Maryland International College

Chapter Six

Power, Politics & Conflict in
organization

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 Power and Politics
 Power
 The capacity that A has to influence the
behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with
A’s wishes
 Exists as a potential or fully actualized influence
over a dependent relationship
 Dependency
 B’s relationship to A when A possesses
something that B requires
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 The greater B's dependence, the more power A

 Bases of Power: Formal
Power
 Formal Power
 Established by an individual’s position in an organization
 Three bases:
 Coercive Power
 A power base dependent on fear of
negative results
 Reward Power
 Compliance achieved based on the ability
to distribute rewards that others view as
valuable
 Legitimate Power
 The formal authority to control and use
resources based on a person’s position in
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the formal hierarchy
Bases of Power: Personal
Power

 Power that comes from an individual’s unique

characteristics – these are the most effective
 Expert Power
 Influence based on special skills or
knowledge
 Referent Power
 Influence based on possession by an
individual of desirable resources or personal
traits

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 Dependency: The Key to Power

 The General Dependency Postulate

 The greater B’s dependency on A, the greater the power
A has over B
 Possession/control of scarce organizational resources
that others need makes a manager powerful
 Access to optional resources (e.g., multiple suppliers)
reduces the resource holder’s power
 Dependency increases when resources are:
 Important
 Scarce
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 Non-substitutable
 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
 Normal everyday politics - complaining, bypassing,
obstructing
 Illegitimate Political Behavior
 Extreme political behavior that violates the implied
rules of the game: sabotage, and symbolic protest
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 The Reality of Politics
 Politics is a natural result of resource scarcity
Limited resources lead to competition and political behaviors
Because:
• Judgments on quality of resource distribution differ
markedly based on the observer’s perception
• Most decisions are made under ambiguous conditions
• Lack of an objective standard

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Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior

 Factors that Influence Political

Behavior

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Employee Responses to
Organizational Politics
 Most employees have low to modest willingness to
play politics and have the following reactions to
politics:

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Defensive Behaviors
 Employees who perceive politics as a threat have
defensive reactions
 Types of defensive behaviors
 Avoiding Action
 Over conforming,

 Avoiding Blame
 Bluffing, playing safe, justifying, scapegoating

 Avoiding Change
 Prevention, self-protection

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 Conflict
&
Negotiation

15-11
Conflict Defined
 A process that begins when one party
perceives that another party has
negatively affected, or is about to
negatively affect, something that the first
party cares about. This encompasses a
wide range of conflicts that people
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experience in organizations
 Conflict resulted from:
 Improper allocation of resources

 Poor communication

 Lack of openness

 Failure to respond to employee needs

 Incompatibility of goals

 Differences over interpretations of facts

 Disagreements based on behavioral expectations

 Discussion Question

Is Conflict Good or Bad?

15-14
1. The Traditional View of Conflict: all conflicts
are bad.

15-15
2. The Interactionist View of Conflict
The interactionist view of conflict does recognize two
types of conflict:

15-16
 Conflict can be constructive or destructive

15-17
The Conflict Process
 We will focus on each step in a moment…

14-18
Stage I: Potential Opposition or
Incompatibility
 Communication
 Semantic difficulties, misunderstandings,
over communication and “noise”
 Structure
 Size and specialization of jobs
 Jurisdictional clarity/ambiguity
 Member/goal incompatibility
 Leadership styles (close or participative)
 Reward systems (win-lose)
14-19

 Dependence/interdependence of groups
Stage II: Cognition and
Personalization
 Important stage for two reasons:
1. Conflict is defined
 Perceived Conflict
 Awareness by one or more parties of the existence of
conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise

2. Emotions are expressed that have a strong

impact on the eventual outcome
 Felt Conflict
 Emotional involvement in a conflict creating anxiety,
tenseness, frustration,
14-20 or hostility
Stage III: Intentions
 Intentions
 Decisions to act in a given way
 Note: behavior does not always accurately
reflect intent
 Dimensions of conflict-handling
intentions:
 Cooperativeness
 Attempting to satisfy
the other party’s
concerns
 Assertiveness
 Attempting to satisfy
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one’s own concerns
Stage IV: Behavior
 Conflict Management
 The use of resolution and stimulation techniques to
achieve the desired level of conflict
 Conflict-Intensity Continuum

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Stage IV: Behavior
Conflict-Intensity Continuum:

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 Stage
FunctionalV: OutcomesDysfunctional 
 Increased group  Development of discontent
performance
 Reduced group
 Improved quality of effectiveness
decisions
 Retarded communication
 Stimulation of creativity
and innovation  Reduced group
cohesiveness
 Encouragement of interest
and curiosity  Infighting among group
members overcomes group
 Provision of a medium for goals
problem solving
 Creating Functional
 Creation of an environment Conflict
for self-evaluation and
change  Reward dissent and punish
conflict avoiders

14-24
Negotiation
 Negotiation (Bargaining)
 A process in which two or more parties
exchange goods or services and attempt to
agree on the exchange rate for them
 Two General Approaches:
 Distributive Bargaining
 Negotiation that seeks to divide up a fixed
amount of resources; a win-lose situation

14-25
Integrative Bargaining

• Negotiation that seeks one

or more settlements that

can create a win-win

solution

15-26
Distributive versus Integrative
Bargaining
Bargaining Characteristic Distributive
Integrative Bargaining
Bargaining
Goal Get all the pie you Expand the pie
can
Motivation Win-Lose Win-Win
Focus Positions Interests
Information Sharing Low High
Duration of Relationships Short-Term Long-Term

Integrative

Distributive

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Individual Differences in Negotiation Effectiveness

 Personality Traits

 Extroverts and agreeable people weaker at distributive

negotiation – disagreeable introvert is best

 Intelligence is a weak indicator of effectiveness

 Mood and Emotion

 Ability to show anger helps in distributive bargaining

 Positive moods and emotions help integrative bargaining

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Gender
Men and women negotiate
t h e s a m e w a y, b u t m a y
experience different outcomes
Women and men take on
gender stereotypes in
negotiations:
Men are tender and tough
Women are less likely to
negotiate

15-29
Third-Party Negotiations
 Basic Third-Party Roles
 Mediator
 A neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated
solution by using reasoning, persuasion, and
suggestions for alternatives
 Arbitrator
 A third party to a negotiation who has the
authority to dictate14-30
an agreement.
Conciliator
is a trusted third party who provides an informal
communication link between the negotiator and
the opponent.
Consultant
An impartial third party, skilled in conflict
management, who attempts to facilitate
creative problem solving through
communication and analysis
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End!

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