Chapter 14

Power, Politics, and

Organizational Justice
1
Chapter Outline:

INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS

POWER IN ORGANIZATIONS

POLITICS AND POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE

BORCELLE APPAREL
2
 Chapter Learning Objectives
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

1. DEFINE AND DISCUSS INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS.

2. DESCRIBE THE TYPES AND USES OF POWER IN
ORGANIZATIONS.
3. DISCUSS POLITICS AND POLITICAL BEHAVIOR IN
ORGANIZATIONS
4. . DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS FORMS AND IMPLICATIONS OF
JUSTICE IN ORGANIZATIONS.

3
 INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS
The Nature of Influence

Influence
-is defined as the ability to affect the perceptions, attitudes,
or behaviors of others.

Impression management
- is a direct and intentional effort by someone to enhance his
or her own image in the eyes of others.
4
POWER IN
ORGANIZATIONS
Influence is also closely related to the
concept of power. Power is one of the most
significant forces that exist in organizations.
Moreover, it can be an extremely important
ingredient in organizational success—or
organizational failure.

5
The Nature of Power

Power
- is the potential ability of a
person or group to exercise
control over another person or
group.

6
Types Of Power

Legitimate power is power that is granted by

virtue of one’s position in the organization.

Reward power is the extent to which a

person controls rewards that another
person values.
7
 Coercive power is the extent to which a person has
the ability to punish or physically or psychologically
harm someone else.

Expert power is the extent to which a person controls

information that is valuable to someone else
.
Referent power exists when one person wants to be
like or imitates someone else.

8
Position power resides in the position,
regardless of who is filling that
position.

Personal power resides in the person,

regardless of the position being filled.

7
9
The Uses of Power in Organizations
Power can be used in many ways in an organization. But
because of the potential for its misuse and the concerns
that it may engender, it is important that managers fully
understand the dynamics of using power.

Commitment will probably result from an attempt to

exercise power if the subordinate accepts and identifies
with the leader.
10
Compliance means the subordinate is willing to carry
out the leader’s wishes as long as doing so will not
require extraordinary effort.

Resistance occurs when the subordinate rejects or

fights the leader’s wishes.

11
12
POLITICS AND POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR

13
 Organizational politics
are activities people perform to acquire, enhance,
and use power and other resources to obtain their
preferred outcomes in a situation where there is
uncertainty or disagreement.

political behavior is the general means by which people

attempt to obtain and use power

14
 The Pervasiveness of Political
Behavior

Political behavior can serve both ethical and unethical purposes.

This model helps illustrate circum- stances in which political behavior
is most and least likely to have ethical consequences.

Politics often are viewed as synonymous with dirty tricks

or backstabbing and therefore as something distasteful
and best left to others.

15
FIGU RE 14.2 A Model of Ethical Political Behavior
16
 Managing Political Behavior
The very nature of political behavior makes it tricky to
approach in a rational and systematic way.

Success will require a basic understanding of three factors:

the reasons for political behavior
common techniques for using political behavior,
strategies for limiting the effects of political behavior.

17
 Reasons for Political Behavior
ambiguous goals,
scarce resources,
technology and environment,
non programmed decisions, and
organizational change

Uses of Political Behavior: Reasons, Techniques, and Possible

Consequences People choose to engage in political behavior for many
reasons.

18
 FIIGURE 14.3 Uses of Political Behavior: Reasons, Techniques, and Possible
Consequences

19
The Techniques of Political Behavior

Controlling the agenda is another common

political technique.

Game playing” is a complex technique that may

take many forms.

20
Limiting the Effects of Political
Behavior

Open communication is one very effective technique

for restraining the impact of political behavior.

21
ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE
organizational justice refers to the perceptions of
people in an organization regarding fairness.

is an important phenomenon that has recently

been introducedinto the study of organizations.

22
FIGURE 14.4 Four Basic Forms of Organizational Justice
23
Distributive Justice refers to people’s perceptions of the fairness
with which rewards and other valued outcomes are distributed
within the organization.

Procedural Justice The important form of organizational justice is

procedural justice—individual perceptions of the fairness of the
process used to determine various outcomes.

24
 Interpersonal Justice
Interpersonal justice relates to the degree of fairness people see in how
they are treated by others in their organization.

Informational Justice
informational justice refers to the perceived fairness of information used to
arrive at decisions.

25
Thank you

26