will be adopted, and

● When the fulfilment of resource requirements is threatened change

• It is possible to identify which stakeholders are likely to be

• The strategy that will be used to deal with each

● An important point to remember is

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