Chapter 12 - Power and Politics

Question 1

what is Power?

Answer 1

Power is the ability of a person or group to influence or control some aspect of another person or group. In organizations, it is often associated with control over resources others need, such as money, information, decisions, work assignments, and so on.

Question 2

Is Power absolute?

Answer 2

No, it has to be given by others who are willing to be influenced. For this reason, most power we study in organizations is social power.

Question 3

What is social power?

Answer 3

Social power is used to recognize that power comes from the ability to influence another in a social relation. It is earned through relationships, and if it isn’t used properly, it can be taken away.

Question 4

What is forced power?

Answer 4

Force power is power that occurs against another’s will

Question 5

True or false: Power is based on dependence

Answer 5

True because if dependence can be easily removed then an individual has power as long as the other is willing to give it to him or her. If dependence cannot be easily removed individuals have little choice and must comply.

Question 6

What does dependence mean?

Answer 6

Dependence means that one person or group relies on another person or group to get what they want or need.

Question 7

Because power is based on dependence

Answer 7

We need to manage dependencies in order to manage power.

Question 8

How do we manage power?

Answer 8

We manage power by increasing other’s dependence on us and reducing our dependence on others. Ex. Establishing competence and being indispensable. We reduce our dependence on others by increasing employability. This means if we lose our jobs today we can soon get another.

Question 9

What is one of the biggest problems associated with power and dependence?

Answer 9

The perception of powerlessness

Question 10

What is powerlessness?

Answer 10

Powerlessness is the lack of autonomy and participation. It occurs when power imbalances make people feel that they have no option but to do what others say.

Question 11

What are some physical signs of powerlessness

Answer 11

Research shows that when we feel powerless we display it in our body language. Ex. by shrinking in, caving in our chests, physically withdrawing, or using less forceful hand gestures.

Question 12

What are some of the debilitating effects of powerlessness in organizations?

Answer 12

It can create spirals of helplessness and alienation. It can make one feel frustrated, Anxious, angry or afraid. These are destructive emotions

Question 13

How to powerless people regain power?

Answer 13

Powerless people often try to regain some sense of control over themselves and their work environment but the result can be extremely damaging to organizations. Ex. absenteeism, tardiness, theft, vandalism, grievances, shoddy workmanship, and counterproductive behavior. Contrary to what we think, therefore the problem in organizations is not power, but powerlessness.

Question 14

What is empowerment?

Answer 14

Empowerment involves sharing power, information, and rewards with employees to make decisions and solve problems in their work.

Question 15

What happens when a manager empowers others?

Answer 15

When managers empower others, they also empower themselves by gaining a more dedicated and engaged workforce. It changes our understanding of power away from a focus on “power over” others to “power with” others.

Question 16

What is a zero sum game?

Answer 16

A zero sums game means one person’s gain is equal to another person’s loss. (“I win, you lose”). It represents a belief that “for me to gain power, you must lose power”

Question 17

Why is a zero sum game bad?

Answer 17

Viewing power as a zero sum game causes you to lose power in the long run. This is because increasing your own power while others lose power leads to power imbalances.

Question 18

What can happen when power imbalances get bad?

Answer 18

They can trigger forces that rise up to take power away to restore the balance. This is known as the Iron of Responsibility. (aka Psychological Reactance Theory)

Question 19

What is Psychological Reactance Theory?

Answer 19

It’s the idea that force is met with countervailing force, which says that people rebel against constraints and efforts to control their behavior.

Question 20

What are the five bases of power identified by John French and Bertram Raven?

Answer 20

1) Legitimate Power = Position
2) Reward Power = Position
3) Coercive Power = Position
4) Expert Power = Personal
5) Referent Power = Personal

Question 21

What are the two main categories the five power bases are divided into?

Answer 21

1) Position Power - stems from the formal hierarchy or authority vested in a particular role or position. (the power stays with the position)
2) Personal Power - resides in the individual and is independent of position; it is generated in relationships with others such as a person’s reputation, charm, charisma, perceived worth, and right to respect from others. The power resides in the person, not the position, it is available to anyone in the organization, not just those in formal or managerial roles.

Question 22

What are the three position powers?

Answer 22

Legitimate, reward and coercive powers.

Remember mnemonic:
“In the position, I’m in, I’d rather have a legitimate reward than a coercive one”

Question 23

What is legitimate power?

Answer 23

Legitimate power represents the formal hierarchy authority that comes from a position. Ex. Manager, supervisors, etc.

Managers who rely on legitimate power are not likely to be powerful for very long. Legitimate power can create a zone of indifference

Question 24

What is the zone of indifference?

Answer 24

Chester Bernard describes it as an unwillingness to automatically comply with legitimate power. It represents the range of request to which a person is willing to respond without subjecting the directives to critical evaluation or judgment. When directives fall into the zone they are obeyed routinely, but when they fall out of the zone of indifference or are not considered legitimate power, they are not necessarily obeyed.

Question 25

What is the result of overuse of legitimate power?

Answer 25

Overuse of legitimate power is often accompanied by hierarchical thinking in organizations. Hierarchical thinking occurs when hierarchical systems create environments of superiority among manager and inferiority among employees. This can cause a problem because it can lead to employees to defer responsibility and initiative-taking, and cripple an organization that needs to be flexible and adaptive to survive.

Question 26

What is reward power?

Answer 26

The ability to administer outcomes that have a positive valence (provide positive rewards) and remove or decrease outcomes that have a negative valence (remove negative rewards). For this to work, rewards must be equitable. Ex. Money, promotions, kudos, enriched jobs, etc. Problems arise in the use of reward power when rewards do not match expectations.

Question 27

What is coercive power?

Answer 27

It involves the use of threat or punishment. It stems from the expectation that one will be punished if he or she fails to conform to the influence attempt. Ex. transferred, demoted or fired if they don’t act as desired. This power should be used sparingly.

Question 28

What are the two personal powers?

Answer 28

Expert and Referent Power

Question 29

What is expert power?

Answer 29

Expert power comes from the special skills and abilities that others need but do not possess themselves. It can include knowledge, experience, and judgment. It develops over time and is highly influenced by the importance of the area of expertise. Expert power is also relative and not absolute.

Question 30

What is referent power?

Answer 30

Referent power is the ability to alter another’s behavior because the person wants to identify with you as the power source. The sense of wanting to be associated with another person or to feel part of a group. Individuals holding referent power are respected and looked up to by others. This power can be variable and its holders are under constant pressure to maintain their exemplary images and live up to other’s expectations.

Question 31

What powers can either be positional or personal?

Answer 31

1) Information Power

2) Connection Power

Question 32

What is information power?

Answer 32

Possession of or access to information that is valuable to others. This individual is seen as “in the know”. Individuals who have information power have wide discretion in how to use it. Some will guard it, and others will share it to build more personal relationships and more substantive networks in the organization.

Question 33

What is connection Power?

Answer 33

The ability to call on connections and networks both inside and outside the organization for support in getting things done and in meeting one’s goals. There are two forms of connection power.

Question 34

What are the two forms of connection power?

Answer 34

1) Association Power - arises from influence with a powerful person on whom others depend. Individuals have association power when they know people in key positions or have networks of relationships with higher-ups who connect them to influential others.
2) Reciprocal Alliances - describes a form of power arising from connections with others developed through reciprocity. These bonds of indebtedness link individuals together in network relationships.

Question 35

What are the three levels of conformity identified by Herbert Kelman that one can make to another’s influence attempt?

Answer 35

Compliance, identification and internalization

Question 36

When does compliance occur?

Answer 36

Compliance occurs when individuals accept another’s influence because of the positive or negative outcome tied to it. When an individual complies, they go along with it not because they want to but because they have to. Commitment is the opposite of complying.

Question 37

When does commitment occur?

Answer 37

Commitment occurs when individuals accept an influence attempt out of duty or obligation. The key is that committed individuals agree with the desired action and show initiative and persistence in completing it.

Question 38

Explain the two forms of commitment (identification and internalization)

Answer 38

Identification is displayed when individuals accept and influence attempt because they want to maintain a positive relationship with the person or group making the influence request. Ex. Students who join a sorority or fraternity.

Internalization occurs when an individual accepts influence because the induced behavior is congruent with value system. Internalization means you believe in the ideas and actions you are being asked to undertake. Ex. members of a religious organization

Question 39

Responses to power include not only conformity but what else?

Answer 39

It includes Resistance. There are two main types of resistance:

1) Constructive
2) Dysfunctional

Question 40

What is constructive resistance?

Answer 40

It is characterized by thoughtful dissent aimed at constructively challenging the manager to rethink the issue. Individuals who use constructive resistance make suggestions for alternative actions accompanied by reasons for noncompliance.

Question 41

What is dysfunctional resistance?

Answer 41

It involves ignoring or dismissing the request of the influencing agent. Employees who engage in dysfunctional resistance attempt to thwart and undermine the manager by disrupting workflows (ignoring request, making only a half-hearted effort, or simply refusing to comply by just saying “no”)

Question 42

True or false: Conscientious employees are more likely to use constructive resistance, whereas less conscientious employees are more likely to use dysfunctional resistance.

Answer 42

True, moreover, employees who use constructive resistance are more likely to receive positive performance ratings from managers.

Question 43

Power can corrupt individuals if it is taken too far.

What is the Bathsheba Syndrome by Dean Ludwig and Clinton Longenecker?

Answer 43

It’s how power can cause us to make unethical decisions. It is based on the story based off of King David. How he took a man’s wife (Bathsheba) and then covered it up through murder and deception.

Question 44

What is the lesson from the Bathsheba Syndrome?

Answer 44

Power can have corruptive effects that, if not prepared for, may lead to devastating outcomes.

Question 45

Why do we have organizational politics?

Answer 45

Politics can occur because we have both formal and informal systems in organizations.

Question 46

What’s the difference between formal and informal systems?

Answer 46

Formal systems tell us what is to be done in organizations and how work processes are to be coordinated and structured. They represent the “rational” side of organizations that controls behavior and reduces uncertainty.

Informal systems are patterns of activity and relationships that arise in everyday activities when individuals and groups work to get things done. They are highly changeable and occur through personal connections.

Question 47

What is organizational politics?

Answer 47

Organizational politics involve efforts by organizational members to seek resources and achieve desired goals through informal systems and structures. Politics represent how people get ahead, how they gain and use power, and how they get things done (for good and bad) in organizations.

Question 48

True or False: Power and organization politics are neutral?

Answer 48

True depending on how they are used. They are positive when they advance the interests of the organization and do not intentionally harm individuals. They are negative when they involve self-interested behaviors of individuals and groups who work to benefit themselves in ways that disadvantage others and the organization.

Question 49

When does self-interested politics occur?

Answer 49

This occurs when people work to shift otherwise ambiguous outcomes to their personal advantage. Self-interested politics are those that benefit, protect, or enhance self-interests without consideration of the welfare of co-workers or the organization. Ex. coalition building, favoritism-based pay, and promotions scapegoating, backstabbing and using information as a political tool to enhance one’s self or harm others.

Question 50

What are political climates?

Answer 50

Political climate refers to whether people in organizations work “within” or “around” formal policies and procedures in getting their work done. When people work around formal policies and procedures, the climate is perceived as more political. Less political climates involve more direct and straightforward activities where there is less need to interpret and watch out for the behaviors happening behind scenes.

Question 51

What are workarounds?

Answer 51

Workarounds occur when people go around rules to accomplish a task or goal because the normal process or method isn’t producing the desired result.
Workarounds can involve seeking assistance from influential people in one’s network, exploiting loopholes in a system, or using one’s connections to access potentially useful information or influence decisions.
Workarounds that benefit oneself or one’s work unit at the expense of others will likely trigger copycat behaviors, fueling dysfunctional political climates.

Question 52

To do well in organizational politics you must build your power bases well. What are the two ways to build power bases?

Answer 52

1) Establishing Competence and value added to the organization
2) Through developing information and connection power.

Question 53

1 - Establishing Competence and Value Added

Answer 53

This builds personal and position power by proving your ability to perform at higher levels and having competencies that are hard to replace. High competency and value added make an individual or work unit non-substitutable.

Question 54

What is non-substitutability?

Answer 54

This occurs when the individual makes their work more critical, relevant, visible and central to organizational performance.

Question 55

2 - Developing information and connection power

Answer 55

This is done by building relationships and networks. Information comes from formal access to information (meetings, task forces, emails, policy documents), informal access to information (grapevine, hall talk) and the opportunity to distribute or share information with others. Connection power comes from internal networks, external networks, and being central in a network. You can build your connection power by aligning with others to gain advice, friendship, alliances, collaborations, information flows, and access to job opportunities.

Question 56

Individuals who know how to navigate the political landscape are described as political savvy

Answer 56

They have the skill and adroitness at reading political environments and understanding how to influence effectively in these environments.

Question 57

What is another term for political savvy?

Answer 57

Another term is “political skill” which is defined as the ability to understand and influence others to act in ways that enhance personal and/or organizational objectives. Individuals who are high in political skill have the ability to read and understand people and get them to act in desired ways. They adapt their behavior to the situation, but with authenticity and genuineness to build trust and credibility rather than suspicion or disdain.

Question 58

When it comes to networking, what you know is not enough. What else to do you need to have?

Answer 58

You also need connections, or social capital, to get ahead.

Question 59

What is social capital?

Answer 59

Social capital is resources that come from networks of relationships. It differs from human capital, which is knowledge, skills and intellectual assets employees bring to the workplace. Human capital is what you know and social capital is who you know. Having social capital is understanding that being smart, or having great ideas and information, is not sufficient - it is only beneficial if you are able to get the ideas communicated and implemented.

Question 60

True or false? Research has found that for many things - such as finding jobs or getting ahead - weak “acquaintance” ties work better than strong “friendship” ties. Why?

Answer 60

True. Individuals have greater access to more and different job opportunities when relying on weak ties. This is good news because strong ties are costly to maintain - they require more time than weak associations.

Question 61

What’s another way that individuals can provide an advantage to themselves and to organizations?

Answer 61

By acting as a broker.

Question 62

What is a broker?

Answer 62

A broker is someone who bridges structural holes which exist as gaps between individuals and groups without connections in networks. Brokers develop relationships that link formerly unconnected actors by building bridges that provide greater access to information, resources, and opportunities.