Power and Politics

Dr. Feba Thomas

 Define Power and Contrast Leadership and
Power (1 of 2)

• 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 dependence.
• A person can have power over you only if he or she
controls something you desire.
Define Power and Contrast Leadership and
Power (2 of 2)
• Leaders use power as a means of attaining group
goals.
• Goal compatibility
• Power does not require goal compatibility,
merely dependence.
• The direction of influence.
• Leadership focuses on the downward influence
on one’s followers.
• Leadership research emphasizes style.
Explain Formal Power and Personal
Power (1 of 2)
• Formal Power
• Coercive Power
• Reward Power
• Legitimate Power
• Personal Power
• Expert Power
• Referent Power
 Explain Formal Power and Personal
Power (2 of 2)

• Which Bases of Power Are Most Effective?

• Personal sources are most effective.
• Both expert and referent power are positively
related to employees’ satisfaction with
supervision, their organizational commitment,
and their performance, whereas reward and
legitimate power seem to be unrelated to these
outcomes.
• Coercive power can be damaging.
Explain the Role of Dependence in Power
Relationships (1 of 3)
• The General Dependency Postulate
• When you possess anything others require but
that you alone control, you make them dependent
upon you and, therefore, you gain power over
them.
• Dependence, then, is inversely proportional to
the alternative sources of supply.
Explain the Role of Dependence in
Power Relationships (2 of 3)
• What Creates Dependence?
• Importance
• Scarcity
• Nonsubstitutability
Explain the Role of Dependence
in Power Relationships (3 of 3)
Exhibit 11-1 An Organizational Sociogram
Identify Power or Influence Tactics
and their Contingencies
• Influence tactics:
• Legitimacy
• Rational persuasion
• Inspirational appeals
• Consultation
• Exchange
• Personal appeals
• Ingratiating
• Pressure
• Coalitions
 Identify Nine Power or Influence
Tactics and their Contingencies (1 of 4)

• Some tactics are more effective than others.

• Rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, and
consultation are most effective when the
audience is highly interested in the outcomes.
• Pressure tends to backfire.
• Both ingratiation and legitimacy can lessen the
negative reactions from appearing to “dictate”
outcomes.
 Identify Nine Power or Influence
Tactics and their Contingencies (2 of 4)

Exhibit 11-2 Preferred Power Tactics by Influence Direction

Upward Influence Downward Influence Lateral Influence

Rational persuasion Rational persuasion Rational
persuasion
Inspirational appeals Consultation
Pressure Ingratiation
Consultation Exchange
Ingratiation Legitimacy
Exchange Personal appeals
Legitimacy Coalitions
Identify Nine Power or Influence
Tactics and their Contingencies (3 of 4)
• People in different countries prefer different
power tactics.
• Individualistic countries see power in
personalized terms and as a legitimate means of
advancing their personal ends.
• Collectivistic countries see power in social terms
and as a legitimate means of helping others.
 Identify Nine Power or Influence
Tactics and their Contingencies (4 of 4)

• Applying Power Tactics

• People differ in terms of their political skill: their
ability to influence others to enhance their own
objectives.
• The politically skilled are more effective users
of all the influence tactics.
• Cultures within organizations differ markedly: some
are warm, relaxed, and supportive; others are
formal and conservative.
• People who fit the culture of the organization
tend to obtain more influence.
Causes and Consequences of Abuse of
Power (1 of 4)
• Does power corrupt?
– Power leads people to place their own interests
ahead of others.
– Powerful people react, especially negatively, to
any threats to their competence.
– Power leads to overconfident decision making.
– Power doesn’t affect everyone in the same way,
and there are even positive effects of power.
Causes and Consequences of Abuse of
Power (2 of 4)
• Sexual harassment: any unwanted activity of a
sexual nature that affects an individual’s
employment and creates a hostile work environment.
• Organizations have generally made progress in
the past decade toward limiting overt forms of
sexual harassment.
• Managers have a responsibility to protect their
employees from a hostile work environment, but
they also need to protect themselves.
Causes and Consequences of Abuse of
Power (3 of 4)
• Mangers should:
• Make sure an active policy defines what
constitutes sexual harassment, informs
employees they can be fired for sexually
harassing another employee, and establishes
procedures for how complaints can be made.
• Reassure employees that they will not encounter
retaliation if they issue a complaint.
 Causes and Consequences of Abuse of
Power (4 of 4)

• In addition, managers should:

• Investigate every complaint and include the
legal and human resource departments.
• Make sure offenders are disciplined or
terminated.
• Set up in-house seminars to raise employee
awareness of the issues surrounding sexual
harassment.
Describe How Politics Work in
Organizations (1 of 2)
• Political behavior: activities that are not required
as part of one’s formal role in the organization, but
that influence the distribution of advantages within
the organization.
• Outside of one’s specified job requirements.
• Encompasses efforts to influence decision-
making goals, criteria, or processes.
• Includes such behaviors as withholding
information, whistle-blowing, spreading rumors,
and leaking confidential information.
 Describe How Politics Work in
Organizations (2 of 2)

OB POLL Importance of Organizational Politics from

Source: Based on D. Crampton, “Is How Americans Feel about Their Jobs Changing?” (September 28, 2012),
http://corevalues.com/employee-motivation/is-how-americans-feel-about-their-jobs-changing.
 Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (1 of 7)

Exhibit 11-3 Factors That Influence Political Behavior

 Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (2 of 7)

Exhibit 11-4 Employee Responses to Organizational Politics from

 Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (3 of 7)

Exhibit 11-5 Defensive Behaviors

Avoiding Action
Overconforming. Strictly interpreting your responsibility by saying things like “The rules clearly
state...”or “This is the way we’ve always done it.”
Buck passing. Transferring responsibility for the execution of a task or decision to someone
else.
Playing dumb. Avoiding an unwanted task by falsely pleading ignorance or inability.
Stretching. Prolonging a task so that one person appears to be occupied—for example, turning a
two-week task into a 4-month job.
Stalling. Appearing to be more or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing privately.
Avoiding Blame
Bluffing. Rigorously documenting activity to project an image of competence and thoroughness,
known as “covering your rear.”
Playing safe. Evading situations that may reflect unfavorably. It includes taking on only
projects with a high probability of success, having risky decisions approved by superiors,
qualifying expressions of judgment, and taking neutral positions in conflicts.
Justifying. Developing explanations that lessen one’s responsibility for a negative outcome
and/or apologizing to demonstrate remorse, or both.
 Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (4 of 7)

[Exhibit 11-5 Continued]

Scapegoating. Placing the blame for a negative outcome on external factors that are not
entirely blameworthy.
Misrepresenting. Manipulation of information by distortion, embellishment, deception, selective
presentation, or obfuscation.

Avoiding Change

Prevention. Trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.

Self-protection. Acting in ways to protect one’s self-interest during change by guarding
information or other resources.
Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (5 of 7)
• Impression management (IM): the process by
which individuals attempt to control the impression
others form of them.
– Mostly high self-monitors.
– Impressions people convey are not necessarily
false – they might truly believe them.
– Intentional misrepresentation may have a high
cost.
• The effectiveness of IM depends on the situation.
Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (6 of 7)
• The Ethics of Behaving Politically
• Questions to consider:
• What is the utility of engaging in politicking?
• How does the utility of engaging in the political
behavior balance out any harm (or potential
harm) it will do to others?
• Does the political activity conform to standards
of equity and justice?
 Causes and Consequences of Political
Behavior (7 of 7)

Exhibit 11-7 Drawing Your Political Map

 Implications for Managers (1 of 2)

• To maximize your power, increase others’ dependence on

you. For instance, increase your power in relation to your
boss by developing a needed knowledge or skill for which
there is no ready substitute.
• You will not be alone in attempting to build your power
bases. Others, particularly employees and peers, will be
seeking to increase your dependence on them, while you
are trying to minimize it and increase their dependence on
you.
• Try to avoid putting others in a position where they feel
they have no power.
Implications for Managers (2 of 2)

• By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can

better predict the actions of others and use that
information to formulate political strategies that will
gain advantages for you and your work unit.
• Consider that employees who have poor political skills or
are unwilling to play the politics game generally relate
perceived organizational politics to lower job
satisfaction and self-reported performance, increased
anxiety, and higher turnover. Therefore, if you are
adept at organizational politics, help your employees
understand the importance of becoming politically savvy.