...INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS POLITICS Power is the capacity to influence others through the control of instruments of reward and punishment – which can be tangible or intangible. Definitions of power abound. German sociologist, Max Weber defined power as "the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance." Along similar lines, Emerson suggests that "The power of actor A over actor B is the amount of resistance on the part of B which can be potentially overcome by A." Power appears to involve one person changing the behavior of one or more other individuals – particularly if that behavior would not have taken place otherwise. Sources of Power are: (vi) Legitimate power – derived from the position e.g. kingship, managerial (vii) Reward Power – derived from control of resources e.g. promotion, recommendation, training etc (viii) Referent power– derived from association with powerful people (ix) Coercive power – uses the ability to force other people to act against their wishes through the fear of punishment. (x) Expert power – derived from the possession of expert knowledge or information that others need but have no alternative access. Politics is also the study of influence and the influential • Influence is measured on the basis of the number of shares one or a group has in the preferred values or attributes • The more values or attributes shared...
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...Discuss the concept of power and organizational politics using a situation you are familiar with, describe how power and politics have manifested itself. Introduction There is no accepted definition of politics and power but many scholars have attempted to define it and what is commonly among them is that, politics is ubiquitous in nature. Politics is indeed human, and one cannot separate politics from human activity. This means that whatever we do we are simply exercising the concept of politics whether in our organization, the economy, the family, the school, the media and finally in the political arena. Politics is to be found both vertically and horizontally in our society that is, from all the socio-economic and political angles of the society. This is universal in nature since it was captured in the works of a classical writer Aristotle, it is Aristotle that argues “man is not only a social animal but political in nature”. It is according to this statement that we engage in politics for the desired end to be achieved, “seek ye the political kingdom and shall be added unto it, for a man without politics there is no beatitude”. This line of thinking was also coined to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah the former president of Ghana. The aforesaid line of thinking signify that, we only engage on our organizational matters and other aspects of our life with a clear mind set of politics so that we can achieve the goals and the objectives that are a target to the relevant organization. The...
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...Organizational Influence of Power, and Politics October 5, 2013 Abstract In researching power and politics, you find that they play a very key and large role in how the world works. This is especially true in the world of business. These influences govern how everyday decisions are made, and even how employees interact with one another. In businesses both large and small, the impact of power and control depends completely on the individuals using it and what their long-term goals are. Ultimately politics may directly influence who has the overall power and determine what the culture of the workplace will become. This paper demonstrates how the sensitive uses of power and politics affects our everyday lives. It also shows recognition to the importance of personalities, diversification, and fair power distributions, and how these traits can ultimately improve the overall quality of organizational life. Introduction Power and politics, two substantial and critical components of business, people desire to have the achievement and preservation of power, especially to wield the art of its influence. Humans are by nature competitive and anyone can see that competition surrounds us everywhere in the business world. Those who desire great success, the ability to have large incomes and social influence drives many people. Some people more than others perhaps get caught up in the competitive nature of the business world. Some...
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...2. 3. 4. Understand the nature and sources of organizational conflict Know the mechanisms to obtain power, influence decision making and resolve conflict Identify sources of organizational power and tactics for playing politics Evaluate the costs and benefits of organizational politics 2 What is Organizational Conflict? • • • • Stakeholders compete for the resources that an organization produces. Shareholders want dividends, employees want raises. An organization must manage both cooperation and competition among stakeholders to grow and survive. All stakeholders have a common goal of organizational survival, but not all goals are identical. 3 What is Organizational Conflict? • The clash that occurs when the goaldirected behavior of one group blocks or hinders the goals of another Some conflict can actually improve organizational effectiveness – Can overcome inertia and lead to learning and change • 4 Cooperation and Competition Among Stakeholders 5 What is Organizational Conflict? • Beyond a certain point, conflict becomes a cause for organizational decline – Conflict leads to inability to reach consensus and indecision – Too much time spent on bargaining rather than acting rapidly to resolve problems • On balance, organizations should be open to conflict and recognize its value 6 Relationship Between Conflict and Organizational Effectiveness 7 Pondy’s Model of Organizational Conflict Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage...
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...CHAPTER 7 Power, Politics, and Leadership The purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with new insights into power and politics so that they can make better use of power and politics and thus lead others effectively. Chapter 8 is a continuation of this topic, but with a description of various influence tactics. CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES To function effectively, leaders must use power effectively, including applying political tactics to acquire and retain power. I. SOURCES AND TYPES OF POWER To exercise influence, a leader must have power, the potential or ability to influence decisions and control resources. A. Position Power A standard method of classifying power is based on whether the power stems from the organization or the individual. 1. Legitimate Power. Power granted by the organization is referred to as legitimate power. This power increases as one moves up the organization ladder. 2. Reward Power. The authority to give employees rewards for compliance is referred to as reward power. 3. Coercive Power. The power to punish for noncompliance is referred to as coercive power. It is based on fear. 4. Information Power. Having formal control over information that people need to do their work is referred to as information power. B. Personal Power Three sources of power stem from characteristics or behaviors of the power actor: expert power, referent power, and prestige power. All are...
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...Chapter 13 - Organizational, Political, and Personal Power Power = the ability to influence due to the origin of the power ** Having power gives one the potential to change the attitudes and behaviors of individual people and groups ** Ex: A scientist who is an expert witness in court has power due to his or her expertise Authority = the rights one has due to one’s position. -right to command, accompanies any management positions and is a source of legitimate power, although components of management, authority, and power are also necessary, to a degree, for successful leadership Ex: Human Resources office has the authority to negotiate one’s rate of pay, but not the authority to fire that employee Authority-Power Gap - Right to command does not ensure that employees will follow orders = Gap between position of authority and subordinate response Types of Power Reward power = obtained by the ability to grant favors or reward others with whatever they value Coercive power = the opposite of reward power, is based on fear of punishment if the manager’s expectations are not met Legitimate power = position power; authority - power gained by a little or official positions within an organization Expert power = gained through knowledge, expertise, or experience. - having critical knowledge allows a manager to gain power over others who need that knowledge Referent power = power that a person has because others identify...
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...In this paper we will discuss the case study of Thomas Green, we will discuss how Thomas made got to the position he is in and what power bases were used to try and influence him. We will further discuss how these power bases could have been used better to gain compliance from Thomas. The use of power in the case study is apparent through the actions of Thomas’ boss, Davis and the division Vice President McDonald. Thomas Green holds the position of Senior Market Specialist with Dynamic Displays, a company that provides self-service options to many different organizations. Green was promoted to this position after six months of working for Dynamic Displays. Green was selected for promotion into this position by Shannon McDonald, the Travel Division Vice President. Green reports to the Marketing Director, Frank Davis, Davis has been with Dynamic Displays for 17 years. Davis was slightly upset by McDonald promoting Green into the Senior Market Specialist position, as he believed that he would be selecting the person to be promoted. When McDonald promoted Green she informed him that she was apprehensive because of his lack of managerial experience and his new position was very different from his past sales positions. Less than a month into his new position Green attended the 2008 Budget Plan meeting presented by Davis. This was Green’s first time seeing the planning and forecasting process. In the meeting Davis presented a growth for Green’s region that he did not agree with...
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...Bases of Power There are five bases of power in the given organization. The first base of power is reward power. Reward power is defined as being the opposite of coercive power and that “people comply with the wishes or directives of another because doing so produces positive benefits” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, pg. 471.) Employee 1 in the scenario wants to receive the bonus that he/she will be granted upon the successful completion of his/her annual evaluation. To ensure his/her tasks are finished and that they are correct, Employee 1 oftentimes works over his/her scheduled 40 hour work week by working late and on weekends at the encouragement of the marketing manager. The marketing manager often reminds the Employee 1 and his/her peers of the yearly bonus. The employee complying with the wishes of the marketing manager for he/she to work late so he/she will receive a good performance evaluation, thus resulting in the receipt of the desired bonus is an example of Employee 1 being affected by reward power. The marketing manager uses the second base of power, which is legitimate power. Legitimate power is defined as “the formal authority to control and use organizational resources” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, pg. 472.) The marketing manager being the person responsible for the evaluation of the employees, thus affecting whether or not Employee 1 receives the bonus he/she really wants is a demonstration of this power. The distribution of a bonus to an employee is an example of...
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...Power And Politics In Organizations One of the most desired human wants is power. In the business world, power and politics, to a large extent, determine the growth, stability and continual success of companies. Before comparing and contrasting power and politics in organizations it would be beneficial to define each term. For the purpose of this paper, power is defined as the exercise of influence or control over another’s behavior, while politics is defined as the tactics used to obtain a desired goal, position or status in a company. Two examples of the abuse of power and politics, as it relates to management and leadership in an organization, is the failure of the management of some companies to give credit where it is due and the underhanded practices used by others for career advancement. Power and politics are the top two elements used in a company that either can cause the downfall or success of that company. Knowing the positions of power and politics and the role they play in a company is critical to the awareness of organizational ethics and leadership practices. The organizational management and leadership practice of a company depend largely on power and politics. Power and politics within an organization involves resources, money, people, time and authority. Power is established by social responsibility, control, behavior, organizational culture, and empowered management teams. Politics is established by a personal structure surrounded by traditional and non-traditional...
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...Eunice Oyewole MBA 613 – Organizational Behavior Dr. Herbert Sherman Section V – Article 1-6 Power and Influence is the topic for section V, it discussed six of the most important ideas on power and influence. It also defined power as the resource that allows leaders to influence people to do what they would normally not want to do. The first selection from the section is by Niccolo Machiavelli titled, “Is it better to be Loved than to be Feared,” from the book “The Prince”. Machiavelli’s whole idea is that it is better to have both loved and feared but if it’s not possible to have both, then it’s better to be feared because fear is more reliable than love. He proposed that a relationship based on love alone tends to be fickle, short lived, and easily terminated when there is no fear of retribution. While on the other hand, relationships based on fear tends to last longer because individual must be ready to ‘pay the price’ before terminating the relationship. He also made a warning about how leaders have to be careful and not let the fear turn into hatred because hatred usually educes unconcealed behavior in terms of retaliation, undermining, and possibly attempt to overthrow or rebellion. The second article, “The Bases of Social Power,” by John R.P. French Jr. and Bertram Raven discussed about five major bases of power, which are, expert power, referent power, reward power, legitimate power, and coercive power. Leadership and power tends to go hand-in-hand because people follow...
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...AND ADMINISTRATION VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1, 2012 Power and Leadership: An Influence Process Fred C. Lunenburg Sam Houston State University ABSTRACT Power is the ability to influence others. One of the most influential theories of power comes from the work of French and Raven, who attempted to determine the sources of power leaders use to influence others. French and Raven identified five sources of power that can be grouped into two categories: organizational power (legitimate, reward, coercive) and personal power (expert and referent). Generally, the personal sources of power are more strongly related to employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance than are the organizational power sources. One source of organizational power—coercive power—is negatively related to work outcomes. However, the various sources of power should not be thought of as completely separate from each other. Sometimes leaders use the sources of power together in varying combinations depending on the situation. A new concept of power, referred to as “empowerment,” has become a major strategy for improving work outcomes. What comes to mind when you think of the term “power”? Does it elicit positive or negative feelings? In both research and practice, power has been described as a dirty word. Consider the Enron scandal (McLean & Elkind, 2003). Certainly it is easy to think of leaders who have used power for unethical or immoral purposes (Brown, 2006; Flynn...
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...interested in Roger’s ideas about International marketing. She promised that she will recommend Roger to that respective International job but, at the end there was another person who was picked to head the Europe branch of ABC Company and the Managing Director tells Roger that Sarath has influenced the selection committee that Roger is really undecided about the entire international scenario and he’s not sure about the decision. Furthermore, Managing Directress stresses to Roger that he didn’t sell his idea properly to Sarath. 1.1 Question 1 Who had power in this organization? What type of power did Sarath Silva have? Organizational power is referred to as the ability to get things done despite the determination and struggle of others to or the capability to win political fights and outmaneuver the opposition (Luthans, 2011). This has negative impact in many organizations because certain managers use their power and attempt to use...
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...2 Jessica Emmons JFT2 Organizational Management Task 1 July 30, 2014 1. Bill Bailey – chairman of the board of the Utah Opera Organization a. Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation is a model of motivation that explains how people strive for fairness and justice in social exchanges or give-and-take relationships. The organizational justice theory is an expansion of the equity theory that works to explain employees’ attitudes and behaviors and reflects the extent to which people perceive that they are treated fairly at work. There are three different components of organizational justice: i. Distributive justice – the perceived fairness of how resources and rewards are allocated ii. Procedural justice – the perceived fairness of the process and procedures used to make allocation decisions iii. Interactional justice – the extent to which people feel fairly treated when procedures are implemented (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010) Bill Bailey’s concerns regarding the merger focus mainly on the financial stability and flexibility of the opera versus the symphony and the fear that the opera will lose its identity. According to Mr. Bailey, the opera has a reserve fund and is financially stable. In addition, as a result of the current business model, the opera has the flexibility to adjust the size of opera or eliminate projects if necessary, while the symphony has a 52-week orchestra without any flexibility...
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...ARGUMENT AGAINST (Opposition) WE ARE FOR FORMAL POWER STRUCTURES!!! Persuasion skills exert a far greater influence over others behaviour than formal power structures do. To follow on from Colum’s intro: According to research conducted by the Harvard Business Review “Persuasion is widely perceived as a skill reserved for selling products and closing deals. It is also commonly seen as just another form of manipulation—devious and to be avoided”. “You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action” (Iacocca, 2007, p. 12). Lee Iacocca, a transformational leader that transformed the American car industry as CEO of Chrysler Automotive Corporation. Sources of Power When most people think about power, their minds go immediately to the control that high-level leaders exert from their positions atop the organizational hierarchy. But power extends far beyond the formal authority that comes from a title (or from having a corner office with a view). Leaders at all levels have access to power; often that power goes unrecognized or underutilized. Previous research in this area has identified seven bases of power that leaders may leverage: Informal Power The most powerful person in your department is not necessarily your manager. Instead, the person with the most influence, who can lead others to achieve a goal or accomplish a certain task, may enjoy that position of power. Informal power in an organization refers to the ability to...
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...How much position and personnel power do leaders need to be effective? Power has been the subject of much research. The purpose of this essay is to establish how much power leaders need to be effective. Although effective leaders rely more on personal power than on position power, some position is important in order to get the job done. The amount and type of power required depends on the situation, whether the influence is upward, downward or lateral, whether goal congruence exists, the size and make-up of the group as well as the targeted outcome (compliance or commitment). Too much position power should be avoided as it can lead to abuse of the power and hence negative outcomes, yet too little position power will limit a leader from being effective. Also research has found complex interrelations between power bases. Effective leaders need a moderate amount of position power to make decisions, implement changes and punish ongoing belligerent behaviour and they need fairly high level personal power to create relationships, trust and respect and persuade target persons of the benefits of undertaking a task or project and therefore obtain commitment rather than simple compliance. While effective leaders have great skills in influencing target persons, they must also be receptive to influence from others. Leadership is about influencing people to achieve the objectives and goals of the organisation, tasks or projects. Effective leaders influence subordinates to carry out their...
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