Power and Politics Flashcards
Power
Capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes.
Power Involves
- Potential - Power does not necessarily have to be used to be effective
- Dependency - The greater B’s dependence on A, the greater A’s power in the relationship
- Related to importance, scarcity, and non-substitutability
What is the difference between power and authority
- power
- Not necessarily reflected on organizational chart
- Can be exercised up, down, or sideways
Authority
- Narrower in scope
- Prescribed by formal hierarchy and reporting relationships
- Vested in organizational positions
- Flows down the vertical hierarchy
French & Raven’s Five Baeses of Power
- Legitimate Power
- Reward Power
- Coercive Power
- Referent Power
- Expert Power
Legitimate Power
- Power derived from a person’s position or job (i.e., formal structural position)
- Does not have a negative effect
- Does not generally stimulate employees to improve their attitudes or performance
- Does not generally result in increased commitment.
- Can result in compliance if employees have been socialized to accept authority
Reward Power
- Power derived from the ability to provide positive outcomes and prevent negative ones
- May improve performance in a variety of situations if the rewards are consistent with what the individuals want as rewards.
- Can result in compliance (if rewards are valued)
Coercive Power
- Power derived from the use of punishment and threat
- Results in negative responses
- Associated with lower job satisfaction, commitment, perceptions of justice
- Can result in mistrust, fear, and resistance
Referent Power
- Power derived from being liked by others
- Associated with higher commitment, job satisfaction, perceptions of justice
- Generally, well responded to
- Very potent
Expert Power
- Power derived from having special information or expertise
- Associated with higher commitment, job satisfaction, perceptions of justice
- Associated with higher employee effectiveness
- Relies on trust that all relevant information is given out honestly and completely.
Leaders’ Use of Power
- The least effective power bases are the ones most likely to be used by managers
- Coercive, legitimate, and reward
- Easiest to implement
- Effective leaders use referent and/or expert power
- Note: Individuals may hold more than 1 power base at the same time.
Empowerment
- Giving employees the authority, opportunity, and motivation to take initiative and solve organizational problems.
- Related to self-efficacy
- Associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, commitment, citizenship behaviors, and job performance
- Influence tactics - assertiveness, integration, self-promotion, rationality, exchange, upward appeal, coalition formation (seeking united support from other org member)
Empowerment
- Giving employees the authority, opportunity, and motivation to take initiative and solve organizational problems.
- Related to self-efficacy
- Associated with higher levels of job satisfaction, commitment, citizenship behaviors, and job performance
- Influence tactics - assertiveness, integration, self-promotion, rationality, exchange, upward appeal, coalition formation (seeking united support from other org member)
Subunit power
the degree of power held by various organizatioanl subnits, such as departments
Strategic contingencies
- critical factors affecting organizational effectiveness that are controlled by a key subunit
- Scarcity, uncertainty, centrality, substitability
Political Skill
- 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.
- Related to confidence, self-monitoring, conscientiousness, coalition building, and political savvy
- Teams with politically skilled members are more cohesive.
Four Facets of Political Skill:
- Social astuteness
- Interpersonal influence
- Apparent sincerity
- Networking ability
Social astuteness
skill at observing others and being in tune to others’ needs and motives (related to self-monitoring)
Interpersonal influence
skill at being convincing and persuasive (puts others at ease)
Apparent sincerity
skill at coming across as genuine with high integrity
Networking ability
skill at establishing relationships with key org members (and outsiders) to accomplish goals.
Influencing Skills
- Rational persuasion: Logic/Fact
- Inspirational appeals: appealing to values, ideals and goals
- Consultation: participation
- Ingratiation: being friendly, using flattery
- Personal appeals: loyalty or friendship
- Exchange: reward or benefit
- Coalitions: aid of other to persuade someone
- Legitimacy: authority or consistent with policy
- Pressure: threats or intimidation
Organizational Politics
- The pursuit of self-interest whether or not the self-interest is compatible with organizational goals
- Politicking mostly occurs among middle and upper managers
Politics occur when
- Resources are scarce
- Under conditions of uncertainty (e.g., vague performance goals, role ambiguity, job anxiety)
- When important issues arise (e.g., during organizational change, management succession, etc)
Political climates associated with:
Lower job satisfaction
Lower levels of commitment
Reduced organizational citizenship behaviors
Increased stress
Increased turnover
Sanctioned means/sanctioned ends
power is used routinely to pursue agreed-on goals
Sanctioned means/ non-sanctioned ends
acceptable means of influence are abused to puruse goals that the organization does not approve of
Not-sanctioned means/sanctioned ends -
ends that are useful for the organization are pursued through questionable means
Not-sanctioned means/not-sanctioned ends -
most flagrant abuse of power, sunce disapproved tactics are used to pursue disapproved outcomes
Machiavellianism – The Hard Side of Politics
a set of cynical beliefs about human nature, morality, and the permissibility of using various tactics to achieve ones ends
- act in their own self interest, even at expense of others
- Appeal cool and calculating, especially when others get emotional
- Manisfest high self-esteem and self-confidence
- From alliances with powerful people to achieve their goals
High Mach
- High - advocate the use of lying and deceit to achieve desired goals and to argue that mortality can be comprised to fit the situation in question
- The high mach can deal face to face with those who are the object of influence
- The interaction occurs under fairly emotional circumstances
- The situation is fairly unstructured, with few guidelines for appropriate forms of interaction
Defensiveness - the reactive side of politics
- stalling
- over conforming
- buck passing
- buffing
- scapegoating
Staling
moving slowly when someone asks for your cooperation, avoiding taking action without actually saying no
Over Conforming
sticking to the strict letter of your job description or to organizational regulations is a common way to avoid action
Buck passing -
having someone else act is an effective way to avoid doing it your self
Buffing
carefully documenting information showing that an appropriate course of action was followed
Scapegoating
blaming others when things go wrong
