Power and Politics GROUP II

Power,

Control &

Politics

Managing Effectiveness of Organizations

Power tends to corrupt; Absolute power corrupts

absolutely-Lord Acton

A Presentation bySneha (IP-1609) , Hetal, Sonal (UTPM-0609), Siddharth (IP-0409), Aftab (IP-0109), Saurabh (UTPM-1409), Sanskruti (IAPM-1109)

It’s good to be a king!

Organizational Conflict

Organization – Different groups of Stakeholders

Contribute, Cooperate and CompeteStakeholders have common interest in

the survival of organizationGoals and interests of Stakeholders

are not identicalConflict is perceived as negativeSome conflict is good for an

organizationExtreme conflict hurts organizational

performance

Organizational conflict is the clash that occurs when the goaldirected behavior of one group blocks or thwarts the goals ofanother.

Management

Employees

Unions

Other Stakeholders

Area of Agreement

Why is some conflict good for an organization?

• Conflict can be beneficial because it can overcome organizational inertia and lead to organizational learning and change.

• Conflict improves decision making and organizational learning by revealing new ways of looking at a problem or the false or erroneous assumptions that distort decision making.

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LEVEL OF CONFLICT

Pondy’s model of organizational Conflict

Stage 1: Latent conflict

No outright conflict exists but there is a potential for conflict because of several factors

Sources of conflict:

1) Interdependence

2) Differences in goals and priorities

3) Bureaucratic factors

4) Incompatible performance criteria

5) Competition for resources

Subunits become aware of conflict and begin to analyze it. Conflict escalates as group battle over the cause of conflict

Subunits respond emotionally to each other and attitudes polarize: “us versus them”. What began as a small problem escalates into huge conflict.

Conflict is resolved in a way that leaves subunits feeling combative or cooperative.

Subunits try to get back at each other. Fighting and open aggression are common and organizational effectiveness suffers

Stage 2: Perceived conflict Stage 3: Felt conflict

Stage 4: Manifest conflictStage 5: Conflict aftermath

Conflict Management

A must do as organizational conflict can rapidly escalate and sour an organization’s culture

Effective Strategies:

1. Acting at the level of structure

• Increasing the level of Integration can manage the problem of differences in subunit goals

• Increase their use of liaison roles, Task forces, Teams • Organization hierarchy to be inline with current needs

2. Acting at the level of attitudes and individuals

Use of Procedural systemAttitudinal structuringUsing a Third-party negotiatorChanging the People‘Powerful’ people

• The ability of one

person/group to overcome

resistance by others to

resolve conflict and

achieve a desired goal.

What is Power?

• The capacity to act and make choices and

decisions

• The capacity to create order and sustain

influence

• Ability to get others to do what one wants

them to do

Politics?

• Influencing allocation of scarce resources,

events, decisions

• Relationships within an organization including

norms, values & culture

• Attempts to influence others using

discretionary behaviours to promote personal

objectives

People who have power deny it

People who want it try to look like

they are not seeking it

Those who are good at getting it are

secretive about how they do so

Organizational Power

Leadership and Power The Contrast

• Closely related concepts

• Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals

• Goal Compatibility: Power can be mere dependence, Leadership needs congruence

between the goals of leader and those being led

• Direction of Influence: Leadership focuses on downward influence on followers; Power does

not

• Research Emphasis: Leadership research emphasizes style; Research on power focuses on

tactics for gaining complaisance.

ETHICS?

• Power is the concept that encompasses the mechanisms, processes and dispositions that try, not

always successfully to ensure that people act according to the rules of the game.

• Ethics is concerned with doing the right things in the right way.

Where does Power come from? The Bases of Power

Formal Power

• Coercive Power

• Reward Power

• Legitimate Power

Personal Power

• Expert Power

• Referent Power

Functional/Divisional

Power

Authority Control over resources

Unobstructive

Control over uncertainty

Control over

information

Non Suitability

Centrality

Research suggests that, the Personal Sources of Power are most effective!

Source : Stephen,B.Robbins, Timothy,A.Judge, Seema Sanghi, Organisational Behavior, Pearson Education, 13th edition

Strategic Contingency Theory• Organization conceptualized as being composed of four

functional subsystems or subunits.• The subunits were seen as interdependent.• What connected them was the major task of the organization,

coping with uncertainty.• The most powerful are the least dependent subunits

Measuring Power

Resource dependency view• derived from the work of social psychologists such as Emerson

(1962) and related work by French and Raven (1968).• Zero sum conception of power

Measuring Power

A B

Forces of Power in Action

Positive– Leading– Influencing– Selling– Persuading

Negative– Coercing– Forcing– Hurting– Crushing

• Legitimacy• Rational Persuasion• Inspirational Appeals• Consultation• Exchange• Personal Appeals• Ingratiation• Pressure• Coalition

Power Tactics What tactics do people use to translate power bases into specific action?

Power Tactics

HigherAuthority Bargaining

Assertiveness

CoalitionSanctions

FriendlinessReason

• The process of mobilizing power is the process of politics.• politics are what happens when members of organizations

behave in ways that are potentially authoritatively illegitimate.• Politics are generated by:

– Structural cleavages in the organization between different component elements and identities, and the different values, affective, cognitive and discursive styles associated with these

– The complexity and the degree of uncertainty attached to the dilemma– The salience of the issues for different actors and identities in the

organization– The external pressure coming from stakeholders or other actors or

organizations in the environment– The history of past politics in the organizations in question

Politics

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione

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Types oforganisational

politics

Managingimpressions

Attacking andblaming

Creatingobligations

Cultivatingnetworks

Types of organisational politics

Controllinginformation

Formingcoalitions

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione

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Conditionssupporting

organisational politics

Scarceresources

Complex andambiguousdecisions

Personalcharacteristics

Tolerance ofpolitics

Conditions for organisational politics

Individual Factors Which Contribute to Political Behavior

• Level of self monitoring

• Need for power

• Internal locus of control

• Investment in the organization

• Perceived alternatives

• Expectations of success

`Organizational Factors that Contribute to Political Behavior

• Low trust

• Democratic decision making

• High performance pressures

• Scarcity of resources

• Role ambiguity

• Self-serving senior

managers

• Unclear evaluation systems

• Zero-sum allocations

Types of Organizational Politics

• Legitimate political behavior consists of normal, every-day politics:

• forming coalitions• bypassing the chain of

command• complaining to your supervisor• developing outside contacts

through professional activities

• Illegitimate political behavior is so extreme that it violates the rules of the game

• Sabotage• whistle-blowing

• symbolic protests

Political Perspective Explains Organizational Behavior

Examples of political organizational behavior• withholding information• restricting output• attempting to “build empires”• publicizing their successes• hiding their failures• distorting performance figures• engaging in similar activities at odds with

organization’s goals, efficiency and effectiveness

Thankyou