Power and Politics In Organization

1. Power and Politics | By: Andualem T.
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1. Introduction
rganizations are organized bodies of persons or systems. They are neither the
rational, harmonious entities celebrated in managerial theory nor the arenas of
apocalyptic class conflict projected by Marxists. Rather, it may be argued, a more
suitable notion lies somewhere between these two, a concept of organizations as politically
negotiated orders (Bacharach and Lawler, 1980). Survival in any organization is a political act.
Thus, organizational life is dominated by political interactions. Politics in organizations
involve the tactical use of power to retain or obtain control of real symbolic resources
(Bacharach, et al, 1980).
Power and politics are among the most important concepts in the study of organization
behavior. Both power and politics are dynamic concepts and are a function of the interaction
between different elements in organizations. Power has been defined as "the ability to
influence and control anything that is of value to others." It is the ability to influence the
behavior of other people in the organization and to get them to do what they otherwise would
not have done.
Although the terms power, authority and influence are often used synonymously, there is a
difference between them. Power is the ability to effect a change in an individual or a group in
some way. Power may or may not be legitimate. That is, power need not correspond with a
person's organizational position. Authority, on the other hand, is legitimate. It is the power
which is sanctioned by the organization and is often the 'source' of power. Influence is a much
broader concept than both power and authority..
Organizational politics is often called 'power in action.' Politics may be legitimate (within
sanctioned organizational limits) or illegitimate (exceeding sanctioned organizational limits)
in nature. The degree of politicking engaged in depends on individual as well as organizational
factors. Individual politicking is a function of the person's power motive, personality factors
and background, and current work environment. Organizational politicking is a function of
culture, goal and role clarity and the attitude of top management.
2. Definition and Meaning of Power
Although the concepts in the field of organizational behavior seldom have universally
agreed-upon definitions, power may have even more diverse definitions than most. Almost
every author who writes about power defines it differently. Going way back, for example, the
famous pioneering sociologist Max Weber defined power as “the probability that one actor
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within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance.”
(Luthans, Y, & A, 2009)
More recently, literature on power found it referred to as the ability
to get things done despite the will and resistance of others or the ability to “win” political
fights and outmaneuver the opposition. The power theorists stress the positive sum of power,
suggesting it is the raw ability to mobilize resources to accomplish some end without
reference to any organized opposition. (Fred L., 2007)
2.1. Sources of Power in Organizations
Organizations are made up of individuals that exercise greater or lesser degrees of power.
Sometimes, authority stems from a person's title in the organization, or from specialized
knowledge and expertise. Others may exercise power through interpersonal relationships or
the force of their personality. And still others gain influence through an ability to grant access
to important resources. (Merchant, 2005) There are six bases of power. These bases are:
a) Coercive Power: using threats, punishments, and other fear tactics to influence the
behavior of others
 Coercive power helps control the behavior of employees by ensuring that they
adhere to the organization's policies and norms
b) Reward Power: arises from the ability of a person to influence the allocation of
incentives in an organization. These incentives include salary increments, positive
appraisals and promotions.
 If used well, greatly motivates employees. But if it's applied through favoritism,
reward power can greatly demoralize employees and diminish their output.
c) Legitimate Power: also known as positional power. It's derived from the position a
person holds in an organization’s hierarchy.
 For example, Job descriptions may require junior workers to report to managers
and give managers the power to assign duties to their juniors.
d) Expert Power: is derived from possessing special or unique skill sets and knowledge in a
particular area. Such people are highly valued by organizations for their problem solving
skills.
 The opinions, ideas and decisions of people with expert power are held in high
regard by other employees and hence greatly influence their actions.
e) Referent Power: is derived from the interpersonal relationships that a person cultivates with
other people in the organization.
 Referent power is also derived from personal connections that a person has with
key people in the organization's hierarchy, such as the CEO. It's the perception of
the personal relationships that she has that generates her power over others.

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f) Information: the ability to gain information from inside sources.
Power can be utilized in a positive or negative manner. Authoritative figures can use referent
power positively by being a person worthy of admiration and respect, thus indirectly
influencing subordinates to want to do things for them and please them. However, they could
also use power to achieve their means in a negative way. Tactics involving coercion or
punishment can result in the subordinates completing their work, but performance is
influenced by fear instead of reverence.
2.2. 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 the mangers fully
understand the dynamics of using power.
In using expert power, managers aware of their education, experience, and accomplishments
as they apply to current circumstances. But to maintain credibility, a leader should not
pretend to know things that he or she really does not know.
A leader whose pretensions are exposed will rapidly lose expert power. A confident and
decisive leader demonstrate a firm grasp of situations and takes charge when circumstances.
Managers should also keep themselves informed about development related to tasks that are
valuable to the organization and relevant to their expertise.
A leader who recognizes employee concerns works to understand the underlying nature of
these issues and takes appropriate steps to reassure subordinates. For e.g. , if employees feel
threatened by rumors that they will lose office space after the next move, the leader might ask
them about this concern and then find out just how much office space there will be and tell
the subordinates, a leader should be careful not to flaunt expertise or behave like a he know
everything.
Suppose a manager has asked subordinates to spend his day finishing an important report.
Later, while the manager is out of the office, the manager boss comes and asks the
subordinates to drop that project and work on something else. The subordinates will then be
in the awkward position of having to choose which of two higher-ranking individuals to
obey. Exercising authority regularly will reinforce its presence in the eyes of subordinates.
Verifying compliances simply means that leaders should find out whether subordinates have
carried out their request before giving rewards otherwise subordinates may not recognize the
linkage between their performance and subsequent reward. The request that is to be rewarded
must be both reasonable and feasible; of course, because even the promise of a reward will
not motivate a subordinate who thinks a request should not or cannot be carried out.

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3. Definition and Meaning of Organizational Politics
There is a political side to business. In a sense, it follows the same science behind the politics
found in government. There is leadership that guides the group as a whole and a company
philosophy and ethical code that everyone is expected to adhere to. The set up and style of the
business' leadership determines how power is divided and what role, if any, the employees
have in how the business is run. The people in that business tend to have their own agenda in
all of this, shaped by their behavior and viewpoints that surpasses the agenda of the
organization as a whole-which is the entire premise behind organizational or business
politics.
Politics tend to come up in a business when someone begins to act on their own interest
without regard to others in the company. It commonly comes into play during times of
conflict and power struggles, as people with conflicting agendas will typically be the ones at
odds. Most experts and leaders state that business politics are more harmful than good;
they're inherently selfish. Business politics bring down productivity amongst employees
through distraction hurts motivation and morale, increases stress levels, and warps the
environment of the business.
Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to
sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted objectives
(Brandon & Seldman, 2004; Hochwarter, Witt, & Kacmar, 2000).
Today, work in organizations requires skill in handling conflicting agendas and shifting
power bases. Effective politics isn’t about winning at all costs but about maintaining
relationships while achieving results. Although often portrayed negatively, organizational
politics are not inherently bad. Instead, it’s important to be aware of the potentially
destructive aspects of organizational politics in order to minimize their negative effect.
As John Kotter wrote in Power and Influence, “Without political awareness and skill, we face
the inevitable prospect of becoming immersed in bureaucratic infighting, parochial politics
and destructive power struggles, which greatly retard organizational initiative, innovation,
morale, and performance” (Kotter, 1985).
Organizational Politics can take two forms: Functional and Dysfunctional Politics:
 Functional politics refer to organizational behavior that is used to help the
organization meet its goals.
 Example, if a contractor is meeting with a customer and is successful using
exchange influence to secure additional money, and then functional politics are
being used.
 Dysfunctional politics refers to political behavior that prevents the organization from
meeting its goals.

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3.1. Advantage and Disadvantage of Organizational Politics
Few of the advantages and disadvantages of organizational politics are as follows:
(Reddy, 2019)
3.2. Factors Contributing to Political Behavior in Organizations
It is useful to remember that in its original meaning, the idea of politics stems from the view
that, where interests are divergent, society should provide a means of allowing individuals to
reconcile their differences through consultation and negotiation. (Morgan, 1996)
Organizational politics are a natural result of the fact that people think differently and want to
act differently. This diversity creates a tension that must be resolved through political means.
There are many ways in which this can be done,
 Advantages
1) Distribution of tasks: Organization
politics enables one to share ones tasks to
other low-level authority.
2) Motivation and morale: Organization
politics creates morality among the
employees with the increased delegation
of the concerned authority.
3) Greater efficiency and output: The
employee will be aware of the care,
caution and a valid approach towards
work which will increase efficiency and
output.
4) Compromise: Efficient segment of the
governing organization will enable
governing authority to potentially violate
the organization’s decision.
5) Debate: enables different point of view
and ideas to agree towards intellectual
dynamism.
6) Better coordination: Better coordination
in activities and operations within the or
outside organization results in the efficient
completion of projects.
7) Confidentiality: Confidentiality can be
maintained without much cost and excess
of trouble.
 Disadvantages
1) More cost: More cost is involved in the
duplication of functions according to the
organizational chart.
2) Affects concentration: When politics and
gossips go on around the organization,
individuals find it difficult to concentrate on
their assigned work.
3) Changes the attitude of employee:
Organizational politics sometimes changes the
attitude of individuals. Even a good
performing employee will lose his/her interest
towards the work.
4) Increases stress: Organization politics
increases the stress that is the cause of wrong
information.
5) Demotivated employees: Few employees will
be demotivated due to a decrease in their
overall performance. Trustworthy friendship
or relationship will vanish.
6) Spoils the Ambience: Politics leads to a
negative environment at the workplace.

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For example: autocratically ("We'll do it this way"); bureaucratically ("We're supposed to do
it this way"); technocratically ("It's best to do it this way"); or democratically ("How shall we
do it?"). In each case the choice between alternative paths of action usually hinges on the
power relations between the actors involved.
An organization's politics is most clearly manifested in the conflicts and power plays that
sometimes occupy center stage, and in the countless interpersonal intrigues that provide
diversions in the flow of organizational activity. Politics occurs on an ongoing basis, often in
a way that is invisible to all but those directly involved.
The potential complexity of organizational politics is mindboggling, even before we take
account of the personalities and personality clashes that usually bring roles and their conflicts
to life. Sometimes the conflicts generated will be quite explicit and open for all to see, while
at other times they will lie beneath the surface of day-today events. For example, relations in
meetings may be governed by various hidden agendas of which even the participants are
unaware.
A number of individual and organizational factors contribute to political behavior (adapted
from Dubrin, 2001):
1) Pyramid-shaped organization structure: A pyramid concentrates power at the top.
Only so much power is therefore available to distribute among the many people who
would like more of it. Each successive layer on the organization chart has less power than
the layer above. At the very bottom of the organization, workers have virtually no power.
Since most organizations today have fewer layers than they previously had, the
competition for power has become more intense.
2) Subjective standards of performance: People often resort to organizational politics
because they do not believe that the organization has an objective and fair way of judging
their performance and suitability for promotion. And in turn they will resort to favoritism.
3) Environmental uncertainty and turbulence: When people operate in an unstable and
unpredictable environment, they tend to behave politically. They rely on organizational
politics to create a favorable impression because uncertainty makes it difficult to
determine what they should really be accomplishing. The uncertainty, turbulence, and
insecurity created by corporate mergers or downsizing is a major contributor to office
politics.
4) Emotional insecurity: Some people resort to political maneuvers to ingratiate themselves
with superiors because they lack confidence in their talents and skills.
5) Manipulative tendencies: Some people engage in political behavior because they want
to manipulate others, sometimes for their own personal advantage.

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6) Disagreements that prevent rational decision making: Many executives attempt to use
rational criteria when making major decisions, but rational decision making is constrained
by major disagreements over what the organization should be doing.
4. Ethics of Power and Politics
When the use of power moves outside the realm of authority, policies, procedures, and job
descriptions, or is directed towards ends not sanctioned by the organization, the use of power
is political.
Ethical issues emerge when the use of power stretches into the realm of political behavior. It
is in this context that a manager must stop and seriously consider the ethical issues involved
in every action.
The attitude that “ends justify the means” is not desirable. A person’s behavior must satisfy
three criteria if it were to be ethical. These are:
1. Criterion of utilitarian outcomes
The behavior results in optimization of satisfaction of people inside and outside the
organization, that is, it produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
2. Criterion of individual rights
The behavior respects the rules of justice, that is, it treats people equitably and fairly as
opposed to, arbitrary.
3. Criterion, of distributive justice
The behavior respects the rules of justice, that is, it treats people equitably and fairly as
opposed to, arbitrarily.
It may be stated that behavior may fail to satisfy the three criteria but can still be considered
ethical in the given situation. This special case must satisfy the criterion of overwhelming
factors, a criterion that justifies a failure to satisfy one or more of the prior criteria of ethical
political behavior.
This justification, however, must be based on truly overwhelming factors in which the special
nature of the situation results in-
1. Conflict among criteria (e.g., a behavior results in some good and some bad being
done).
2. Conflicts within criteria (e.g., a behavior uses questionable means to achieve a
positive end).
3. Incapacity to employ the criteria (e.g., a person’s behavior is based on inaccurate or
incomplete information).

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REFERENCES
 Barcharach, S.B., and Lawler, E.J.(1980)“Power Tactics in Bargaining” Ithaca, N.Y.;
New York State School of Industrial and Labor relations, Cornell University.
 Brandon, R., & Seldman, M. (2004). Survival of the savvy: High-integrity political tactics
for career and company success. New York: Free Press.
 Dubrin, A.J. (2001). Leadership.(3rded) New York: Houghton Mifflin
 Fred Luthans, Bruce J. Avolio, James B. Avey, and Steven M. Norman, “Psychological
Capital: Measurement and Relationship with Performance and Satisfaction,” Personnel
Psychology, Vol. 60, 2007, pp. 541–572 and James B. Avey, Fred Luthans, and Carolyn
M.Youssef, “The Additive Value of Positive Psychological Capital in Predicting Work
Attitudes and Behaviors,” Journal of Management, Vol. 36, 2010, in press
 Hochwarter, W. A., Witt, L. A., & Kacmar, K. M. (2000). Perceptions of organizational
politics as a moderator of the relationship between conscientiousness and job
performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 472–478.
 Kotter, J. (1985). Power and influence. New York: Free Press.
 Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio, op. cit.; Fred Luthans and Carolyn Youssef, “Emerging
Positive Organizational Behavior,” Journal of Management, Vol. 33, 2007, pp. 321–349;
and Carolyn M.Youssef and Fred Luthans, “An Integrated Model of Psychological
Capital in the Workplace,” in Alex Linley (Ed.), Handbook of Positive Psychology and
Work, Oxford University Press, New York, 2009
 Morgan, Gareth (1996). Images of organization (2nded). Newbury Park: Sage
 Mohsin, Muhammad (16 November 2016). "Being a Part of Office Politics Doesn't Save
You From It (Part 1)". Medium. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................1
2. Definition and Meaning of Power...................................................................................................1
2.1. Sources of Power in Organizations.........................................................................................2
2.2. Uses of Power in Organizations..............................................................................................3
3. Definition and Meaning of Organizational Politics ........................................................................4
4. Ethics of Power and Politics ...........................................................................................................7
REFERENCES