Week 7 Assignment Course Project: Final Paper

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Power

and

Politics

Learning Objectives Contrast leadership and power.

Explain the three bases of formal power and the

two bases of personal power.

Explain the role of dependence in power

relationships.

Identify power or influence tactics and their

contingencies.

Identify the causes and consequences of abuse

of power.

Describe how politics work in organizations.

Identify the causes, consequences, and ethics of

political behavior. 13-3

Define Power and Contrast

Leadership and Power

Power refers to a capacity that A has to

influence the behavior of B, so that B acts in

accordance with A’s wishes.

 Power may exist but not be used.

Probably the most important aspect of power

is that it is a function of dependence.

A person can have power over you only if he

or she controls something you desire.

13-4

LO 1

Define Power and Contrast

Leadership and Power

Leaders use power as a means of attaining

group goals.

Goal compatibility

Power does not require goal compatibility,

merely dependence.

 The direction of influence

Leadership focuses on the downward

influence on one’s followers.

 Leadership research emphasizes style.

13-5

LO 1

Explain Formal Power

and Personal Power

Formal Power

 Coercive Power

 Reward Power

 Legitimate Power

Personal Power

 Expert Power

 Referent Power

13-6

LO 2

Explain Formal Power

and Personal Power

Which Bases of Power Are Most Effective?

 Personal sources are most effective.

 Both expert and referent power are

positively related to employees’ satisfaction

with supervision, their organizational

commitment, and their performance,

whereas reward and legitimate power seem

to be unrelated to these outcomes.

 Coercive power usually backfires.

13-7

LO 2

Explain the Role of Dependence

in Power Relationships

The General Dependency Postulate

 When you possess anything that others

require but that you alone control, you make

them dependent upon you and, therefore,

you gain power over them.

 Dependence, then, is inversely proportional

to the alternative sources of supply.

13-8

LO 3

Explain the Role of Dependence

in Power Relationships

What Creates Dependence?

 Importance

 Scarcity

 Nonsubstitutability

13-9

LO 3

Explain the Role of Dependence

in Power Relationships

13-10

LO 3

Identify Power or Influence

Tactics and their Contingencies

Influence tactics:

 Legitimacy

 Rational persuasion

 Inspirational appeals

 Consultation

 Exchange

13-11

LO 4

Personal appeals

Ingratiating

Pressure

Coalitions

Identify Nine Power or Influence

Tactics and their Contingencies

Some tactics are more effective than others.

 Rational persuasion, inspirational appeals,

and consultation are most effective when the

audience is highly interested in the

outcomes.

 Pressure tends to backfire.

 Both ingratiation and legitimacy can lessen

the negative reactions from appearing to

“dictate” outcomes. 13-12

13-12

LO 4

Identify Nine Power or Influence

Tactics and their Contingencies

13-13

LO 4

Identify Nine Power or Influence

Tactics and their Contingencies

People in different countries prefer different

power tactics.

 Individualistic countries see power in

personalized terms and as a legitimate

means of advancing their personal ends.

 Collectivistic countries see power in social

terms and as a legitimate means of helping

others.

13-14

LO 4

Identify Nine Power or Influence

Tactics and their Contingencies

Applying Power Tactics

 People differ in terms of their political skill:

their ability to influence others to enhance

their own objectives.

 Cultures within organizations differ

markedly: some are warm, relaxed, and

supportive; others are formal and

conservative.

13-15

LO 4

Causes and Consequences

of Abuse of Power Does power corrupt?

Power leads people to place their own

interests ahead of others.

Powerful people react, especially negatively,

to any threats to their competence.

Power leads to overconfident decision

making.

Power doesn’t affect everyone in the same

way, and there are even positive effects of

power. 13-16 13-16

LO 5

Causes and Consequences

of Abuse of Power Sexual harassment: any unwanted activity of

a sexual nature that affects an individual’s

employment and creates a hostile work

environment.

 Organizations have generally made progress

in the past decade toward limiting overt forms

of sexual harassment.

Managers have a responsibility to protect their

employees from a hostile work environment, but

they also need to protect themselves. 13-17

LO 5

13-17

Causes and Consequences

of Abuse of Power Mangers should:

Make sure an active policy defines what

constitutes sexual harassment, informs

employees they can be fired for sexually

harassing another employee, and establishes

procedures for how complaints can be made.

Reassure employees that they will not

encounter retaliation if they issue a complaint.

13-18

LO 5

13-18

Causes and Consequences

of Abuse of Power

In addition, managers should:

Investigate every complaint and include the

legal and human resource departments.

Make sure offenders are disciplined or

terminated.

Set up in-house seminars to raise employee

awareness of the issues surrounding sexual

harassment. 13-19

LO 5

13-19

Describe How Politics

Work in Organizations Political behavior: activities that are not

required as part of one’s formal role in the

organization, but that influence the distribution

of advantages within the organization.

 Outside of one’s specified job requirements.

 Encompasses efforts to influence decision-

making goals, criteria, or processes.

 Includes such behaviors as withholding

information, whistle-blowing, spreading

rumors, and leaking confidential information. 13-20

LO 6

13-20

Describe How Politics

Work in Organizations

13-21

LO 6

13-21

Causes and Consequences

of Political Behavior

13-22

LO 7

13-22

Causes and Consequences

of Political Behavior

13-23

LO 7

13-23

Causes and Consequences

of Political Behavior

13-24

LO 7

13-24

Causes and Consequences

of Political Behavior Impression management (IM): the process by

which individuals attempt to control the

impression others form of them.

Mostly high self-monitors.

Impressions people convey are not necessarily

false – they might truly believe them.

Intentional misrepresentation may have a high

cost.

The effectiveness of IM depends on the situation. 13-25

LO 7

13-25

Causes and Consequences

of Political Behavior The Ethics of Behaving Politically

 Questions to consider:

What is the utility of engaging in

politicking?

How does the utility of engaging in the

political behavior balance out any harm (or

potential harm) it will do to others?

Does the political activity conform to

standards of equity and justice? 13-26

LO 7

13-26

Causes and Consequences

of Political Behavior

13-27

LO 7

13-27

Implications for Managers To maximize your power, you will want to increase

others’ dependence on you. You can, for instance,

increase your power in relation to your boss by

developing knowledge or a skill she needs and for

which she perceives no ready substitute.

You will not be alone in attempting to build your power

bases. Others, particularly employees and peers, will

be seeking to increase your dependence on them,

while you are trying to minimize it and increase their

dependence on you. The result is a continual battle.

Try to avoid putting others in a position where they

feel they have no power. 13-28

13-28

Implications for Managers

By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can better predict the actions of others and use that information to formulate political strategies that will gain advantages for you and your work unit.

Consider that employees who have poor political skills or are unwilling to play the politics game generally relate perceived organizational politics to lower job satisfaction and self-reported performance, increased anxiety, and higher turnover. Therefore, if you are adept at organizational politics, help your employees understand the importance of becoming politically savvy. 13-29

13-29