Chapter 13: Power and Politics
Conformity
Agreeing with someone else
Consultation
- Increasing the target's support by involving him or her in deciding how you will accomplish your plan.
Reward Power
- Is the opposite of coercive power. People comply because doing so produces positive benefits; therefore, one who can distribute rewards that others view as valuable will have power over those others. These rewards can be either financial—such as controlling pay rates, raises, and bonuses—or nonfinancial, including recognition, promotions, interesting work assignments, friendly colleagues, and preferred work shifts or sales territories.
Power vs Leadership: Leadership
- Leadership requires some congruence between the goals of the leader and those being led. The direction of influence for leaders is downward. - Leadership research, for the most part, emphasizes style.
Scarcity
- A resource also needs to be perceived as scarce to create dependence. The scarcity-dependency relationship can further be seen in the power of occupational categories. Individuals in occupations in which the supply of personnel is low relative to demand can negotiate compensation and benefit packages far more attractive than can those in occupations where there is an abundance of candidates
Political Behavior
- Activities that are not required as part of one's formal role in the organization, but that influence the distribution of advantages within the organization. This definition ecompasses key elements: - Outside of one's specified job requirements. - Encompasses efforts to influence decision making goals, criteria, or processes. - Includes such behaviors as withholding information, whistle blowing, spreading rumors, and leaking confidential information
Sexual Harassment
- Any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individual's employment and creates a hostile work environment. - Comments or behavior "would reasonably be perceived, and [are] perceived, as hostile or abusive" - Supreme Court - Overt Touching, requests for dates, threats of job loss - Subtle Off color jokes, pin up calendars
Personal Appeals
- Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty.
Formal Power
- Based on an individual's position in an organization. There are three types of formal power: coercive, reward, and legitimate
Implications for Managers
- By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can better predict the actions of others and use that information to formulate political strategies that will gain advantages for you and your work unit. - Employees who have poor political skills or are unwilling to play the politics game generally relate perceived organizational politics to lower job satisfaction and self-reported performance, increased anxiety, and higher turnover. Help your employees understand the importance of becoming politically savvy.
Personal Power
- Comes from an individual's unique characteristics, and includes expert power and referent power.
Coercive Power
- Depends on fear of negative results. It rests on the application, or the threat of application, of physical sanctions such as the infliction of pain, the generation of frustration through restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic physiological or safety needs. At the organizational level, A has coercive power over B if A can dismiss, suspend, or demote B, assuming that B values his or her job. Similarly, if A can assign B work activities that B finds unpleasant or treat B in a manner that B finds embarrassing, A possesses coercive power over B.
Inspirational Appeals
- Developing emotional commitment by appealing to a target's values, needs, hopes, and aspirations.
Referent Power
- Develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person; it is a lot like charisma. It also explains why celebrities are paid millions of dollars to endorse products in commercials. Some people who are not in formal leadership positions nonetheless have referent power and exert influence over others because of their charismatic dynamism, likability, and emotional effects on us.
Factors that influence Political Behavior
- Employees who are high self-monitors, possess an internal locus of control, and have a high need for power are more likely to engage in political behavior. - The high self-monitor is more sensitive to social cues and is more likely to be skilled in political behavior than the low self-monitor. - Individuals with an internal locus of control are more prone to take a proactive stance and attempt to manipulate situations in their favor. - The Machiavellian personality is comfortable using politics as a means to further his/her self-interest. - An individual's investment in the organization, perceived alternatives, and expectations of success will also influence the tendency to pursue illegitimate means of political action.
Coalitions
- Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the target to agree.
Experent Power
- Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill, or knowledge. As jobs become more specialized, we become increasingly dependent on experts to achieve goals.
Factors that influence Political Behavior
- Factors contributing to political behavior, include individual factors: high self-monitors, internal locus of control, high mach personality, organizational investment, perceived job alternatives, and expectations of success.
Implications for Managers
- If you want to get things done in a group or an organization, it helps to have power. - As a manager who wants to maximize your power, you will want to increase others' dependence on you. - You will not be alone in attempting to build your power bases. - Try to avoid putting others in a position where they feel they have no power.
Impression Management (IM)
- Low self-monitors tend to present images of themselves that are consistent with their personalities, regardless of the beneficial or detrimental effects for them. - High self-monitors are good at reading situations and molding their appearances and behavior to fit each situation.
Preventing Sexual Harassment
- Managers have a responsibility to protect their employees from a hostile work environment, and they also need to protect their organizations
Preventing Sexual Harassment
- Managers may be unaware that one of their employees is being sexually harassed. But being unaware does not protect them or their organization. - If investigators believe a manager could have known about the harassment, both the manager and the company can be held liable.
Politics: In the eye of the beholder (slide 29)
- Most managerial decisions take place in the large and ambiguous middle ground of organizational life. - These are activities we call politicking. It is possible for an organization to be politics free, if all members of that organization hold the same goals and interests; however, for most of us, that is not the case.
Power vs Leadership: Power
- No requirement for goal compatibility - Power can be downward, upward and lateral - Power research emphasizes TACTICS for gaining compliance - Power and Politics
Mapping your political career
- One of the most useful ways to think about power and politics is in terms of your own career. - Power and politics are a part of organizational life. To decide not to play is deciding not to be effective. Better to be explicit about it with a political map than to proceed as if power and politics didn't matter.
Consequences of Political Behavior
- Outcomes of political behavior are predominantly negative - Outcomes moderated when "how" and "why" are well understood - There is very strong evidence indicating that perceptions of organizational politics are negatively related to job satisfaction. - The perception of politics leads to anxiety or stress. When it gets to be too much to handle, employees quit.
Nine Power Tactics
- People differ in terms of their political skills - Cultures within organizations differ markedly: some are warm, relaxed, and supportive; others are formal and conservative. People who fit the culture of the organization tend to obtain more influence. Influence due to competence
Power Tactic Choices
- People in different countries prefer different power tactics. - Those from individualistic countries tend to see power in personalized terms and as a legitimate means of advancing their personal ends, whereas those in collectivistic countries see power in social terms and as a legitimate means of helping others.
What causes political behavior?
- Peoples' values, goals and interests differ within the organization - Resources are limited "Facts" are open to interpretation - Situations are ambiguous
Which bases of power are most effective?
- Personal sources are most effective. Both expert and referent power are positively related to employees' satisfaction with supervision, their organizational commitment, and their performance, whereas reward and legitimate power seem to be unrelated to these outcomes. Coercive power usually backfires.
Power and People
- Power does not corrupt the anxious - Organizational systems can contain corrosive effects of power through accountability - People low in status are most likely to gain and abuse power - Power can energize and provide motivation - Enhance motivation to help others - Enhances the moral awareness of people with strong moral identity
Sexual Harassment and the Abuse of Power
- Power is central to understanding sexual harassment. - More likely when there are large power differentials. - Harassment by boss creates greatest difficulty - Harassment can occur at any level, and between all genders
Does power corrupt?
- Power leads people to place their own interests ahead of others. - Powerful people can objectify others - Powerful people react, especially negatively, to any threats to their competence. - Power leads to overconfident decision making. Power leads to self-interested behavior for those with weak moral identities
Rational Persuasion
- Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to demonstrate a request is reasonable.
Is political action ethical?
- Questions to consider: What is the utility of engaging in politicking? How does the utility of engaging in the political behavior balance out any harm (or potential harm) it will do to others? Does the political activity conform to standards of equity and justice? - Immoral people can justify almost any behavior. - Recognize the ability of power to corrupt.
Referent Power
- Referent power's source is identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits. If I admire and identify with you, you can exercise power over me because I want to please you.
Power
- Refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B, so that B acts in accordance with A's wishes. - Power may exist but not be used. - Probably the most important aspect of power is that it is a function of dependence. - A person can have power over you only if he or she controls something you desire.
Legitimacy
- Relying on your authority position or saying a request accords with organizational policies or rules.
Exchange
- Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in exchange for following a request.
Sexual Harassment and the Abuse of Power
- Sexual harassment is wrong. - It can also be costly to employers. - Leaves a negative impact on the work environment - Negatively affects job attitudes and leads those who feel harassed to withdraw from the organization.
Power Tactic Effectiveness
- Some tactics are more effective than others - Rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, and consultation tend to be the most effective, especially when the audience is highly interested in the outcomes of a decision process. Pressure tends to backfire and is typically the least effective of the nine tactics.
Impression Management (IM)
- Studies show the effectiveness of IM depends on the situation, such as job interviews and performance evaluations.
Power Tactic Choices
- The choice of tactic depends on the direction in which power is being used. - Rational persuasion is the only tactic effective across organizational levels. - Inspirational appeals work best as a downward influencing tactic with subordinates. - When pressure works, it's generally downward only. - Personal appeals and coalitions are most effective as lateral influence. - Other factors that affect the effectiveness of influence include the sequencing of tactics, a person's skill in using the tactic, and the organizational culture.
Power Tactic Choices
- The effectiveness of tactics depends on the audience. People especially likely to comply with soft power tactics tend to be more reflective, are intrinsically motivated, have high self-esteem, and have greater desire for control. In contrast, people especially likely to comply with hard power tactics are more action oriented and extrinsically motivated, and are more focused on getting along with others than with getting their own way.
Dependence: The key to power
- The general dependency postulate says the greater B's dependency on A, the greater the power A has over B. When you possess anything that others require but that you alone control, you make them dependent upon you and, therefore, you gain power over them. Dependency, then, is inversely proportional to the alternative sources of supply. This is why most organizations develop multiple suppliers rather than using just one. It also explains why so many of us aspire to financial independence.
Factors that Influence Political Behavior
- The organizational factors that influence politics are many. - Political activity is probably more a function of the organization's characteristics than of individual difference variables. - When an organization's resources are declining, when the existing pattern of resources is changing, and when there is opportunity for promotions, politics is more likely to surface. - Cultures characterized by low trust, role ambiguity, unclear performance evaluation systems, zero-sum reward allocation practices, democratic decision making, high pressures for performance, and self-serving senior managers will create breeding grounds for politicking. When organizations downsize to improve efficiency, people may engage in political actions to safeguard what they have. -Promotion decisions have consistently been found to be one of the most political in organizations.
Impression Managment (IM)
- The process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them. - Mostly high self-monitors. - Impressions people convey are not necessarily false - they might truly believe them. - Intentional misrepresentation may have a high cost.
Political Skills
- Their ability to influence others to enhance their own objectives. - The politically skilled are more effective users of all influence tactics
Importance
- To create dependence, the thing(s) you control must be perceived as being important. Organizations actively seek to avoid uncertainty. Therefore, those individuals or groups who can absorb an organization's uncertainty will be perceived as controlling an important resource.
Ingratiation
- Using flattery, praise, or friendly behavior prior to making a request.
Pressure
- Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats.
Does IM work at job interviews?
- Yes! - Evidence shows that IM techniques alone influence interviewers regardless of qualifications - Use self promotion Creates appearance of competence - Use ingratiation Compliment the interviewer Agree with their opinions
Does IM work in performance reviews?
- Yes! - Ingratiation works - Self promotion backfires You're already on the job, the supervisor knows your work
Power Tactic Effectiveness
- You can also increase your chance of success by using more than one type of tactic at the same time or sequentially, as long as your choices are compatible. Using both ingratiation and legitimacy can lessen the negative reactions from appearing to "dictate" outcomes, but only when the audience does not really care about the outcomes of a decision process or the policy is routine.
Power Tactic Choices
- You're more likely to be effective if you begin with "softer" tactics that rely on personal power, such as personal and inspirational appeals, rational persuasion, and consultation. - If these fail, you can move to "harder" tactics, such as exchange, coalitions, and pressure, which emphasize formal power and incur greater costs and risks. Interestingly, a single soft tactic is more effective than a single hard tactic, and combining two soft tactics or a soft tactic and rational persuasion is more effective than any single tactic or combination of hard tactics.
Factors that influence Political Behavior
- certain personality traits, needs, and other factors that are likely to be related to political behavior.
Consequences of political behavior
- decreased job satisfaction - increased anxiety and stress - increased turnover - reduced performance.
Nonsubstitutability
- means the fewer viable substitutes for a resource, the more power control that resource provides.
Avoiding Blame
-Buffing -Playing Safe -Justifying -Scapegoating -Misrepresenting
Avoiding Action
-Overconforming -Buck passig -Playing dumb -Stretching -Stalling
Avoiding Change
-Prevention -Self-Protection
Five Bases of Power
1. Coercive Power 2. Reward Power 3. Legitimate Power 4. Expert Power 5. Referent Power
Eight Impression Management Techniques
1. Conformity 2. Favors 3. Excuses 4. Apologies 5. Self-promotion 6. Enhancement 7. Flattery 8. Exemplification
Preventing Sexual Harassment
1. Have an active policy in place with procedures for making complaints 2. No retaliation for reporting harassment 3. Investigate every complaint 4. Discipline or terminate offenders 5. Train - seminars and on-line courses
What creates a dependence?
1. Importance 2. Scarcity 3. Nonsubstitutability
Nine Power Tactics
1. Legitimacy 2. Rational Persuasion 3. Inspirational Appeals 4. Consultation 5. Exchange 6. Personal Appeals 7. Ingratiating 8. Pressure 9. Coalitions
Favors
A form of ingratiation
Exemplification
Sending emails at midnight
Causes and consequences of Political Behavior
Defensive behaviors- Reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame or change. - When employees see politics as a threat, they often respond with defensive behaviors - Defensive behaviors are often associated with negative feelings toward the job and work environment. - In the short run, employees may find that defensiveness protects their self-interest, but in the long run it wears them down. - People who consistently rely on defensiveness find that, eventually, it is the only way they know how to behave. - At that point, they lose the trust and support of their peers, bosses, employees, and clients.
Flatter
In an effort to seem perceptive
Legitmate Power
Is shown in formal groups and organizations through one's structural position. It represents the power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy. Legitimate power is broader than the power to coerce and reward. It includes acceptance of the authority of a position by members of an organization.
Five bases of Power
Power can be divided into two general groupings: formal and personal.
