Power & Politics: When The Tail Wags The Dog

Power & Politics
When The Tail Wags The Dog
Vinayak
Akhil
Vaibhav
• Facts
Prem Chopra was the executive VC of Poornima Ltd.
• It was a holding company which had 3 other subsidiaries dealing with
switchgears, transformers and motors. Vikram Talwar was the
managing head at Motors India Ltd.
• Chopra & Talwar had not been seeing eye to eye on a number of policy
matters.
• Seven years ago, Chopra had been in a dominating position and had
transferred Talwar out of the head office at Calcutta to Bombay and
placed him in Motors India Ltd, putting him on a flight to nowhere
• This move of his was viewed upon by many as one which would make
him get rid of Talwar for good as Motors India was considered to be a
graveyard for CEO’s as it’s balance sheet was red since time
immemorial . However, this was not totally true.
• Over the years, the shareholder had benefitted from their investments
in Poornima Ltd.
• One day Chopra was visited by Vikram Talwar and 3 members of
his core management team at Motors India, just hours before a
management committee meeting as well as a Company Board
Meeting later on during the day.
• Talwar told him that his friends had bought a majority stake in
Poornima ltd. And would form a consortium which would give
them controlling rights, then he made him an offer with two
options:
1. The sale of Motor India to Talwar and his associates.
2. Talwar to surrender his controlling stake in the holding company.
• This left Chopra taken aback. Meanwhile, Vallabh Mishra, an
institutional nominee had called him up and informed him that
they were in a situation which compelled them to sell an
institutional stake to a consortium.
INSTANCES OF POWER
• Chopra had used his legitimate power to transfer Talwar out of
his head office at Calcutta.
• Talwar had used reward power to motivate his employees at
Motors India.
• Chopra believed that Talwar had expert power in managing
Motors India.
• Talwar had used coalition building as a power tactic in order to
make Chopra do what he had wanted.
• Talwar had also used pressure tactics to compel Chopra to make a
decision out of the 2 options put forth by him.
• Talwar had also used the power tactic of rational persuasion to
make Chopra understand the situation he was dealing with.
INSTANCES OF POLITICS
• Talwar had used politics by means of association and coalition
with 3 other members his core management team at Motors
India to exert pressure on Mr. Chopra and thereby asked him to
conform to the options set forth by him.
• Mr. Chopra had used politics by transferring Mr. Talwar out of
the head office at Calcutta and thereby getting rid of him since
they did not see each other eye to eye on a number of policy
matters
• Mr. Talwar had used politics to his benefit in the organization
by motivating associated in his organization by focusing on to
buy shares of poornima and for a consort for the deal
POLITICS
Politics in the organization is defined as “activities that are not
required as a part of ones formal role in the organization, but that
influence or attempt to influence the distribution of advantages
and disadvantages within the organization
There are 2 types of political behaviours: legitimate and
illegitimate
Legitimate: Refers to normal everyday politics
Illegitimate: Refers to violation of implied rules of the game
When politics is seen as a threat and consistently responded

to with defensiveness, negative outcomes are sure to surface
eventually.
Individual factors
>High machiavellenistic personality
>Organizational investment
>Perceived job alternatives
Organisational factors
>Promotional opportunities
>Low trust
>Unclear performance evaluation system
>Self serving senior managers
Factors contributing to
political behaviour
Has Chopra misused power when he killed two birds with one stone?
• Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B so that B acts
in accordance with A’s wishes
• Bases of power- Formal Power: formal power is based on an individual’s position
in an organisation. Formal power can come from the ability to coerce or reward or
from formal authority.
• Coercive power: When A can dismiss, suspend or demote B or when A can assign
work activities to B which he finds unpleasant, A possesses coercive power over B.
• Legitimate power: in organizations, the most frequent access to one or more of the
power bases is one of structural position. This is called legitimate power. It
represents the formal authority to control and use organizational resources.
• According to P.M Podsakoff and C.A. Schrieshe, “coercive power can backfire in
that it is negatively related to employee satisfaction and commitment.”
• Power tactics - Pressure: Using warnings, repeated demands and threats.
• Abuse of power: Two dimensions, (a)disrespect for individual dignity and (b)
interference with job performance or deserved rewards.
Thank you

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Power & Politics

When The Tail Wags The Dog

When politics is seen as a threat and consistently responded

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