POWER AND POLITICS

Power vs LeadershipLeadership – an attempt to influence

another individual or groups ( hence an influence process)

Power is influence potential – the resource that enable a leader to gain compliance or commitment from others

◦Leaders who understand and know how to use power positivity are more effective than those who do not or will not use power

Definition Power is defined as the possession of the potential for

influencing others or the ability to act or produce some effect (Dessler 1980).

Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.

, Etzioni (1980) defines power as an actor’s ability to induce or influence another actor to carry out his directions or any other norms he supports.

  Hodge and Anthony (1985) define power as the ability

(potential or actual) to impose one’s will on others. It is the ability of one person to affect the behavior of someone else.

 

Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B, so that B does something that he or she would not otherwise do

Position power and personal power

A leader is able to induce or influence behaviour ( i.e. has power) arising from organizational office ( position power) or personal influence ( personal power) or both

Which power do managers have?

Position powerPosition power is the extent to which those

people whom managers reports to are willing to delegate authority and responsibility downward to them

Therefore position power flows down in the organisation and it is not a matter of the office having power

The confidence and trust they develop with the people above them will often determine the willingness of upper management to delegate down to them.

Remember- whatever power is delegated downwards, can be taken back ( you can have responsibility without authority)

Personal powerIs the extent to which followers

respect, feel good about and are commitment to their leader and to which they see their own goal being satisfied by the goals of the leader – i.e. The extent to which people are willing to follow the leader

Thus, personal power in organisation comes form below – from the followers – and so flows up in an organization

Personal power Personal power is not inherent in

the leader – if this was the case, the a manager with personal power can takeover any department or organisation and have the same commitment and rapport that they had in the other department/organisation

Personal power can be taken away by the followers – it can be earned and it can be taken away

Which is more important?So is it better to have relationship based on

love( personal power) or fear (position power)?

Both - be loved and feared????Love alone – tends to be violated, short lived

and easily terminatedFear - tends to be long lasting because

individual must be ready to pay the price before terminating

Hence leaders must sometimes sacrifice short term friendship for long term – respect. Be ready to punish those you love

Power and the managerPower is an important concept in

organizations and individuals exert power to get things done.

Power, once gained usually confers major benefits on those who hold it.

Such persons can change the actions of many other people. In addition they often acquire a high degree of status, with all respects, prestige and perks this implies.

Given such outcomes, many people in an organization invest considerable time and energy to get power.

 

Power and the manager (cont..)

It is an essential feature of the managers role

Without some degree of power, it might be very difficult to direct the efforts of his/her subordinates

Thus power underlies a managers effectiveness

Distinguishing between power, influence and authorityBecause power is intangible, it s very

difficult to define and sometimes influence and/or authority is used to mean power.

For our purposes:◦ Power:

is the ability to change behaviour of others. ◦ It is the ability to cause others to person action

that they might not otherwise perform .◦ Power is not always legitimate but has specific

sources or foundations◦ Does not necessary pursue common goal and

may at times be clearly directed to pursuing only a single individuals goal

AuthorityThe right to try to change or direct others.

It includes the notion of legitimacy. It is the right to include others in the pursuit of

common goals that are agreed on by various parties

Influence Tends to be subtler, broader, and more general

than power ( although both can be defined as the ability to change the behaviour of others, power embodies the ability to do so with regularity and ease, influence is weaker and less reliable than power)

Reasons why people yield to another persons attempt to be directed

1. if the person believe that they will be punished or rewarded ( compliance)

2. Desire to maintain or establish personally satisfying relationship ( identification)

3. The believe that behaviour is congruent with their values systems ( internalization). Occurs when an employee accepts an influence attempt because he/she believes that the resulting behaviour is correct and appropriate

Five sources of power - Dessler (1980).

Reward powerAbility to determine who will receive a

particular rewardWorks only if rewards are valued, and the

person has control and ability to distribute or withhold the reward

A person power whose basis is the ability to reward. The strength of the reward power one person holds over another increases with the magnitude of the rewards the latter perceives the former can mediate for him.

  “the carrot”

Coercive power -

Lies in the ability to produce fear in others either through threat or punishment

Ability to manipulate the attainment by another of positive (or negative) rewards.

The coercive power of one person over another stems from real or imagined expectations on the part of the latter that he will be punished if he fails to conform to the influence.

“the stick” 

Legitimate powerStems from internalized values in a person

that dictate that another person has a legitimate right to influence. The actual source of this legitimate power and the reasons subordinates feel they ought to obey might be tradition or may derive from the office the supervisor holds.

Comes from three major sources: ◦ The prevailing cultural values of a society,

organizational or group determines what is legitimate - in some societies, the older the person the more legitimate power they possess, same is true for certain physical attributes, gender or job

Legitimate power ◦ Secondly people obtain legitimate power form

the accepted social structures - in some societies there is an accepted ruling class. In organisations or families, the are accepted social structures which give legitimate power – for example, for a blue collar worker , they accept the hierarchical structure that grand power to the supervisors

◦ A third class of legitimate power comes form being designated as the agent or representative of a powerful person or group. Elected official, a chairperson of a committee a member of the board of directors, union or management forms examples of such legitimate power

The referent powerIs based on the fact that one

person identifies with and is highly attracted to another.

Comes from the desire on the part of the other person to identify with the agent wielding power

Want to associate with the powerful person regardless of the outcomes

 

Expert power Is based on the extent to which others attribute

knowledge and expertise to the power holderderives from the fact that one person is viewed

as an expert in some area and others MUST therefore depend on him for advice and counsel.

The target must perceive the agent to be credible, trustworthy and relevant before expert power is granted

Credibility comes from right credentials - the person must show tangible evidence of their knowledge and show that they really know what they are talking about

expert power (cont…) Trustworthiness means the person seeking

expert power must have a reputation for being honest and straightforward ( scandals could undermine expert power)

Relevance and usefulness refers to the way fact that the expertise is used on the relevant subjects and on their area of expertise

Expert power in an organization often stems from a person’s position in the communication network and from that person’s ability to control access to coveted information.

Contingency approaches to powerPfeffer says that power comes from

being in the “right” place or positionThis means where the manager has:

◦Control over resources – budgets, facilities ( this can be used to cultivate allies and supports)

◦Control over or extensive access to information – about the organization activities, preferences, who is doing what etc

◦Formal authority

Influencability of targets of power (characteristics ) The following characteristics have been

identified as being important to the influencability of targets:

Dependency – the greater the targets’ dependency on their relationship to agent ( target cannot escape the relationship) the more targets are influenced

Uncertainty – the more uncertain people are about the appropriate or correctness of behaviour, the more likely they are to be influenced to change behaviour

Influencability of targets of power (characteristics ) Personality – people who cannot

tolerate ambiguity or who are highly anxious are more susceptible to influence and those with high need for affiliation are more susceptible to group influence

Intelligence - highly intelligent people may be more willing to listen but because they also tend to be held in high esteem, they may also be more resistant to influence

Gender – this used to be the case traditionally but no longer holds true

Influencability of targets of power (characteristics ) Age - susceptibility to influence increases

in young children up to about the age of eight or nine and then decrease with age until adolescence, where it levels off

Culture - cultures which emphasize individuality, dissent and diversity ( Western Cultures ) would tend to decrease influencability whereas if a culture emphasize cohesiveness, agreement and uniformity (Asia and Africa) would tend to increase influencablity

Employee empowerment This is a special case of power Empowerment may be defined as “

recognizing and releasing into the organisation the power that people have in their wealth of useful knowledge and internal motivation”

It is the authority to make decisions within ones area of responsibility without first having to get approval form someone else

Employee empowerment (cont..) Empowerment differs from the

traditional delegation in two ways:◦Employees are encouraged to use

their own initiative and they “ just do it”

◦Empowered employees are given not only the authority but also the resources so that they are able to make decisions and have the powered to get them implemented

Employee empowerment (cont..) For successful empowerment, an

organisation must: ◦Be patient◦First check that the employees have

the required skills and are qualified ◦Must be embedded as a cultural

value operationalised through participation, innovation, access to information and accountability

Organizational politics

Can be defined as any actions taken by individuals or groups to gain power and so secure goals and outcomes that they personally desire.

Politics is selfish in its orientation. This element of using or gaining power to

further one’s own or groups’ self-interest is one of the major factors distinguishing politics from other more legitimate uses of power.

Politics is one way of using power- for personal or group gain.

 

Organizational politics ( Cont..)

In most organizations, politics is common. many organizations appear may be said to have

highly political environments in which various persons, groups and units are constantly jockeying for position and power.

The result: ◦ promotions, salary raises and other rewards are not

always distributed solely on the basis of merit. ◦ Major decisions are not always made on the basis of

careful study of all available data. ◦ The principles of fair play and rationality do not always

serve as the guide. Instead, “politics rules and rules with a vengeance” (Baron 1980).

Politics and powerCompanies are always engaged in

internal political struggles, power struggles, infighting etc – that is said to be normal life

Some studies have gone to the extent of showing the inverse relationship between power and politic – in this era of competition for limited resources, manager who lack power use more of politics

Conditions which lead to more politics than rationality Research on organizational politics has

identified several areas that are particularly relevant to the degree to which organisations are political rather than rational. There are:

Resources – there is a direct relationship between mount of politics and how critical and scarce resources are. Also politics will be encourages where there is an infusion of new unclaimed resources

Decisions: Ambiguous decisions, decisions on which there is lack of agreement, and uncertain, long-range strategic decisions lead to more politics than routine decisions

Goals – the more ambiguous and complex the goal becomes, the more politics there will be

Technology and external environment – in general the more complex the external technology of the organisation, the more politics there will be. The same is true for organisations operating in a turbulent external environment

Change – a reorganization or planned OD effort or even unplanned changes brought about by external forces will encourage political maneuvering

Political strategies for acquiring powerCoalitions – forming and maintaining the

right alliancesThis involves joining forces with persons or

groups who have something to contribute and who can be relied upon.  Maintaining alliance with powerful people

Embrace or demolish – warmly welcome or sack/ downgrade, transfer etc

Divide and rule – the assumption is that those who divide will not form an alliance themselves ( e.g. - finance may generate conflict between production and marketing -hoping to get a bigger share of the companies budget)

Political strategies (cont…) Manipulating classified

information - - e.g. reveal some new pricing information before a meeting to one of your key allies, the use of that information by your key ally in the meeting will make him/her feel that they owe you

Making a quick show – looking good on some projects or tasks right away in order to get peoples attention ( giving you a head start)

Political strategies (cont…) Collect and use IOUs – the power seeker

should do other peoples favour but should make it clear that they owe something in return and will be expected to pay up when asked

Attacking and blaming others - make others “look bad” in order to make themselves look good

Progress one step at a time ( camels head in the tent) - taking one step at a time instead of trying to push a whole major project or reorganization attempts

Political strategies (cont…) Wait for a crisis ( things must get worse

before they get better) - this strategy uses the fact that bad new get attention

Take counsel with caution - this strategy is used to keep power once acquired . Manager avoids ‘opening the gates” to their people in terms of shared decision making

Beware of resource dependence - - controlling the resources other persons or other department need creates considerable bargaining power

Political strategies (cont…) Choosing a powerful mentorHaving an experienced and powerful mentor is

beneficial to the group or individual seeking this relationship and can be an effective tactic for acquiring power and reaching important goals. Since there are many more would be proteges than there are openings for them, competition in this regard can be intense. However, given the substantial benefits yielded by the protection and guidance of a powerful mentor, efforts to establish such a relationship are well worthwhile.

 

Political strategies (cont…) Projecting the right imageThis includes demonstrating a high

level of competence, adopting a co-operative attitude and displaying good behavior. For this reason, polishing one’s image often yields valuable dividends where organizational politics is concerned. In fact, the old adage “nothing succeeds like success” is very applicable to organizational politics.

 

Political strategies (cont…) The use of ‘dirty tricks’This refers to strategies that most people

view as deceitful, underhanded and dishonest – ones that violate the ethical principles of human beings. Included among dirty tricks are such steps as:

a) Falsely attributing blame for negative outcomes to others (holding them responsible for events they did not produce).

b) Announcing one agenda for meetings, but then following a totally different hidden one thus preventing opponents from being adequately prepared.

Political strategies - dirty trick (cont…) c) Restricting the flow of information

to others or providing them with “misleading facts”.

d) Spreading false rumors about their personal lives, lack of commitment to the organization etc.

 Although the above tactics are highly objectionable they are quite effective and are commonly used by unscrupulous persons in their perpetual quest for power.

Some general guidelines on the ethics of organizational politics

As noted above some of the tactics in acquiring power in organizations can be quite ethical while others are quite unethical.

Some tactics are manipulative, dishonest and in some cases even illegal.

Others are quite reasonable and even desirable such as coalitions and co-optation.

Such situations leave us with one issue: when are efforts to acquire and use power through organizational politics justified, and when are they inappropriate?

 

When politics tactics are unethical (Cavanagh, Moberg and Velasquez, 1980)

When used purely for selfish ends - designed to further purely selfish ends or to help to promote organizational goals and values as well? To the extent the former applies, the use of such tactics is unethical.

Violating human rights -The impact of political behaviors upon the rights of individuals should be addressed. To the extent such tactics violate basic human rights, they are unacceptable.

Fairness and equity - The relationship of political behaviors to principles of equity -

the extent that political tactics directly conflict with the principles of fairness and justice, they are unacceptable.

 

Common Political blunders Although certain tactic can

promote desired ends, others can be costly political mistakes .

Violating chain of command - (being an informant ) going over your bosses head is often a very strong organisation taboo. Ordinarily, it is expected that you will ask for you bosses permission before seeing his superior on the matter

Common Political blunders (cont…Losing your cool - throwing

temper tantrums and acting aggressively towards others - acceptable in sports but not in office settings – earns you a reputation of hard to deal with

Saying no to top management - a sure way to stop your own career progression, nobody is indispensible especially if on lower end

Common Political blunders (cont…Upstaging your supervisor - avoid publicly

criticizing others in public, especially your supervisor, avoid bragging about your accomplishment or claiming credit for your units success (upstaging your supervisor)

Challenging cherished beliefs - many organisations haves some cherished beliefs, and is considered “poor form” to criticize or challenge such folklore within earshot of company loyalist - about the founder, about company market standing etc

Coping with organizational politics - a managers jobOrganizational politics has several

dysfunctional effect – morale weakened, victors and victims created, energy and time spent on planning attacks and counter attacks, - therefore managers need to combat politics as part of their job ◦Set examples - provide a positive role

model, by encouraging truthfulness and even –handed treatment of others

Coping with organizational politics - a managers job (cont…)

Give clear job assignment – politics tend to be more prevalent when purposes are unclear and it is difficult to assess the performance of individual employees

Eliminate coalitions and cliques - through dismissal, transfers ( not recommended), through rotation of job assignment

Coping with organizational politics - a managers job (cont…) Confront game players – it

discourages the player. Those who give information with ulterior motives should be challenged to give it in another open forum