Power And Politics

POWER & POLITICS

WHAT IS POWER? • ‘The ability to influence & control anything that is of value to others’ -Stephen Robbins • ‘The potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance & to get people to do the things that they would not otherwise do’. • The important element of power is dependency.

POWER,AUTHORITY,& INFLUENCE POWER

AUTHORITY

INFLUENCE

May or may not be legitimate More force

Legitimate

Associated with leading

Ability to alter reality

Willing Less force acceptance Level wise flow Ability to alter perception

BASES OF POWER • COERCIVE POWER • Based on fear • Provides an individual with the means to physically harm, bully, humiliate, or deny something to others. • Makes employees to strictly follow the rules, policies of the organization. • Fear of punishments like demotions or termination. • Negative in nature, withdraws reward • Feeling of hostility & resentment in employees

REWARD POWER • Positive reinforcement to others. • Includes pay increases, promotions, favorable work assignments, recognition etc. • Encourage repetition of positive behavior. • Ability to reward or elimination of negative factor. • Reward power is dependent on recipient.

Legitimate power • Refers to the power a person receives because of his position in formal organizational hierarchy. • Right to punish as well as reward other people • Resembles authority. • Legitimate power can be derived from three main sources : • A) Cultural values prevailing in a society • B) Accepted social culture • C) Persons designation

Expert Power • Influence due to some special skill or knowledge. • To assume expert power person should be expert to be credible, trustworthy & relevant. • Knowledge-power people • Position-power people

Referent power • Identification with an individual who has desirable resources or personal traits. • Need not always be linked with persons position in the formal organization. • People who are articulate, domineering, physically imposing or charismatic have ability to influence & have referent power.

The dependency factor • The more options people have, the less dependent they are on them & less power that person has over them. • The level of dependency depends on – • Importance • Scarcity • Non-substitutability

Contingency Approaches to Power • A person can attain power by being in right place. (control, budget etc) • Higher ranking organizational members do not give sufficient importance to task • Lower ranking members are more likely to assume additional power over that task

Interdependence & influencability • Influencability refers to degree to which a target is influenced by a powerful person. • Influencability depends on• Degree of dependency • Uncertainty • Personality traits • Intelligence • Age • Culture

Contingency model for Power • Kelmen stated three main processes of power. • Compliance-Reward/ punishment for compliance • Identification- Associated with referent power. People identify with & imitate another person, giving him power over them. • Internalization-Most effective & long lasting process of power. • Matching of internal value system or consistency with internal values.

Contingency model of Power Source of power

Process of Power

Targets Influence ability

Required conditions

Reward Coercive Means-end control

Compliance

WantsThe agent must favorable action have watch over the target Avoidpunishment

Referent Attractiveness

Identification

Satisfying relationship, wants to develop relationship

Agent must be in the forefront of the target.

Expert Legitimate Credibility

Internalization

Consistency with internal values

Agent must have the relevance

Power in groupsCoalitions • Consists of a group of people to combine their resources with the aim of increasing their bargaining power. • Ex. Trade unions • Coalition in organizations can take decision & also implement ‘ • Coalition may form due to high degree of interdependence of the departments • Coalitions are also formed to protect the interest of the employee

ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS • Called as power in action • The activities that are not required as a part of one’s formal role in the organization. • Management of influence to obtained ends not sanctioned by the organization. • Use of power to serve ones own ends is known as Politicking.

ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS • Legitimate Political behavior • Includes forming organizational coalitions, networking, adhering to rules strictly

• Illegitimate political behavior • Includes deliberately breaking news, not conforming to the procedures, Whistle blowing

Factors relating to Political behavior • • • • • • • • • •

Individual factors Organizational factorsScarce resources Ambiguity of goals Role ambiguity Performance appraisals & rewards Culture of the organization Lack of mutual trust Pressure to perform Involvement of top management

Ethics of power & Politics • Self interest Vs Organizational interest • The rights of other parties. • Conformity to standards of equity & justice