management case analysis

Management Competencies

Session 4: POWER & POLITICS

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Seminar Leader:

Agenda

1. Warm-up case 2. Approach or Avoid Power and Politics? 3. Gaining and Using Power 4. Stakeholder Analysis

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1. Warm-Up Case

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A short clip from Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012)

context for the clip: • 1865, President Abraham Lincoln expects the

Civil War to end within a month, and is concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation (which declared all slaves free men) may be discarded by the courts and African-American be re-enslaved once the war has concluded

• hence he tries to get his proposed 13th constitutional (anti-slavery) amendment passed in congress, but support is shaky with Republicans, and most Democrats oppose it

• in the scene we witness a congressional debate about the proposed amendment

2. Approach or Avoid Power & Politics?

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Views on Power

“I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.” -Napoleon Bonaparte

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“Contact with men who wield power and authority still leaves an intangible sense of repulsion. It's very like being in close proximity to faecal matter.” -Jean Baudrillard

“the power to influence is something that most people would like more of, even if they do not want the responsibility that may go with it.”

charles handy from: “understanding organizations” (1993), p124

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reasons why people shy away from power & politics

1 just-world-hypothesis

2 ”leadership industry”

3 protecting your self-esteem jeffrey pfeffer prof. of org. behavior, stanford

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DON’T BE A GRADUATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISHFUL THINKING

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power-orientation can be good !

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percentiles

(subordinates’ self-reports)

managers with high institutional power-motivation achieve superior outcomes

affiliative managers (affiliation motivation > power motivation, high inhibition)

personal power managers (power motivation > affiliation motivation, low inhibition)

institutional power managers (power motivation > affiliation motivation, high inhibition)

power/politics-orientation may reduce stress!

Perceptions of organizational and extra- organizational stressors

• Ambiguity and change • Increased accountability • Interpersonal interactions • Organizational politics

Psychological and physiological strain

• Anxiety • Executive stress and well-

being

political skill

source: Political Skill: An Antidote for Workplace StressorsAuthor(s): Pamela L. Perrewé, Gerald R. Ferris, Dwight D. Frink, William P. Anthony Source: The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005), Vol. 14, No. 3

powerlessness corrupts !

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people who feel powerless, unimportant, and restricted by rules and regulation get even by:

• being overcontrolling, • being overexacting • demanding “tribute” for fulfilling

requests • venting their frustration on those who

are even less powerful

power and perspective taking

power can blind to the perspectives and feelings of others

you should approach power rather than avoid it but with a critical awareness - leaders who balance power with perspective taking are the most effective

Source: Galinsky et al. (2006). Power and Perspectives not Taken. Psychological Science

3. Gaining and Using Power

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defining power

power = - (dependence)

person A

person B

relative power/depend.

power is a relational property (not an individual attribute)

in french: pouvoir (noun): resource

pouvoir (verb): behavior, i.e. use of power

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defining politics

why do we need politics? why does politics exist?

• misaligned interests • diverse perspectives • competition for scarce resources & interdependence

derived from the words "poly" meaning "many", and "tics" meaning "blood-sucking parasites."

(urban dictionary)

(cambridge dictionary)

the activities of people (e.g. elected officials) who seek to influence the way a community (e.g. country, organiza on, etc.) is governed

gaining power

using power

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a politician …

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seeks power

wields power

public mandate, courts, grows, and identifies with his constituents/followers

distinguished himself as more capable of using power to advance / defend his constituents and his own interests

translated to your career:

develop and propose ideas that are attractive to others, so that they provide you with support,

resources, etc.

utilize and employ the support and resources that you were given to

get things done in a way that satisfies your supporters.

Sources of power

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overcoming a power deficit

personal (e.g. lack of legitimacy)

relational (e.g. lack of network)

positional (e.g. lack of resources)

adapted from: Barsoux, J.-L. and C. Bouquet (2013). "How to overcome a power deficit." MIT SLOAN Management Review 54(4): 45.

uses of power: Lukes’ typology

personal influence: persuasion, inducements, threats, etc.

agenda setting power: determine which issues get talked about, and which are given no/little time and

attention

direct indirect

hegemonic power: hegemon defines the terms of rationality (e.g. the rules of the

ruling class become the ruling ideas)

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Marc Andreessen (Silicon Valley venture

capitalist)

Rupert Murdoch (CEO, Newscorp)

Milton Friedman (Nobel-Prize winning

economist)

>> critical reflection: consider the “ends” not just the “means”

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stakeholder mapping your go-to tool for navigating the political “jungle”

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r. edward freeman’s logical pillars of the stakeholder approach

• interaction + interdependence: whatever your strategy, you actions affect others, and others affect you

• understanding: to better anticipate/manage stakeholders interactions, you need to understand their attitudes and behavior

• value position/proposition: you have to provide stakeholders with a clear answer to the questions “what do we stand for?” and “what do we offer?”

• operationalize: stakeholder management works at three levels: rational (strategic priorities of the organization as a whole), process (incorporate stakeholder issues in standard operating procedures), transactional (direct, day-to-day bargaining with stakeholders)

• balance: stakeholder interests need to balance

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stakeholder mindset

stakeholder analysis

stakeholder management