Power & Politics

3. POWERPOWER
 More than dominance: a capacity to get
something done in an organization
 Central feature of political behavior
 Unavoidable presence in organizations

4. POWER AND POLITICS
Meaning of Power: Power is the capacity of a person, team or
organization to influence others. Power is not the act of changing
others’ attitudes or behaviour its only the potential to do so. The
most basic prerequisites of power is that one party believes he or
she is dependent on the other for something of value.
Person A
Person B
Person B’s
Goal
Power
Counter Power
FIG: Dependence in the Power Relationship
Person A
Person B
Person B’s
Goal
Power

5. 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

6. POWER AND POLITICS
Definition :
Power as the probability that one actor within a social relationship
will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance.
Max Weber
Power as a potential ability to influence behaviour, to change the
course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do
things that they would not otherwise do.
Pfeffer

7. POWER AND POLITICS
Distinction Between Power, Authority & Influence:
Power is the ability to get an individual or group to do something –
to get the person or group to change in some way. The person who
possesses power has ability to manipulate or change others.
Authority is the right to manipulate or change others. Power need
not to be legitimate.
Influence : It involves ability to alter other people in general ways,
such as by changing their satisfaction and performance. Influence
is more closely associated with leadership than power is, but both
obviously are involved in the leadership process.
Thus authority is different from power because of its legitimacy
and acceptance, and influence is broader than power, but it is so
conceptually close that the two terms can be used interchangeably.

8. Relationship Among Social Influence, Power, and Politics
Organizational
politics
Use of power for
personal interests
Capacity to
exert influence
Social influence
Unsuccessful
Successful
Power

9. Types of Individual Power: A
Summary
Position Power
• Legitimate power
• Reward power
• Coercive power
Individual Power
• Personal Power
• Referent power
• Expert power

10. POWER AND POLITICS
Contingency Approaches To Power:
Pfeffer Simply says that power comes from being in the “right”
place. He describes the right place or position in the organization
as one where the manager has:
1. Control over resources such as budgets, physical facilities,
and positions that can be used to cultivate, allies and
supporters.
2. Control over or extensive access to information about the
organizations activities, about the preferences and
judgement of others, about what is going on, and who is
doing it.
3. Formal authority.

11. POWER AND POLITICS
Contingency Conclusions (Research Supported) :
1. The greater the professional orientation of group
members, the greater relative strength referent power has in
influencing them.
2. The less effort and interest high ranking participants are
willing to allocate to a task, the more likely lower-ranking
participants are to obtain power relevant to this task

12. Commitment
CONSEQUENCES OF POWER
Reward
Power
Legitimate
Power
Coercive
Power
Expert
Power
Referent
Power
Resistance
Compliance
Sources
of Power
Consequences
of Power

13. POWER AND POLITICS
Reward
Coercive
Means & Control
Target influence ability Required Condition
Wants to gain a
favourable reaction, wants
to avoid a punishing one
from the agent.
The agent must have
surveillance over the
target.
Find a self-satisfying
relationship with the agent
wants to establish and
maintain a relationship
with the agent.
The agent must have
salience, the agent
must be in the
forefront of the
target awareness.
Goes along with the agent
because of consistency
with internal values.
The agent must have
relevance.
Compliance
Process of
Power
Required Sources of
Power
Referent
Attractiveness
Expert
Legitimate
Credibility
Identification
Internalization
FIG: An Overall Contingency Model of Power based on the French / Raven and
Kelman Theories.

14. POWER AND POLITICS
Influenceability Of the Targets Of Power:
1. Dependency
2. Uncertain
3. Personality
4. Intelligence
5. Gender
6. Age
7. Culture

15. 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

16. OFFICEOFFICE RELATIONSHIPRELATIONSHIP AND POWERAND POWER
 Co-workers believe that employees in
relationships abuse their power to favour each
other.
 Higher risk of sexual harassment when
relationship breaks off.

17. POWER AND POLITICS
“Organizational Politics consists of intentional acts of
influence undertaken by individuals or groups enhance or
protect their self-interest when conflicting courses of action
are possible”
Research on organizational politics has identified several areas
that are particularly relevant to the degree to which
organizations are political rather than rational. These areas
are summarized as:
1. Resources
2. Decisions
3. Goals
4. Technology and External Environment
5. Change

18. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Politics refers to the ways people gain
& use power in organizations
Politics refers to the ways people gain
& use power in organizations

19. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Scope for political activities arises
when there are differences between
people.
Scope for political activities arises
when there are differences between
people.

20. ESSENCE OF POLITICS
•Politics, in general, is characterized by-
•Disagreement
•Diversity
•Scarcity
•Interest

21. Organizational Politics: More Likely atOrganizational Politics: More Likely at
the Topthe Top
ExtenttoWhichPoliticalActivityisLikely(range0-3)ExtenttoWhichPoliticalActivityisLikely(range0-3)
Production andProduction and
blue collarblue collar
Clerical andClerical and
white collarwhite collar
Technical andTechnical and
professionalprofessional
LowerLower
managementmanagement
MiddleMiddle
managementmanagement
UpperUpper
managementmanagement
1.31.3
1.21.2
1.11.1
1.01.0
.9.9
.8.8
.7.7
.6.6
.5.5
.4.4
.3.3
.2.2
.1.1
Organizational LevelOrganizational Level
(.18)(.18)
(.50)(.50)
(.54)(.54)
(.73)(.73)
(1.07)(1.07)
(1.22)(1.22)Political activity
is perceived to
increase at higher
organizational levels

22. POWER AND POLITICS
TYPES OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS
Selectively
distributing
information
Controlling
information
channels
Forming
coalitions
Increasing
Indispensability
Association
with line
executives
Managing
impressions
Attacking
blaming
others
Exhibit: Types of political activity in organizations

23. POLITICAL STRATEGIES FOR ATTAININGPOLITICAL STRATEGIES FOR ATTAINING
POWER IN ORGANIZATIONPOWER IN ORGANIZATION
Talking counsel
Maintaining maneurability
Promoting limited communication
Exhibiting confidence

24. POLITICAL STRATEGIES FOR ATTAININGPOLITICAL STRATEGIES FOR ATTAINING
POWER IN ORGANIZATIONPOWER IN ORGANIZATION
Creating a sponsor
Stimulating competition among
ambitious subordinate
Neutralizing potential opposition
Making strategic replacement

25. POLITICAL STRATEGIES FOR
ATTAINING POWER IN ORGANIZATION
 Committing the uncommitted
 Building personal stature
 Using research data to support one’s own point of
view
 Restricting communication about real intentions
 Withdrawing from petty disputes

26. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
SERVES SEVERAL USEFUL
PURPOSES
 Overcoming personal inadequacies
 Cope with change
 Channel personal contact
 Substitute for formal authority

27. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
 Kautilya advocated political behavior 2500 years
ago

28.  A permanent relationship is dependent
on particular purpose (or wealth).
 One’s weakness should not ever be
revealed.
 Enemies strike at weak points.
 Good behavior wins even an enemy.
 "A Person Should Not Be Too Honest.
Straight Trees Are Cut First And
Honest People Are Screwed First."

29. MANTRA IS: NEVER SHAREMANTRA IS: NEVER SHARE
YOUR SECRETS WITHYOUR SECRETS WITH
ANYBODY. ! IT WILLANYBODY. ! IT WILL
DESTROY YOU."DESTROY YOU."

30. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
 The Italian philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli
(1513) also advocated political behavior & power
 “Machiavellianism”
 Machiavelli wished those who desired power
should adapt a totally pragmatic approach to life

31.  Political activity is rare when power is highly
centralized

32. POLITICAL TACTICS:
a. Consultation—seeks support through participation.
b. Rational persuasion—attempts to show a "logically" best course of
action.
c. Inspirational appeals—appeals to values and ideals.
d. Ingratiating tactics—designed to make one obligated to another.
e. Coalition tactics—seeks help of others to persuade you.
f. Pressure tactics—uses demands, intimidation, or threats to gain
support.
g. Legitimating—used to gain support by claiming the authority to
ask for your support.
h. Personal Appeals—used to appeal to your feelings of loyalty and
friendship in order to gain your
support.

33. ETHICS OF POWER & POLITICS
 A persons behavior must satisfy three criteria if
it were to be ethical, these are:-
 Criterion of utilitarian outcomes
 Criterion of individual rights
 Criterion of distributive justice

34. JUDGING A POLITICAL ACT AS
ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL

35. EMPOWERMENT
 The process by which managers give others the power to
make decisions affecting their work and themselves is
known as empowerment.
 The concept of empowerment is part of the decentralized
structures found in today’s organizations.
 The trend is to form organizations that are flexible and are
able to take faster decisions.
 Empowerment is the key foundation of self-managing work
teams.

36. EMPOWERMENT
Brownwell notes five reasons whyBrownwell notes five reasons why
empowerment is not universallyempowerment is not universally
embraced:embraced:
 Managers fear the loss of power, control, andManagers fear the loss of power, control, and
authority.authority.
 Employees are not able to make responsible decisions.Employees are not able to make responsible decisions.
 Empowering employees was attempted before and itEmpowering employees was attempted before and it
failed.failed.
 Sharing proprietary information meansSharing proprietary information means
leaking ideas, plans, and knowledge to competitors.leaking ideas, plans, and knowledge to competitors.

37. EMPOWERMENT
as "a process of enhancing feelings of self efficacy‐
among organizational members through the
identification of conditions that foster powerlessness and
through their removal by both formal organizational
practices and informal techniques of providing efficacy
information."

38. STAGES OF EMPOWERMENT
 Identifying organizational conditions
that lead to members' feelings of
powerlessness.
 Implementation of empowerment
strategies, e.g., participative
management, and merit pay.
 Providing information to subordinates
to create feelings of self efficacy.‐
 Feelings of empowerment by
organization members.
 Empowerment feelings translate into
behaviors

39. CONFLICTCONFLICT
 as “the struggle between incompatible or
opposing needs, whishes, ideas, interest or
people. Conflict arises when individuals or
groups encounter goals that both parties cannot
obtain satisfactorily

40.  “Conflict between two individuals or departments
occurs when one party frustrates the attempts of
another.

41. CHANGING VIEWS OF CONFLICT
TRADITIONAL VIEW CURRENT VIEW
Conflict is avoidable Conflict is inevitable
Conflict is caused by management error
in designing organizations or by trouble
makers
Conflict arises from many causes,
including organizational structure,
unavoidable differences in goals,
differences in perceptions & values of
specialized personnel & so on.
Conflict disrupts the organization &
prevents optimal performance
Conflict contributes & detracts from
organizational performance in varying
degrees
The task of the management is to
eliminate conflict
The task of the management is to
manage the level of conflict & its
resolution for optimal organizational
performance
Optimal organizational performance
requires the removal of conflict
Optimal organizational performance
requires a moderate level of conflicts

42. CAUSES OF CONFLICT:

43. RELATION BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL
PERFORMANCE & CONFLICT

44. POSITIVE & NEGATIVE CONFLICT
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Increased involvement Unresolved anger
Increased cohesion Personality clashes
Increased innovation &
creativity
Less self-esteem
Personal growth & change Inefficiency
Clarification of key issues Diversion of energy from work
Organizational vibrancy Psychological well being
threatened
Individual & group identities Wastage of resources
Negative climate
Group cohesion disrupted

45. THE PROCESS OF CONFLICT

50. TYPES OF CONFLICT
 Interpersonal Conflict
Conflict between individuals due to differences
in their goals or values.

51. INTRA-PERSONAL

52. Intragroup Conflict
 Conflict within a group or team.

53. Intergroup Conflict
Conflict between two or more teams or
groups.
Managers play a key role in resolution of
this conflict

54. Interorganizational Conflict
 Conflict that arises across organizations.

56. CONFLICT RESOLUTION
 Conflict Resolution Styles
 Forcing conflict style: person attempts to resolve conflict
by using aggressive behavior
 Avoiding: person attempts to passively ignore the conflict
rather than solve it
 Accommodating: person attempts to resolve the conflict by
passively giving in to the other party
 Compromising: person attempts to resolve the conflict
through assertive give & take concessions
 Collaborating: person attempts to jointly resolve the
conflict with the best solution agreeable to all parties

57. Avoidance
Aggression/ competition
Accommodation
Compromise
Collaboration
Least effort and
results
Maximum effort and
Best results

58. TIPS FOR MANAGING WORKPLACE
CONFLICT
 Have a positive attitude
 Building good relationships
 Not letting small problems escalate, deal with them as they arise
 Respect individual, group differences
 Have an open ear to others perspective on conflict solution
 Be aware of your body language – what are you signaling
 Acknowledge feelings before focusing on facts
 Focus on solving problems, not changing people
 If you can’t resolve the problem, turn to someone who can help
 Adapt your style according to situation & people involved
 Give constructive critic/feedback