Lecture Notes1

Chapter 13

POWER AND POLITICS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Contrast leadership and power.

2. Explain the three bases of formal power and the two bases of personal power.
3. Explain the role of dependence in power relationships.
4. Identify power or influence tactics and their contingencies.
5. Identify the causes and consequences of abuse of power.
6. Describe how politics work in organizations.
7. Identify the causes, consequences, and ethics of political behavior.

1. POWER AND LEADERSHIP

 In organizational behavior (OB), power refers to the capacity that A has to
influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes.
 Someone can thus have power but not use it; it is a capacity or potential.
 Probably the most important aspect of power is that it is a function of
dependence. The greater B’s dependence on A, the greater A’s power in the
relationship.
 If you’re attending college on funds provided by your parents, you probably
recognize the power they hold over you. But once you’re out of school, have a
job, and are making a good income, your parents’ power is reduced
significantly.
 Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals.

How are leadership and power, different?

 Power does not require goal compatibility, just dependence. Leadership, on the
other hand, requires some congruence between the goals of the leader and
those being led.
 A second difference relates to the direction of influence. Leadership focuses on
the downward influence on followers. It minimizes the importance of lateral and
upward influence patterns.
 Leadership often emphasizes style. It seeks answers to questions such as: “How
supportive should a leader be?” and “How much decision making should be
shared with followers?”, the research on power focuses on tactics for gaining
compliance.

1
Adapted from: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2020). Organizational behavior (18th ed.). Pearson
© Deske W. Mandagi, UNKLAB Business School, 2021.
  Leadership concentrates on the individual leader’s influence, while the study of
power acknowledges that groups as well as individuals can use power to
control other individuals or groups.
 For a power situation to exist, one person or group needs to have control over
resources that the other person or group values.

2. BASES OF POWER
Where does power come from? What gives an individual or a group influence over
others?

Formal Power
Formal power is based on an individual’s position in an organization. It can come
from:
1. Coercive Power: A power base that depends on fear of the negative results from
failing to comply. Example: A has coercive power over B if A can dismiss,
suspend, or demote B, assuming B values her job.
2. Reward Power: People comply with because it produces positive benefits;
someone who can distribute rewards that others view as valuable has power
over them.
3. Legitimate Power: The power a person receives as a result of his or her position in
the formal hierarchy of an organization.

Personal Power
Expert power is Influence based on special skills or knowledge. It can come from:

1. Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skills, or

knowledge.
For example, Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder and CEO of Facebook earned the
title “software guy” during college because of his expertise in computer
programming. Today, Facebook depends on his expertise to achieve company
goals.
2. Referent Power is based on identification with a person who has desirable
resources or personal traits. If I like, respect, and admire you, you can exercise
power over me because I want to please you.
Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like
that person. It helps explain, for instance, why celebrities are paid millions of
dollars to endorse products in commercials.

Which Bases of Power Are Most Effective?

Research suggests personal sources of power are most effective:

 Both expert and referent power are positively related to employees’ satisfaction
with supervision, their organizational commitment, and their performance.
 Reward and legitimate power seem to be unrelated to these outcomes.
 One source of formal power—coercive power—can be damaging.
3. DEPENDENCE: THE KEY TO POWER
The General Dependence Postulate
 The greater B’s dependence on A, the more power A has over B. When you
possess anything others require that you alone control, you make them
dependent on you and therefore you gain power over them.
 But if something is plentiful, possessing it will not increase your power. Therefore,
the more you can expand your own options, the less power you place in the
hands of others.
 This explains why most organizations develop multiple suppliers rather than give
their business to only one.
 Independence reduces the power others can wield to limit our access to
opportunities and resources.

What Creates Dependence?

 Dependence increases when the resource you control is important, scarce, and
nonsubstitutable.
- Importance.
o If nobody wants what you have, it’s not going to create dependence.
Note, however, that there are many degrees of importance, from
needing the resource for survival to wanting a resource that is in fashion
or adds to convenience.
- Scarcity.
o Ferruccio Lamborghini, who created the exotic supercars that still carry
his name, understood the importance of scarcity and used it to his
advantage.
o The scarcity–dependence relationship in the power situation of
employment. Where the supply of labor is low relative to demand,
workers can negotiate compensation and benefits packages far more
attractive than those in occupations with an abundance of candidates.
- Nonsubstitutability
o The fewer viable substitutes for a resource, the more power a person
controlling that resource has.
o At universities that value faculty publishing, for example, the more
recognition the faculty member receives through publication, the more
control that person has because other universities want faculty members
who are highly published and visible.

4. POWER TACTICS
What power tactics do people use to translate power bases into specific action?

Research has identified nine distinct influence tactics:

1. Legitimacy. Relying on your authority position or saying that a request is in

accordance with organizational policies or rules.
2. Rational persuasion. Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to
demonstrate that a request is reasonable.
3. Inspirational appeals. Developing emotional commitment by appealing to a
target’s values, needs, hopes, and aspirations.
4. Consultation. Increasing support by involving the target in deciding how to
accomplish your plan.
5. Exchange. Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in exchange for acceding
to a request.
6. Personal appeals. Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty.
7. Ingratiation. Using flattery, praise, or friendly behavior prior to making a request.
8. Pressure. Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats.
9. Coalitions. Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the target to agree.

Using Power Tactics

 Some tactics are more effective than others. Rational persuasion, inspirational
appeals, and consultation tend to be the most effective, especially when the
audience is highly interested in the outcomes of a decision process.
 You can increase your chance of success by using two or more tactics together or
sequentially, as long as your choices are compatible.
 The effectiveness of some influence tactics depends on the direction of influence:
- Rational persuasion is the only tactic effective across organizational levels.
- Inspirational appeals work best as a downward-influencing tactic with
subordinates.
- Personal appeals and coalitions are most effective as lateral influence.

Applying Power Tactics

 People differ in their political skill, or their ability to influence others to attain their own
objectives.
 The politically skilled are:
- more effective users of all influence tactics, leading to many positive
outcomes in the workplace.
- having higher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, work productivity, and career
success
- less likely to be victims of workplace aggression.
- able to exert their influence without others detecting it.

5. HOW POWER AFFECTS PEOPLE

 Power leads people to place their own interests ahead of others’ needs or goals.
 Power also appears to lead individuals to “objectify” others (to see them as tools to
obtain their instrumental goals) and to see relationships as more peripheral.
 Powerful people react—especially negatively—to any threats to their competence.
People in positions of power hold on to power when they can, and individuals who
face threats to their power are exceptionally willing to take actions to retain it
whether their actions harm others or not.
 Those given power are more likely to make self-interested decisions when faced with
a moral hazard.
 People in power are more willing to denigrate others.
 Power also leads to overconfident decision making.

Power Variables
Power doesn’t affect everyone in the same way, and there are even positive effects of
power:

 The toxic effects of power depend on the wielder’s personality. Research suggests
that if we have an anxious personality, power does not corrupt us because we are
less likely to think that using power benefits us.
 The corrosive effect of power can be contained by organizational systems. One
study found, for example, that while power made people behave in a self-serving
manner, when accountability for this behavior was initiated, the self-serving
behavior stopped.
 We have the means to blunt the negative effects of power. One study showed that
simply expressing gratitude toward powerful others makes them less likely to act
aggressively against us.
 People most likely to abuse power are those who start low in status and gain power.
Why? It appears having low status is threatening, and the fear this creates is used in
negative ways if power is later given.

6. POLITICS: POWER IN ACTION

Definition of Organizational Politics
 Political behavior in organizations consists of activities that are not required as part
of an individual’s formal role but that influence, or attempt to influence, the
distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.
 This definition encompasses what most people mean when they talk about
organizational politics:
- Political behavior is outside specified job requirements. It requires some attempt
to use power bases.
- It includes efforts to influence the goals, criteria, or processes used for decision
making.
 The definition includes varied political behaviors such as:
- withholding key information from decision makers
- joining a coalition
- whistle-blowing
- spreading rumors
- leaking confidential information to the media
- exchanging favors with others for mutual benefit
- lobbying on behalf of or against a particular individual or decision alternative.
The Reality of Politics
 Interviews with experienced managers show that most believe political behavior is a
major part of organizational life.
 Many managers report some use of political behavior is ethical, as long as it doesn’t
directly harm anyone else.
 They describe politics as necessary and believe someone who never uses political
behavior will have a hard time getting things done.
 Most also indicate that they have never been trained to use political behavior
effectively.

7. THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

Factors Contributing to Political Behavior
Individual Factors
At the individual level, researchers have identified certain personality traits, needs, and
other factors likely to be related to political behavior:

- High self-monitors. The high self-monitor is more sensitive to social cues, exhibits
higher levels of social conformity, and is more likely to be skilled in political
behavior than the low self-monitor.
- Internal locus of control. Because they believe they can control their
environment, individuals with an internal locus of control are more prone to take
a proactive stance and attempt to manipulate situations in their favor.
- High Machiavellian personality. The Machiavellian personality trait—
characterized by the will to manipulate and the desire for power—is consistent
with using politics as a means to further personal interests.
- Organizational investment. The more a person expects increased future benefits
from the organization, and the more that person has to lose if forced out, the less
likely he or she is to use illegitimate means.
- Perceived job alternatives. The more alternate job opportunities an individual
has—due to a favorable job market, possession of scarce skills or knowledge,
prominent reputation, or influential contacts outside the organization—the more
likely the person is to employ politics
- Expectations of success. An individual with low expectations of success from
political means is unlikely to use them. High expectations from such measures are
most likely to be the province of both experienced and powerful individuals with
polished political skills, and inexperienced and naïve employees who misjudge
their chances.

Organizational Factors
- Reallocation of resources. When resources are reduced, people may engage in
political actions to safeguard what they have. Also, any changes, especially
those implying significant reallocation of resources within the organization, are
likely to stimulate conflict and increase politicking.
 - Promotion opportunities. When there is opportunity for promotions, politicking is
more likely to surface.
- Cultural characteristics (Low trust, role ambiguity, unclear performance
evaluation system, zero-sum reward practices, democratic decision making, high
performance pressures, self-serving senior managers) will also create breeding
grounds for politicking.

How Do People Respond to Organizational Politics?

 For most people who have modest political skills or are unwilling to play the politics
game, outcomes tend to be predominantly negative:
- Decreased job satisfaction
- Increased anxiety and stress
- Increased turnover
- Reduced performance
 When employees see politics as a threat, they often respond with defensive
behaviors—reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change.

Impression Management
 Impression management (IM) is defined as the process by which individuals attempt
to control the impressions that others form of them is called impression management
(IM).
 When people engage in IM, they are sending a false message that might be true
under other circumstances.
 Impression Management (IM) Techniques includes:
- Conformity. Agreeing with someone else’s opinion to gain his or her approval is a
form of ingratiation.
Example: A manager tells his boss, “You’re absolutely right on your reorganization
plan for the western regional office. I couldn’ t agree with you more.”
- Favors. Doing something nice for someone to gain that person’ s approval is a
form of ingratiation.
Example: A salesperson says to a prospective client, “I’ve got two tickets to the
theater tonight that I can’t use. Take them. Consider it a thank-you for taking the
time to talk with me.”
- Excuses. Explaining a predicament-creating event aimed at minimizing the
apparent severity of the predicament is a defensive IM technique.
Example: A sales manager says to her boss, “We failed to get the ad in the
paper on time, but no one responds to those ads anyway.”
- Apologies. Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously
seeking to get a pardon for the action is a defensive IM technique.
Example: An employee says to his boss, “I’m sorry I made a mistake on the
report. Please forgive me.”
- Self-Promotion. Highlighting your best qualities, downplaying your deficits, and
calling attention to your achievements is a self-focused IM technique.
 Example: A salesperson tells his boss, “Matt worked unsuccessfully for three years
to try to get that account. I sewed it up in six weeks. I’m the best closer this
company has.”
- Enhancement. Claiming that something you did is more valuable than most
other members of the organizations would think is a self-focused IM technique.
Example: A journalist tells his editor, “My work on this celebrity divorce story was
really a major boost to our sales” (even though the story only made it to page 3
in the entertainment section).
- Flattery. Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make yourself
appear perceptive and likeable is an assertive IM technique.
Example: A new sales trainee says to her peer, “You handled that client’s
complaint so tactfully! I could never have handled that as well as you did.”
- Exemplification.
Doing more than you need to in an effort to show how dedicated and hard
working you are is an assertive IM technique.
Example: An employee sends e-mails from his work computer when he works late
so that his supervisor will know how long he’s been working.

The Ethics of Behaving Politically

 One thing to keep in mind is whether it’s worth the risk.
 Another issue to consider is whether the utility of engaging in the political behavior
will balance out harm (or potential harm) to others. Complimenting a supervisor on
her appearance in order to curry favor is probably much less harmful than
grabbing credit for a project that others deserve.
 Finally, does the political activity conform to standards of equity and justice?