GRA 6820 Political Aspects of Decision Making (Harrison, Ch.9)

The Political Aspects of Decision-Making

GRA 6820Strategic Choice

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GRA 6820

Political Aspects of Decision Making

(Harrison, Ch.9)



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Overview of chapter 9

• A profile of power

• The managerial decision-making class

• Conceptual foundations of political power

• Profiles of political power in decision-making

• Dimensions of managerial decision-making power

• Constraints on managerial decision-making power



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Metaphor analysis• Management theories provide only a partial view of what

organizations are like.• Definition: metaphor– A figure of speech by which a thing is spoken of as

being that which it only resembles.– The idea of “likeness”, as used in metaphor analysis,

helps to gain insights into difficult to understand phenomena or issues in terms of things we are familiar with.

• Types of metaphors used in strategy and organization– Machine– Organism– Brain– Culture– Politics



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Political metaphor

• When applied to problem situations, the relationships between individuals and groups are considered as competitive and involving the pursuit of power.

• Focuses on issues of...

– Interests

– Conflict

– Power



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Political metaphor assessment

• Highlights all organizational activity as interest-based, emphasizes the important role of power in determining political outcomes - power is at the center of all organizational analysis.

• Emphasizes that goals may be rational for some, but not all actors.

• Proposes disintegrative strains and tensions.

• Encourages recognition of the organizational actor as political for motivational and structural reasons.

• When explicit recognition of the politics of the situation leads to further heightening of tension and mistrust.

• May over-emphasize the need to deal with political issues at the expense of other factors essential for organizational health.

When is it useful? When is it not useful?



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PowerSome definitions…1. Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry

out his own will, despite resistance, and regardless of the basis on which this probability rests. (Weber, 1947).

2. Power is the ability of persons as groups to impose their will on others despite resistance through deterrence either in the form of withholding regularly supplied rewards or in the form of punishment inasmuch as the former, as well as the latter, constitutes in effect negative sanction. (Blau, 1964).

3. Power is defined as a force that results in behavior that would not have occurred if the forces had not been present. (Mechanic, 1962).

4. A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that he otherwise would not do. (Dahl, 1957).

5. [Power is] the ability of one person or group of persons to influence the behavior of others, that is, to change the probabilities that others will respond in certain ways to certain inputs. (Kaplan, 1964).

6. Power is latent force…Power itself is the prior capacity which makes the application of force possible. (Bierstedt, 1950).

7. Power we may define as the realistic capacity of a system-unit to actualize its interests within the context of system-interaction and in this sense exert influence on processes in the system. (Parsons, 1955).



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Social control and social order

• Not simply a function of people conforming to the demands of others, to divine precepts, to natural law or to fixed norms of an equilibrial or homeostatic system.

• Whatever control or disorder that exists at any time in a society is a function of the interrelations and interactions of the components of an on-going system process.



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Terminology

• Power

– Inherently coercive (tvingende).

– Implies involuntary submission.

• Influence

– Persuasive (overtalende).

– Implies voluntary submission.



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Content dimensions of power:

Authority and influence• Authority is the static, structural aspect of power in organizations; influence is the

dynamic, tactical element.• Authority is the formal aspect of power; influence is the informal.• Authority refers to the formally sanctioned right to make final decisions; influence

is not sanctioned by the organization and is, therefore, not a matter of organizational rights.

• Authority implies submission by subordinates; influence implies voluntary submission and does not necessarily entail a superior-subordinate relationship.

• Authority flows downward and is unidirectional; influence is multidirectional and can flow in any direction.

• The source of authority is solely structural; the source of influence may be personal characteristics, expertise, or opportunity.

• Authority is circumscribed, that is, the domain, scope and legitimacy of the power are specifically and clearly delimited; influence is uncircumscribed, that is, its domain, scope and legitimacy are typically ambiguous.



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Theoretical basis of power• Social exchange theory

– Efficient way to examine social relationships.

– Power is a central aspect of an exchange approach to social relationships.

– Dependence is what makes exchange an integral part of any social relationship.

• Economic - Supply and Demand

• Political



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Organizational typologyRelationships Pluralist• Basic interest

compatibility.

• Some divergence of values and beliefs.

• Not necessarily in agreement on ends and means.

• Participative decision making.

• Act in accordance with agreed objectives.

Coercive• Do not share

common interests.

• Values and beliefs likely to conflict.

• No agreement on ends and means.

• Use of coercion and power.

• No agreement on objectives.

Unitary• Share common

interests.

• Compatible values and beliefs.

• Agreement on ends and means.

• Participative decision making.

• Act in accordance with agreed objectives.



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Unitary and pluralist views of interests, conflict and power

Unitary view Pluralist view

Interests Places emphasis on achievement of common objectives.Organization is united under the umbrella of common goals, working towards their achievement as a well-integrated team.

Places emphasis on diversity of individual and group interests.The organization is a loose coalition which has only a remote interest in the formal goals of the organization.

Conflict Regards conflict as a rare and transient phenomenon which can be removed through appropriate managerial action. When it arises, it is usually attributed to the activities of deviants and trouble makers.

Regards conflict as an inherent and permanent charactistic of organizational affairs and stresses its potentially positive or functional aspects.

Power Largely ignores the role of power in organizational life.Concepts such as authority, leadership and control tend to be the preferred means of describing managerial prerogative of guiding the organization towards the common goal.

Regards power as a variable that is crucial to understanding organizational activities.Power is the medium through which conflicts of interest are eased and resolved.The organization is a plurality of power holders drawing their power from a plurality of sources.



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Theoretical perspectives

• Rationalists

• Satisficers

• Organizationalists

• Politicians

• Individualists



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School of Thought:

The Rationalists

• Main elements...– The individual is confronted with a number of different

specified alternatives.

– Each alternative is associated with a set of consequences that will result if that alternative is chosen.

– The individual has a system of preferences of utilities.

• No descriptive support for this conception of decision making.

• The rational choice concept defines the logic of optimal choice.



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School of Thought:

The Satisficers• Main elements...– We generally do not have a choice between

satisfactory and optimal solutions.

– We are limited in our ability to generate and compare all possible alternatives.

– The best alternative cannot be recognized.

– We “satisfice” by looking for alternatives in such a way that we generally find an acceptable one after a moderate search effort.

• Most problem solving strategies are based on heuristics.

• Heuristics reflect “bounded rationality.”



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School of Thought: The Organizationalists

• Main elements...– Considers the effect of organizational structure and

conventional practice.– The organization is made up of coalitions with separate

priorities, goals and focus of attention.– Decision making necessarily involves bargaining

among these coalitions.– Large scale problems are factored into sub-problems.

• System designers must identify the sub-units and their standard behavior patterns.

• Specialization is generally more efficient for a given problem, but may impede integrating, changing or evolving the organization.



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School of Thought:

The Politicians• Main elements...

– The entire decision process is pluralistic.

– Decision makers are multiple actors with no consistent set of strategic objectives.

– Power, advocacy and consensus are legitimate and important aspects of decision making.

• This view stresses the importance of the implementation process - the issue is not so much design as how to introduce, position and use the system.



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School of Thought: The Individualists

• Main elements...– People have specialized styles of decision making.– Outcomes of the decision process are affected by

these individual characteristics.– Any analytic aid proposed for a decision maker

must be consistent with the individual’s decision making style.

• The decision making process must “mesh” with the cognitive structures of the individual.

• This perspective suggests that decision makers be looked at as they are, not as they should be.



Strategic decision making theories

Model I: Rational choice and cognitive processes

Model II: Organizational processes

Model III: Political processes



Categories of normative prescription

Improve problem comprehension by providing frameworks

Improve problem comprehension by clarifying decision makers’ own frameworks

• BCG Matrix• Market Life Cycles• Industry analysis• Multiple scenarios• Decision analysis• Influence diagrams• Cognitive mapping

Model I:Rational choice and cognitive processes

Model Goal Sources of normative prescriptions



Categories of normative prescriptions

Increase the quality of

scanning and

formulation processes

• Formal planning

systems

• Regular, Irregular, and

Continuous Scanning

• Structural perceptions

Model II:Organizational processes

Model GoalSources of normative

prescriptions



Categories of normative prescriptions

• Dependence Reduction/ Autonomy Strategies

• Stakeholder Management• Strategic Assumptions

Analysis• Integrating social responsibility

into planning• Logical Incrementalism• Social Response Matrix• Intensity Diffusion/

Convergence Analysis• Cultural Risk Management

Model III:Political processes

Model

Improve stakeholder representation and management

GoalSources of normative

prescriptions



Combining multiple perspectives via structured conflict and the Devil’s Advocate

Model II views

Discussion and debate of

different views

Final synthesis

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P1

Development, debate and consensus

Development, debate and consensus

Preliminary development, debate and consensus

Model I views

Facilitator’s intervention

Assigns to groups Assists in development

Consensus and commitment

building

Model III views

P = Individual perspective on a particular strategic problem.



Integrating the three perspectivesCognitive

perspectiveOrganizational

perspectivePolitical

perspective

Strategic assumptions

and cognitive frames

Strategic change

Existing systems and structures

External influences

Analogy

Existing or anticipated problem, opportunity,

or crisis

Combination or synthesis

Individual strategic and structural dimensions

Interpretations

Cognitive biases

Internal political structure

Political maneuvering

Documents

GRA 6820 Political Aspects of Decision Making (Harrison, Ch.9)