Power & Politics

Power
➢ Power is the ability to …
◼ Get someone to do something you want
done.
◼ Make things happen in the way you
want.
➢ Influence is …
◼ What you have when you exercise
power.
◼ Expressed by others’ behavioral
response to your exercise of power.
 BASES
POWER

Formal Personal
Power Power

Coercive Reward Legitimate Expert Referent

Power Power Power Power Power
 Sources of Power
Legitimate ◼ Agreement that people in
certain roles can request
certain behaviors of others
◼ Based on job descriptions
and mutual agreement
◼ Legitimate power range
(zone of indifference)
varies across national and
org cultures.
 Sources of Power

Legitimate

Reward ◼ Ability to control the

allocation of rewards valued
by others and to remove
negative sanctions
◼ Operates upward as well as
downward
 Sources of Power

Legitimate

Reward ◼ Ability to apply punishment

◼ Exists upward as well as
Coercive downward
◼ Peer pressure is a form of
coercive power
 Sources of Power

Legitimate

Reward

Coercive
◼ The capacity to influence
Expert others by possessing
knowledge or skills that
they value
◼ More employee expert
power over companies in
knowledge economy
 Sources of Power

Legitimate

Reward

Coercive
◼ Occurs when others
Expert identify with, like, or
otherwise respect the
Referent person
◼ Associated with
charismatic leadership
 Common Forms of Power in Organizations

LEGITIMATE POWER Power that is granted by virtue of one’s position in the

organization

REWARD POWER Power that exists when one person controls rewards
that another person values

COERCIVE POWER Power that exists when one person has the ability to
punish or physically or psychologically harm someone
else

EXPERT POWER Power that exists when one person controls

information that is valuable to someone else

REFERENT POWER Power that exists when one person wants to be like or
imitates someone else

POSITION POWER Power that resides in a position, regardless of who is

filling that position

PERSONAL POWER Power that resides in the person, regardless of the

position being filled
© 2012 South-Western, a part of
14–9 Cengage Learning
Which Power is Most Effective?

Expert Power!

◼ Strong relationship to performance &

satisfaction
◼ Transfers vital skills, abilities, and knowledge
within the organization
◼ Employees internalize what they observe &
learn from managers they consider “experts”
 Power Tactics
Power Tactics
Influence Tactics:
Ways in which
• Legitimacy
individuals translate
power bases into • Rational persuasion
specific actions. • Inspirational appeals
• Consultation
• Exchange
• Personal appeals
• Ingratiation
• Pressure
• Coalitions
 Influence Tactics
◼ Legitimacy:
◼ Relying on one’s authority
position or stressing that a
request is in accordance
with organizational policies
or rules.
◼ Inspirational appeals:
◼ Developing emotional
commitment by appealing
to a target’s values,
needs, hopes, and
aspirations.
◼ Rational persuasion:
◼ Presenting logical arguments
and factual evidence to
demonstrate that a request is
reasonable.
◼ Consultation:
◼ Increasing the target’s
motivation and support by
involving hi or her in
deciding how the plan or
change will be done
 Influence Tactics
◼ Exchange: ◼ Personal appeals:
◼ Rewarding the target with ◼ Asking for compliance based
benefits or favors in on friendship or loyalty.
exchange for following a
request.

◼ Ingratiation: ◼ Pressure:
◼ Using flattery, praise, or ◼ Using warnings, repeated
friendly behavior prior to demands, and threats.
making a request.

Coalitions:
Enlisting the aid of other people
to persuade the target or using
the support of others as a reason
for the target to agree.
 Politics
◼ Organizational Politics “
Organizational politics involves those
activities by organizations to acquire,
develop, and use power and other
resources to obtain one’s preferred
outcomes in a situation in which
there is uncertainty or dissent about
choices.” (Pfeffer, 1981)
 Politics: Power in Action

◼ Political Behavior
◼ Activities that are not required as part of
one’s formal role in the organization,
but that influence, or attempt to
influence, the distribution of advantages
or disadvantages within the
organization

◼ Legitimate Political Behavior

◼ Illegitimate Political Behavior
 Types of
Organizational Politics
◼ Legitimate political
behavior consists of ◼ Illegitimate political
normal, every-day politics: behavior is so
extreme that it
◼ forming coalitions
violates the rules of
◼ bypassing the chain of the game
command
◼ Sabotage
◼ complaining to your
◼ whistle-blowing
supervisor
◼ symbolic protests
◼ developing outside
contacts through
professional activities
 Legitimate Political Behavior

Forming coalitions

Bypassing the chain of

command

Complaining to your supervisor

Developing outside
contacts through professional
activities
 Illegitimate political behavior

Sabotage

whistle-blowing

symbolic protests
 Causes and Consequences of
Political Behavior
◼ Factors that Influence Political Behavior
 Individual Factors
• High self-monitors
• Internal locus of control
• High mach personality
• Organizational investment
• Perceived job alternatives
 Individual Factors
High self-monitors

• More sensitive to social cues

• Exhibits higher levels of social
conformity, and
• More likely to be skilled in political
behavior
 Individual Factors
Individuals With An Internal Locus Of
Control

• More prone to take a proactive

stance
• Attempt to manipulate situations in
their favor
 Individual Factors
High Machiavelian Personality

• Will to manipulate, and

• Desire for power – is comfortable
using politics as a means to further
his or her self-interest
 Individual Factors
Organizational Investment

• The more a person has invested in

the organization in terms of
expectations of increased future
benefits, the more that person has to
lose if forced out and the less likely
he or she is to use illegitimate
means.
 Individual Factors
Perceived job alternatives

•The more alternative job

opportunities an individual has – due
to a favorable job market or the
possession of scarce skills or
knowledge, a prominent reputation,
or influential contacts outside the
organization – the more likely that
individual is to risk illegitimate
political actions.
 Organizational Factors
• DECLINING 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
 Organizational Factors
DECLINING RESOURCES

INVOLVING IN POLITICAL ACTION OF WHAT THEY HAVE

• People may engage in political actions to
safeguard what they have
• Stimulate conflict and increase politicking
 Organizational Factors
Promotion opportunities

• Encourages people to compete for a

limited resource
• Try to positively influence the
decision outcome
 Organizational Factors
Low trust

• The higher the level of political

behavior, and
• The more likely that the political
behavior will be of the illegitimate
kind.
 Organizational Factors
Unclear performance evaluation system

• Subjective performance criteria

• Single outcome measure
• The amount of time that elapses
between an action and its appraisal
 Organizational Factors
Zero-sum Reward Practices

• Also called Win/Lose Approach

• Treats the reward “pie” as fixed so
that any gain one person or group
achieves has to come at the expense
of another person or group.
 Organizational Factors
Democratic decision making

• Managers in these organizations are being

asked to behave more democratically.
• They are told that they should allow
employees to advise them on decisions
and that they should rely to a greater
extent on group input into the decision
process
 Organizational Factors
High Performance Pressures

• The more pressure that employees

feel to perform well, the more likely
they are to engage in politicking.
 Organizational Factors
Self-serving senior managers

• When employees see the people on

top engaging in political behavior,
especially when they do so
successfully and are rewarded for it,
a climate is created that supports
politicking.
 Employee Responses to
Organizational Politics
◼ Most employees have low to modest
willingness to play politics and have
the following reactions to politics:
 Areas Need to be focused

I. Bases of power
II. Power tactics
III.Factors of political behavior