6

Unit
SIX

Organizational Power
and Politics
 Unit 6
Power and Politics

 Study questions.
– What is power?
– How do managers acquire the power needed
for leadership?
– What is empowerment, and how can managers
empower others?
– What are organizational politics?
Organizational Behavior: unit Six 2
 Unit 6
Power and Politics

 Study questions.
– How do organizational politics affect
managers and management?
– Can the firm use politics strategically?

Organizational Behavior: Unit Six 3

 Reflection Questions
 Describe a time when you had to deal with
“organizational politics”.
 Describe a situation where you saw
evidence of power or influence being used
in an organization
 Describe a time when someone influenced
you to act a particular way or do a particular
thing that you would not of otherwise done.
 Power
Empowerment

How to get it
How to use it

…without abusing it
 Definition
 A “four letter word”?
 Influence?
 Control over others?
 Being able to get things done?
 ??????
The Meaning of Power
Power is the capacity of a person,
team, or organization to influence
others.
– The potential to influence others
– People have power they don’t use
and may not know they possess
– Power requires one person’s
perception of dependence on
another person
 Why does having power matter?
With power you can…
 Intercede favorably on behalf of someone in trouble
 Get a desirable placement for a talented subordinate
 Get approval for expenditures beyond the budget
 Get items on and off agendas
 Get fast access to decision makers
 Maintain regular, frequent contact with decision
makers
 Acquire early information about decisions and policy
shifts
 The goal?
 Overcome feelings of powerlessness
 Convert power effectively into interpersonal
influences in ways that avoid the abuse of
power
To empower yourself
To facilitate the empowerment
of others
Relationship Among Social Influence, Power,
and Politics
Capacity to
Successful
exert influence

Organizational
Power Social influence
politics

Use of power for

personal interests Unsuccessful
 Power and Dependence
Person B’s
counterpowe Person
r over Person A
A

Person Person
B B’s Goals
Person A’s
power over
Person B
 Types of Individual Power: A
Summary
Individual Power

Position Power
Personal Power
• Referent power
• Legitimate power • Expert power
• Reward power
• Coercive power
 Model of Power in
Organizations
Sources
Of Power

Power
Legitimate over Others
Reward
Coercive
Contingencies
Expert
Of Power
Referent
 Legitimate Power
 One’s structural position
 The power a person receives as a result of
his or her position in the formal hierarchy
of an organization
 The Limits of Legitimate Power
The Caine Mutiny illustrates
the limits of legitimate power
in organizations. Captain
Queeg (Humphrey Bogart,
seated left) asked his crew to
do more than they were
willing to follow, so they Archive Photos

staged a mutiny.
 Reward and Coercive Power
 Power that achieves compliance based on
the ability to distribute rewards that others
view as valuable
 Coercive Power: the opposite of reward
power: the power that is based on fear of
negative results.
 Sources of Power
Legitimate Power

Reward Power

Coercive Power

Expert Power
Archive Photos

Referent Power
 Expert Power
 Influence is based on special skills or
knowledge
 Referent Power
 Influence is based on possession by an
individual of desirable resources or personal
traits

 The desire to please…

 Information and Power
 Control over information flow
– Based on legitimate power
– Relates to formal communication network
– Common in centralized structures (wheel pattern)

 Coping with uncertainty

– Those who know how to cope with organizational
uncertainties gain power
» Prevention
» Forecasting
» Absorption
 Contingencies of Power
Sources Power
Of Power over others

Contingencies
Of Power

Substitutability
Centrality
Discretion
Visibility
Increasing Nonsubstitutability

Controlling
Differentiation
Tasks

Increasing
Nonsubstitutability

Controlling Controlling
Labour Knowledge
 Consequences of Power
Sources Consequences
of Power of Power

Expert
Power
Commitment
Referent
Power
Legitimate
Power Compliance
Reward
Power
Coercive Resistance
Power
 Sexual Harassment and Power
 Harasser stereotypes the victim as subservient
and powerless
 Harasser threatens job security or safety
through coercive or legitimate power
 Hostile work environment harassment
continues when the victim lacks power to stop
the behaviour
 Organizational Politics
 Attempts to influence others using
discretionary behaviours to promote
personal objectives
– Discretionary behaviours — neither explicitly
prescribed nor prohibited

 Politics may be good or bad for the

organization
 Organizational Politics: More Likely at
the Top
Extent to Which Political Activity is Likely (range 0-3)

1.3 Political activity (1.22)

1.2 is perceived to
increase at higher (1.07)
1.1
organizational levels
1.0
.9
.8
(.73)
.7
(.54)
.6 (.50)
.5
.4
.3 (.18)
.2
.1
Production and Clerical and Technical and Lower Middle Upper
blue collar white collar professional management management management
Organizational Level
 Types of Organizational
Politics
Managing Attacking and
impressions blaming

Creating
Types of Controlling
obligations Organizational information
Politics

Cultivating Forming
networks coalitions
 Impression management
 Conformity: agreeing with another’s opinion to get their
approval
 Excuses: Explanations of a predicament-creating event aimed at
minimizing the apparent severity of the predicament
 Apologies: Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and
simultaneously seeking to get a pardon for the action
 Acclamations: Explanation of favourable events to maximize the
desirable implications for oneself.
 Flattery: Complimenting others on their virtues in an effort to
make oneself appear perceptive and likeable
 Favours: Doing something nice for someone to gain that
person’s approval
 Association: Enhancing or protecting one’s image by managing
information about people and things with which one is
associated.
 It was John’s
You fault
scratch my
back… Attacking and
blaming I thought
you
knew…
Creating
Types of Controlling
obligations Organizational information
Politics

Cultivating Forming
networks coalitions

Look who We agreed

I know… that…
Conditions for Organizational
Politics

Personal Scarce
Characteristics Resources
Conditions
Supporting
Organizational
Politics
Complex and
Tolerance of
Ambiguous
Politics
Decisions
 Conditions for Organizational
Internal
locus of
Politics Perceived
control alternatives?

Personal Scarce
Characteristics Resources
Conditions
Deceit is Zero-sum
appropriate Supporting rewards
Organizational
Politics
Complex and
Tolerance of
Ambiguous
Politics
Decisions
Democratic
It works here decision making
 Political Antics Top the “Most Unethical
List”:
Situation
Survey Results Potentially
political
Gender discrimination behaviours
in recruitment or hiring (22.6)
Arrangements with vendors
leading to personal gain (23.1)
Nonperformance factors
used in appraisals (23.5)
Gender discrimination
in compensation (25.8)
Not maintaining
confidentiality (26.4)
Using discipline
inconsistently (26.9)
Gender discrimination
in promotion (26.9)
Sexual
harassment (28.4)
Allowing differences in pay
due to friendships (30.7)
Hiring, training, or promoting
based on favouritism (30.7)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Percentage Responding with a 4 or 5 on a five-Point Scale
Measuring Degree of Seriousness (where 5=“very great”)
Controlling Political Behaviour
Provide
Remove
Sufficient
Political Norms
Resources

Hire
Introduce
Low-Politics
Clear Rules
Employees

Increase
Free Flowing
Opportunities
Information
for Dialogue

Manage Change Peer Pressure

Effectively Against Politics
 Can the firm use politics strategically?

 There is growing awareness of the importance of

political strategy for business firms.
 In the United States, corporate political strategy
advises managers to:
– Engage in the public political process.
– Turn the government from an industry regulator to an
industry protector.
– Decide when and how to get involved in the public
policy process.

Organizational Behavior: Unit 6 35

Can the firm use politics strategically?

 Organizational governance.
– The pattern of authority, influence, and
acceptable managerial behavior established at
the top of the organization.
– Significantly determined by the effective
control of key resources by members of a
dominant coalition.

Organizational Behavior: unit 6 36

 Can the firm use politics strategically?

 Organizational governance implications.

– The daily practice of governance is the
development and resolution of issues.
– Governance is becoming more public and
open.
– Imbalanced governance by some U.S.
corporations may limit their ability to manage
global operations effectively.

Organizational Behavior: unit 6 37

 Can the firm use politics strategically?

 Organizational governance implications.

– While governance is often closely tied to the
short-term interests of stockholders and pay of
CEOs, some firms are expanding governance
interests to include employees and
communities.
– Governance should have an ethical basis.

Organizational Behavior: unit 6 38

Can the firm use politics strategically?

 A person’s behavior must satisfy the

following criteria to be ethical:
– The behavior must produce the greatest good
for the greatest number of people.
– The behavior must respect the rights of all
affected parties.
– The behavior must respect the rules of justice.

Organizational Behavior: unit 6 39

Can the firm use politics strategically?

 CEOs and employees may justify unethical

actions by suggesting that the behavior:
– Is not really illegal and so could be moral.
– Appears to be in the firm’s best interest.
– Is unlikely to be detected.
– Demonstrates loyalty.

Organizational Behavior: unit 6 40