...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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...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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...communication, power and politics in organizations Introduction Organizations establishment function to fulfill needs of the people. In today’s competitive and yet challenging world, the organizations have to be growth-oriented. Organizations are composed of number of individuals working independently or in teams, and number of such teams makes a department and number of such departments makes an organization. It is a formal structure and all departments have to function in a coordinated manner to achieve the organizational objective [1]. The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcomes are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from. Perceived Behavioral Control is the individual’s belief concerning how easy or difficult performing the behavior will be. Pertaining to that matter, perception plays a key part in the organization behavior. Thus, factors such as the efficient of communication, use of power authority and empowerment of the politics within organizations...
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...THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON THE WORK OF THE INTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL by Julie A. Paleen Aronow A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master of Science Degree in Training and Development Approved: 4 Semester Credits Dr. Kat Lui The Graduate College University of Wisconsin – Stout May, 2004 ii The Graduate School University of Wisconsin – Stout Menomonie, WI 54751 ABSTRACT Aronow Julie Ann Paleen ________________________________________________________________________ (Last Name) (First) (Middle) THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON THE WORK OF THE INTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL ________________________________________________________________________ (Title) Training and Development Dr. Kat Lui May 2004 65 ________________________________________________________________________ (Graduate Major) (Research Advisor) (Month/Year) (No. of Pages) American Psychological Association, 5th Edition ________________________________________________________________________ (Name of Style Manual Used in this Study) The coveted epicenter for the contemporary human resource professional is partnering with other internal business leaders to fulfill the organization’s mission through sound and ethical business principles and human resource practices. Over three decades, the discipline has matured into one that includes transactional practices along side the more sophisticated organizational development and...
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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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...and organizational variables that impact employee morale. * Explain, using examples, the impact of individual perception on morale. * Discuss how employee empowerment and decision-making autonomy impact morale. * Develop recommendations for initiative that organizations can implement to positively affect employee morale. Organizational Politics, It's Moderators and Impact on Work Attitudes, Work Outcomes and at large on the Organization. 1. Introduction: Organizational politics fulfills the self-serving interests of the employees sometimes even at the cost of organizational performance. The literature review looks at the different aspects and impacts of the organizational politics. The company politics decreases the first-rate management, good quality schedules, and good spirits or morale. These things are directly and positively related to some other things too, hence when these (the above-mentioned) things are adversely affected; they also impact good communication, quality of individual performance, technical success and eventually commercial success. Another interesting finding of which the managers need to be well aware of is that politics can emerge due to the increase in the commercial success and hence more commercial success leads to more politics, which (politics) in turn through different routes reduces the commercial success and therefore the decrease in the commercial success causes lower politics. (Voyer, 1994) The organizational politics is...
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...Power and Politics : Chapter 19 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. French and Raven, social psychologists, identified five sources of power - coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent. Coercive power is based on fear and is the ability to influence another person through threats or fear of punishment. Reward power is a positive power which refers to the ability to get things done through others on the basis of one's power to grant rewards. Legitimate power depends on organizational position and authority. It refers to the power conferred by...
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...POWER AND POLITICS Politics in work places simply put is about getting noticed and liked by the right people in other to advance up the career ladder in an organization and also to achieve position of power that confers a status of relevance in the scheme of affairs in an organization. This definition is supported by an old saying that ‘’it’s not what you know ,but who you know’’. It is upon this premise that human beings are classified as political animals and as such it is difficult to eliminate politics from workplaces.’’ While teamwork may be extolled as an organizational virtue ,in the real practice, workplaces are likely to be characterized by competition and conflicts as it is by cooperation (Fineman and Gabriel,1996). Politics is a means through which individual self-interests are pursued without regard to the their effect in the realization of the organizations objectives .Organizational politics is arguably one of the most researched concepts in the field of management’’ ( Boateng et al ,2013)the researches here are to understand the impact of organizational politics on business entities. One of these studies propagates that organizational politics may affect decision making and allocation of resources in an organization amongst other factors. Power on the other hand is the ability of a person or a group to influence others. If a person have influence, he or she is perceived as powerful. A person may hold power by having the ability to make decision, apportion...
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...Managing conflict Name Institution Thesis Management of conflicts, power, and politics focuses majorly on the interpersonal processes the affect the decision-making by the managers. It may also entail the organizational way of change and adaptation of their immediate environment. It includes the capacity to influence the behavior of others in a relationship involving two parties like groups, organization, or even countries. Organizational politics is the process of one person exerting more influence over another in the relationship acted on daily forum of an organization. Conflict management is a common phenomenon in organizations (Rainey, 2009). Managing conflict aims at lessening the interdependent between the conflicting groups. It can involve physical separation of the conflicting parties. Physical separation buffers the creation of the inventory between the units of workflow making it less independent and reduces conflict. Generally, conflict is unending in any society where people live together. Introduction Many people and organization wish to compete peacefully with their market competitors, family members, and organizational departments. However, conflicts are inseparable from persons they form part of our daily living. Conflicts are the long live Methuselah and were present even in the beginning between the two brothers that is Cain and Abel. The term conflict has no definite meaning but scholars who are interested in studying it...
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...The principle for both politics and power is the extent of an interconnection between individuals. As individuals pursue their own goals in a firm, they must also deal with the interest of others. Managers may see a power gap. The power gap and its associated political dynamics are twofold. One is that power and politics represent a closure of organizational life. Organizations are not equally comprised of individuals with the same power. Some people have a lot more clot than others. There are winners and losers in the battle of resources and rewards. Another is that politics and power are essential means of the organization and used in getting the work completed by managers. Many more organizational members can win when managers isolate the situations in which the individual and interest alike in the organization (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). Compare and Contrast Power and Politics in Organizations. Within each organization a manager's power is in large part determined by his or her position and personal power and by his or her ability to build upon combinations of these sources. An essential source of power accessible to a manager derived only from his or her position in the organization. Specifically, position power derived from roots joined with the position. The essential perspectives of position power: legitimate, representative, information, coercive, reward, and process power. Position power enhances whereas a manager capable of demonstrating to others...
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...Power and Politics An individual sets out in life, and in work, to achieve his or her own goals, and to promote his or her own interests. Therefore, in a hierarchal setting of an organization, individuals will naturally contend for their own interests. Aided by the use of personal power, politics, influence, and empowerment, many individuals achieve their goals within organizations. Through analyzing power and politics in the workplace and organization, one may understand the organizational behavior that is touched by power and politics in the workplace (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Leadership Practices that Influence Organizations A key organizational management and leadership practice that influences an organization is the exhibition of power and the resulting influence that exhibit of power has on organizational behavior. According to Schermerhorn, et. al., “Power is the ability to get someone else to do something you want done, or the ability to make things happen or get things done the way you want. The essence of power is control over the behavior of others” (p. 214, 2008). In contrast to power, which is the energy behind making people behave in a certain way, “influence is what an individual has when he or she exercises power, and it is expressed by others’ behavioral response to that exercise of power” (Schermerhorn, et. al, p. 215, 2008). Together, power and influence in an organization or workplace are fundamental behavioral practices that influence an organization...
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...VIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS* PATRICIA BRADSHAW-CAMBALL AND VICTOR V. MURRAY York University, 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ontario, Canada Despite recent and growing interest in organizational politics, conceptual thought in this area tends to be dominated by a single theoretical perspective. In this paper we describe and contrast three views of organizational politics (functionalist, interpretive and radical) according to their differing structures, processes and outcomes. Each view, or lens, directs attention to some aspects of politics and away from others, and each has strengths and weaknesses embedded in it. In order to assess whether multiple perspectives on politics can be fruitfully applied simultaneously, we describe and analyze a case of a hospital administration engaged in budgeting games and illusion making. The data for the case were collected using naturalistic inquiry and multiple methods including structured and unstructured interviews, review of documents, observation of meetings and casual interaction facilitated by frequent visits over a ten-month period. The case revolves around the hospital administrators' attempts to deal with what they termed a "disastrous deficit" and the most serious financial situation in the hospital's history. Strategies for dealing with the funding agency and board of directors included the management of meaning and communications about the term "deficit." The three perspectives on organizational politics highlight...
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...[pic] LOVELY SCHOOL OF BUISNESS AND ARTS DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT TERM PAPER TOPIC:POWER AND POLITICS IN CORPORATE SECTOR Submitted to Regards, Miss Tejbir Kaur Kaushal Kishore(RR1903B42) POWER AND POLITICS IN CORPORATE SECTOR Contents: ➢ Introduction ➢ Power empowerment ➢ Objectives Of Power & Politics ➢ Defination of power ➢ Types of power ➢ Graphical Representation of power ➢ Defination Of Politics ➢ How power and politics means in corporate sector? ➢ Relate power and poltics ➢ Methodology ➢ Conclusion INTRODUCTION Power and Politics have been described as the last dirty words. People who got power but they supposed to deny and sometimes they misuse their power and they want it not to try and not look like they are seeking it, and those who are good at getting it are secretive and how they have to do so. Politic also plays an important role in corporate sector. All things should mentioned below, how they supposed to use their political work in an organization. By harassing the employees and specially the ladies for their sexual...
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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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...MGT4110: Organizational Behavior Power & Politics Professor Dr. AAhad M. Osman-Gani, MBA, MA, PhD (USA) Department of Business Administration Kulliyyah of Economics & Management Sciences 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 dependency. A person can have power over you only if he or she controls something you desire. 13-2 Power and Dependence Person B’s countervailing power over Person A Person A Person A’s control of resource valued by Person B Resource desired by person B Person B Person A’s power over Person B 10-3 Contrasting Leadership and Power • Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals. • Leaders achieve goals, and power is a means of facilitating their achievement. 13-4 Contrasting Leadership and Power - Goal compatibility Power does not require goal compatibility, merely dependence. - The direction of influence Leadership focuses on the downward influence on one’s followers. 13-5 Five Bases of Power Formal Power: Legitimate Power Reward Power Coercive Power Personal Power: Expert Power Referent Power 13-6 Bases of Power Legitimate Agreement that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors of others Based on job descriptions and mutual agreement Legitimate power range varies across national...
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