Ob12 karp&anastos 1

POWER: ITS USES AND ABUSES IN ORGANIZATIONS

Ben Karp & Alexandra Anastos 10/26/2011

POWER: Its Uses and Abuses in Organizations

Influence: A Basic Organizational Process Individual Power: Sources and Uses Empowerment: Sharing Power with

Employees The Power of Organizational Groups Sexual Harassment: A Serious Abuse of

Power Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of

Power

Power: The capacity to exert influence over others.

POWER: Its Uses and Abuses in Organizations Define the nature of influence in

organizations and its major forms.

Distinguish between various forms of individual power in organizations.

Define empowerment and indicate how it operates among individuals and in teams.

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Influence: A Basic Organizational Process

Social Influence Involves doing something that affects

someone else in one way or another Influence whether the attempt was

successful or not In the workforce, managers must seek to

change others’ behavior in a manner consistent with organizational objectives.

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Influence: A Basic Organizational Process Tactics for Exerting Influence

Rational persuasion Inspirational appeals Collaboration Consultation Integration: getting the target to do

what you want by putting him/her in a good mood or getting him/her to like you

Exchange Personal Appeal Coalition-building Legitimating Pressuring *Outside of the organization,

corporations use these tactics, but they will use other tactics. ANASTOS

Influence: A Basic Organizational Process

Effective Manager Influence Managers need to be effective influencers

to: Persuade subordinates to put forth effort Persuade higher-ups to consider your views Persuade subordinates and peers to assist you

Beneficial for the corporation as a whole

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Individual Power: Sources and Uses Power: The capacity to exert influence

over others.

Two Sources of Individual Power: Position Power: Power deriving from job

or title within the organization. Personal Power: Power deriving from a

person’s unique qualities or characteristics.

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Individual Power: Sources and Uses Position Power

Legitimate Power: Power based on the fact that others recognize and accept your authority. Applies only to a range of power.

Reward Power: Power to control the rewards others want to receive.

Coercive Power: Power resulting from the capacity to control punishment.

Information Power: Power based on the data and knowledge at their disposal.

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Individual Power: Sources and Uses Personal Power

Rational Persuasion: People who are effective at influencing others through the strength of their logical arguments.

Expert Power: People who have advanced or expert knowledge. Those able to use it are extremely powerful.

Referent Power: Power based on the fact that one is admired or respected by others.

Charisma: Power based on a powerful, magnetic and contagious personality.

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Individual Power: Sources and Uses How Is Individual Power Used?

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Empowerment: Sharing Power with Employees Empowerment: Process of delegating

authority to individuals at the lowest level in an organization at which competent decisions can be made. Passing power from managers to employees. Requires managers to share expert information.

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Empowerment: Sharing Power with Employees Central Steps to Empowerment:

Information sharing: Providing potentially sensitive information on costs, productivity, quality, and financial performance to employees throughout the organization.

Autonomy through boundaries: Using organizational practices that encourage self-ruling action by employees, including work procedures, areas of responsibility, and goals.

Team accountability: Ensuring that both decision-making authority and performance accountability reside in teams.

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Empowerment: Sharing Power with Employees Empowerment in Teams

Empowerment climate: A relatively enduring atmosphere in the workplace that is supportive of empowerment. More strongly organizations encourage holding

teams accountable, information sharing, etc. = higher empowerment climate.

High empowerment climate = increased importance of team performance.

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Empowerment: Sharing Power with Employees Empowerment Climate in Action:

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Article: Empowering Employees Sources of Employee Empowerment at Whole

Foods: Employees vote every 3 years on their benefits Employees vote on new team members Regional managers design new stores instead of

borrowing ideas from corporate Individual stores determine what items are

stocked based on local tastes and goods

ANASTOS

Mackey, John, Whole Foods. "Empowering Employees." http:// www.successmagazine.com/. N.p., 12 Feb. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://www.successmagazine.com/Empowering-Employees/PARAMS/article/591/channel/19>.

“Happy team members create happy customers, and happy customers create

happy investors.... Make sure the people you work with are able to self-actualize

themselves to the greatest degree possible so they can advance, make more money, learn

and grow on the job.” – John Mackey

POWER: Its Uses and Abuses in Organizations Describe the models that explain the nature

of power between organizational units.

Describe how sexual harassment constitutes an abuse of organizational power and ways of reducing its occurrence.

Describe when and where organizational politics occur and the forms such behavior takes.

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The Power of Organizational Groups Tendency for power within organizations

to be distributed unequally across different departments or subunits. What are the sources of such power? Resource-Dependency Model Strategic Contingencies Model

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The Power of Organizational Groups Resource-Dependency Model

Greater control of resources the department has = the greater power the department will yield.

Power is extracted by the departments that contribute and control the most resources.

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The Power of Organizational Groups Strategic Contingencies Model Strategic Contingency: The extent that a department

is able to control the relative power of various subunits by its actions.

Uncertainty: The degree to which the subunit is able to reduce uncertainty.

Centrality: The degree to which the unit has a key impact on others because it has to be consulted and because its activities have immediate effects on the organization.

Non-substitutable: The degree to which it is the only unit that can perform its particular duties.

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Sexual Harassment: A Serious Abuse of Power Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome sexual advances,

requests for favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature when it affects employment or interferes with work performance, or creates a hostile or offensive work environment. Harasser’s conduct must always be unwelcome. Almost always about power. Usually a more

powerful person giving unwanted sexual attention to a less powerful person.

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Sexual Harassment: A Serious Abuse of Power Major Forms of Sexual Harassment:

Quid pro quo: Harasser requires sexual favors in exchange for some tangible conditions, privileges, or terms of employment.

Hostile environment: Harasser creates negative or unwanted conditions which affects a person’s ability to work affectively and comfortably. Also includes when management fails to

prevent such actions among employees.

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Sexual Harassment: A Serious Abuse of Power Occurrence:

Estimated 42% of women and 15% of men are victims of sexual harassment at some point.

95% of all sexual harassment goes unreported. Increasing awareness of sexual harassment in

the workplace has lead it to not being a growing problem, but it still remains quite serious.

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Sexual Harassment: A Serious Abuse of Power Costs:

Financial: To the company– Higher absenteeism, higher employee

turnover, lower productivity, increased health care costs (relatively minor), decline in moral, decline in reputation.

Psychological: To the victim– Humiliation, loss of dignity, psychological (and

sometimes physical) injury, damage to professional reputation and career.

Health: To the victim– Headaches, sleeplessness, various stress-related

disorders.

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Sexual Harassment: A Serious Abuse of Power How to Manage:

As a manager, it’s beneficial to take steps to prevent sexual harassment. Ways to prevent: Have a clear policy on sexual harassment Train employees about what constitutes inappropriate

behavior towards others Make sure there’s an effective complaint procedure Take immediate steps to stop harassment if/when it

does occur to ensure it doesn’t reoccur Contribute personally to a positive and supportive

environment

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Organizational Politics: Use of power

to foster one’s own interest without regard for the well-being of others in the organization.

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Political Behavior Forms

Gaining control over selective use of information

Cultivating a favorable impression Building powerful coalitions *Blaming and attacking others Associating with powerful others Creating obligations

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Factors Influencing Politics

Personal Determinants Organizational Determinants Human Resource Management Activities Large Multinational Corporations

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Personal Determinants of

Organizational Politics: Some people are more likely to exchange in organizational politics than others. “Social Chameleons”: People who figure out

what behaviors are acceptable in their organization and thusact in that manner.

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Organizational Determinants of

Organizational Politics Ambiguous/ conflicting goals and roles of people in

the organization History of political activity in organization Scarce resources Highly centralized Low on empowerment

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Politics in Human Resource

Management Performance appraisal Personnel selection Compensation decisions Pay raise decisions

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Organizational Politics: Selfish Uses of Power Impact of Organizational Politics

Benefits the individual but negatively affects other people and the organization itself. Job satisfaction down Job commitment down Voluntary turnover rate up Employees feel less supported

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Article:

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