Chapter 12

Question 1

Power

Answer 1

Capacity to influence others who are in a state of dependence.

Qualities:
 Power is the capacity to influence, meaning that it is not always perceived or exercised.
 The fact that the target of power is dependent on the power holder doesn’t imply that a poor relationship exists between the two.
 Power can flow in any direction in an organization.
 Power is a broad concept that applies to both individuals and groups.

Question 2

Legitimate power

Answer 2

Power derived from a person’s position or job in an organization.

When legitimate power works its often because people have been socialized to accept its influence.

Question 3

Reward power

Answer 3

Power derived from the ability to provide positive outcomes and prevent negative outcomes.

Often a support for legitimate power.

Question 4

Coercive power

Answer 4

Power derived from the use of punishment and threat.

o Often a support for legitimate power.
o Not perfectly correlated with legitimate power

Question 5

Referent power

Answer 5

Power derived from being well liked by others.

Potent for 2 reasons:
 It stems from identification with the power holder and so it represents a truer base of power than reward or coercion which may stimulate mere compliance to achieve rewards or avoid punishment.
 Anyone in the organization may be well liked, irrespective of their other bases of power.

Question 6

Expert power

Answer 6

Power derived from having special information or expertise that is valued by an organization.

o Corresponds to difficulty of replacement.
o The more crucial and unusual the expertise, the greater the expert power available.
o Expertise is more consistently associated with employee effectiveness.
o Employees perceive women managers to be higher in expert power than males.

Question 7

How do people obtain power?

Answer 7

Doing the right things.
 Extraordinary activities.
 Excellent performance in unusual or non-routine activities.
 Visible activities.
 Identify visible activities and publicize them because you can’t gain power if those around you don’t know about your extraordinary activities.
 Relevant activities.
 People need to care about the activities being done to generate power.

Cultivating the right people.
 Outsiders.
 Subordinates.
 Power can be gained when you identify closely with certain up-and-coming subordinates.
 Can also provide power when a manager can demonstrate that they are backed by a cohesive team.
 Peers.
 Superiors.
 Best way to obtain power through cultivating others.

Question 8

Empowerment

Answer 8

Giving people the authority, opportunity, and motivation to take initiative and solve organizational problems.

Empowered people have a strong sense of self-efficacy.

Question 9

Influence tactics

Answer 9

Tactics that are used to convert power into actual influence over others.

Question 10

What are the types of Influence tactics?

Answer 10

Different types:
	Assertiveness.
	Ingratiation.
	Rationality.
	Exchange.
	Upward appeal.
	Coalition formation.

Question 11

What determines the influence tactic you may use?

Answer 11

 Power bases.

 Who you’re trying to influence.

Question 12

For men using ________ as an influence tactic is associated with receiving better performance evaluations, earning more money, and experiencing less work stress.

Answer 12

rationality

Question 13

“_______” is a very ineffective influence style that is high on all tactics with particular emphasis on assertiveness and exchange.

Answer 13

“Shotgun”

Question 14

Women who use _______ receive the highest performance evaluations from male managers.

Answer 14

ingratiation

Question 15

McClelland argues that the most effective managers:

Answer 15

o Have high need for power (n Pow).
o Use their power to achieve organizational goals.
o Adopt a participative or “coaching” leadership style.
o Are relatively unconcerned with how much others like them.

Question 16

Subunit power

Answer 16

The degree of power held by various organizational subunits.

To obtain subunit power organizational must control strategic contingencies.

Question 17

Strategic contingencies

Answer 17

Critical factors affecting organizational effectiveness that are controlled by a key subunit.

Question 18

What are conditions under which subunits can control strategic contingencies?

Answer 18

 Scarcity.

 Uncertainty. - Subunits most capable of coping with uncertainty will tend to acquire power.

 Centrality. -Subunits whose activities are most central to the mission or work flow of the organization should acquire more power.
A subunit’s activities can be central in at least 3 senses:
o It may influence the work of most other subunits.
o Centrality also exists when a subunit has an especially crucial impact on the quantity or quality of the organization’s key product or service.
o A subunit’s activities are more central when their impact is more immediate.

 Substitutability - Subunit will have relatively little power if others inside or outside the organization can perform its activities.
Crucial factor = labour market for the specialty performed by the subunit. Change in labour market can result in change in subunit’s influence.

Question 19

Organizational politics

Answer 19

Pursuit of self-interest in an organization, whether or not this self-interest corresponds to organizational goals.

o Political activity is self-conscious and intentional, separating it from ignorance or lack of experience.
o Can be conceived as either an individual or subunit activity.
o It is possible for political activity to have beneficial outcomes for the organization even though these outcomes are achieved by questionable tactics.

Question 20

Describe the organizational means/ends matrix.

4x4: Sanctioned means vs non-sanction means vs sactioned ends vs non-sanctioned ends

Answer 20

Sanctioned means / sanctioned ends.
 Power is used routinely to pursue agreed-on goals.
 Familiar, accepted means of influence are employed to achieve sanctioned outcomes.

Sanctioned means / non-sanctioned ends.
 Acceptable means of influence are abused to pursue goals that the organization doesn’t approve of.

Non-sanctioned means / sanctioned ends.
 Ends that are useful for the organization are pursued through questionable means.

Non-sanctioned means / non-sanctioned ends.
 Disapproved tactics are used to pursue disapproved outcomes.
 Most blatant portrayal of power abuse.

Question 21

Political Skill

Answer 21

Ability to understand others at work and use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal or organizational objectives.

Composed of 4 facets:
	Social astuteness.
	Interpersonal influence.
	Apparent sincerity.
	Networking ability.

Question 22

Describe the political skill of networking.

Answer 22

Establishing good relations with key organizational members and outsiders to accomplish one’s goals.

Composed of several aspects:
	Maintaining contact.
	Engaging in professional activities.
	Participating in community activities.
	Increasing internal visibility.

Those with high self-esteem and extraversion are more likely to engage in networking behaviours.

Engaging in professional activities and increasing internal visibility are most associated with career success but this is only applicable to men.

Provides power.

Question 23

Machiavellianism

Answer 23

Set of cynical beliefs about human nature, morality, and the permissibility of using many tactics to achieve one’s ends.

“High Machs”.
 More likely to advocate the use of lying and deceit to achieve desired goals and to argue that morality can be compromised to fit the situation in question.
 Assume that many people are excessively gullible and don’t know what’s best for them and so high Machs act in an exceedingly practical manner, assuming that the ends justify the means.
 Convincing liars and good at “psyching out” competitors by creating diversions.
 Willing to form coalitions with others to outmaneuver or defeat people who get in their way.
 Likely to be enthusiastic organizational politicians.
 Don’t feel guilty about the social tactics they utilize.
 Able to accurately identify situations in which their favoured tactics will work.

Characteristics of these situations:
o The high Mach can deal face to face with those they’re trying to influence.
o The interaction occurs under fairly emotional circumstances.
o The situation is fairly unstructured with few guidelines for appropriate forms of interaction.

Especially skilled at getting their way when power vacuums or novel situations confront a group, department, or organization.

Question 24

Defensiveness- Reactive Politics

Answer 24

Goal is to reduce threats to one’s own power by avoiding actions that don’t suit one’s own political agenda or avoiding blame for events that might threaten one’s political capital.

Defensive behaviours / tactics:
 Stalling.
 Overconforming.
 Buck passing. -Having someone else take action.
 Buffing. - Carefully documenting information showing that an appropriate course of action was followed.
 Scapegoating.

Question 25

Organizational Ethics

Answer 25

o Managers see themselves as having higher ethical standards than their peers and sometimes their superiors.
o Top managers see the organization as more ethical than those lower in the hierarchy.

Question 26

What are causes of unethical behaviour?

Answer 26

 Gain. -Temptations, Anticipation of healthy reinforcement.
 Extreme performance pressure.
 Role conflict.
 Strong organizational identification.
 Competition.
 Personality. -The cynical, and those with external locus of control are less tuned in to ethical matters. People with a high need for personal power (High Machs especially) may be prone to make unethical decisions. People with strong economic values are more likely to behave unethically. If you’re more morally disengaged, you’re more likely to behave unethically.
 Organizational and industry culture. -There are differences in organizational values across different cultures. If codes are specific, tied to the actual business being done, correspond to the reward system, and are rigorously enforced, they’ll likely present an ethical culture.

Question 27

Whistle-blowing

Answer 27

Disclosure of illegitimate practices by a current or former organizational member to some person or organization that may be able to take action to correct these practices.

Question 28

Sexual harassment

Answer 28

o Form of unethical behaviour that stems in part from the abuse of power and the perpetuation of a gender power imbalance.
o Prevalent in hostile work environments that perpetuate the societal power imbalance between men and women.
o Clients and customers can also engage in harassment.

Question 29

Deaf ear syndrome

Answer 29

Inaction or complacency of organizations in the face of charges of sexual harassment.

Question 30

What are measures that can be taken to increase responsiveness and effectively deal with allegations of sexual harassment?

Answer 30

 Examine the characteristics of deaf ear organizations.
 Foster management support and education.
 Stay vigilant.
 Take immediate action.
 Create a state-of-the-art policy.
 Establish clear reporting procedures.