Can we create a different environment… ?

“Politicians and corporations have always placed economic interests above moral interests. This is now hurting the entire planet”

Marianne Louise Thieme

Power & Politics

ID: 21270 – MBA (Marketing) Iqra University

Submitted to: Dr. Jawaid F. M. Khan

Zainab Ali AsgharSecretary to Director / Hoora Pharma

Power and Politics• Power: The ability of one person or group to cause another

person or group to do something that they otherwise might not have done.

• Organizational Politics: Activities in which managers engage to increase their power and to pursue goals that favor their individual and group interests.

Faces of Power in Action• Positive

• Leading

• Influencing

• Selling

• Persuading

•Negative• Coercing

• Forcing

• Hurting

• Crushing

is the ability to get someone to do something you want done.

The ability to make things happen in the way you want.

Influence is expressed by others’ behavioral response to your exercise of power.

Position Power derives from a person’s position in the organizational hierarchy.

Personal Power derives from individual sources

Types of position power.

• Reward power.

• Coercive power.

• Legitimate power.

• Process power.

• Information power.

• Representative power.

Power

Types of personal power.

• Expert power.

• Rational persuasion.

• Referent power.

Sources of Individual Power

Formal individual power is the power that stems from a person’s position in an organization’s hierarchy.

Informal individual power is the power that stems from personal characteristics.

Personal Power and Influence in an Organization Ways to build personal power.

• Building expertise.

• Learning political savvy.

• Enhancing likeability.

Ways that managers increase the visibility of their job performance.• Expanding contacts with senior people.

• Making oral presentations of written work.

• Participating in problem-solving task forces.

• Sending out notices of accomplishment.

• Seeking opportunities to increase name recognition.

How are power, obedience, and formal authority intertwined in an organization

Important practical issues in the exercise of power and formal authority.

• Why should subordinates respond to a manager’s authority (or “right to command”)?

• Given that subordinates are willing to obey, what determines the limits of obedience?

Controlling decision premises• Executives attempt to control, or at least influence, decision premises.

• A decision premise is a basis for defining the problem and for selecting among alternatives.

• Executives who want to increase their power will make their goals and needs clear and bargain effectively.

Common techniques for exercising relational influence.• Reason.

• Friendliness.

• Coalition.

• Bargaining.

• Assertiveness.

• Higher authority.

• Sanctions.

Politics• Politics refers to the use of power and authority to influence

organizational outcomes.

The Dark Side of Power and Politics• Power and politics often have negative connotations because people

associate them with attempts to use organizational resources for personal advantage and to achieve personal goals at the expense of other goals.

The Bright Side• Managers can use power to control people and other resources so that

they cooperate and help to achieve an organization’s current goals.

• Managers can use power to engage in politics and influence the decision-making process to help promote new, more appropriate organizational goals.

Power in Action

PoliticalBehavior

The Realityof Politics

Ambiguous Decisions

Limited Resources

Illegitimate

Legitimate

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

Power Politics

• Positive or Destructive Force?• Power politics help organizations to adapt and

interact with the environment appropriately• Managers are dependent upon workers • Workers have limited time, energy, and talent• Power is needed to manage these• Some use power for personal and not organizational goals

• How to handle power• Limit access to decision makers• Alter decision criteria to performance• Offer financial incentives to discourage political activity

Organizational Politics Machiavellian tradition of organizational politics.

• Emphasizes self-interest and the use of non sanctioned means.

• Organizational politics is defined as the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through non sanctioned influence means.

Alternate tradition of organizational politics.• Politics is a necessary function resulting from differences in the

self-interests of individuals.

• Politics is the art of creative compromise among competing interests.

• Politics is the use of power to develop socially acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective interests.

Organizational PoliticsSubunit power.

• Line units are typically more powerful than are staff groups.

• Units toward the top of the organizational hierarchy are often more powerful than those toward the bottom.

• Power differentials are not as pronounced among units at or near the same level in an organization.

Political actions for influencing lateral, intergroup relationships.• Workflow linkages.

• Service linkages.

• Advisory linkages.

• Auditing linkages.

• Approval linkages.

Organizational PoliticsImportant aspects of corporate political strategy.

• Absence of a political strategy can be damaging.

• Corporate political strategy should be targeted toward turning the government from a regulator against industry to a protector of it.

• Need to make decisions about when and how to get involved in the public policy processes.

Avoidance is quite common where the employee must risk being wrong or where actions may yield a sanction.

Common techniques for avoiding action and risk taking.

• Working to the rules.

• Playing dumb.

• Depersonalization.

• Stalling.

Political Perspective Explains Organizational BehaviorExamples 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

Methods for Avoiding Blame• Buffing

• Playing safe

• Justifying

• Scape gloating

• Misrepresenting

Methods for Avoiding Action• Over-conforming

• Buck passing

• Playing dumb

• Depersonalizing

• Stretching

• Smoothing

• Stalling

Ethical Guidelines for Political Behavior

Question 1Is the action motivated by self-serving

interests whichexclude the goals of the

organization?Question 2

Does the politicalaction respect

individual rights?

Question 3Is the political

activity fairand equitable?

Yes

NoYes

No

Yes

No

Unethical

Unethical

Unethical

Ethical

Common techniques for redirecting accountability and responsibility

• Passing the buck.• Buffing (or rigorous documentation).• Preparing a blind memo.• Rewriting history.• Redirecting.• Scapegoating.• Blaming the problem on uncontrollable events.• Escalating commitment.

Defending turf.

• Defending turf is a time-honored tradition

in most large organizations.

• Defending turf results when:

• Managers seek to increase their power by

expanding the jobs their groups perform.

• Competing interests exist among various

departments and groups.

Resource Resource dependencies.• The firm’s need for resources that are controlled by

others.

The resource dependence of an organization increases as: • Needed resources become more scarce.• Outsiders have more control over needed resources.• There are fewer substitutes for a particular type of

resource controlled by a limited number of outsiders.

Organization Governance• The pattern of authority, influence, and acceptable

managerial behavior established at the top of the organization.

• Organizational governance establishes the following:• What is important.• How issues will be defined.• Who should and should not be involved in key choices• Boundaries for acceptable implementation.

Views of organizational governance Negative views of organizational governance.

• Unbalanced organizational governance by some United States corporations may limit their ability to manage global operations effectively.

• Organizational governance is too closely tied to the short-term interests of stockholders and the pay of the CEO.

Positive views of organizational governance.

• The governance of U.S. firms extends well beyond the limited interests of the owners.

• Organization governance should be based on three ethical criteria.

• When the three ethical criteria cannot be fulfilled, the criterion of overwhelming factors should be invoked.

• Choosing to be ethical often involves considerable personal sacrifice.

Organizational ConflictThe struggle that arises when the goal-directed behavior of one person or group blocks the goal-directed behavior of another person or group.

Sources of Organizational Conflict• Differentiation

• Differences in functional orientation

• Status inconsistencies

• Task relationships

• Overlapping authority

• Task interdependence

• Incompatible evaluation systems

• Scarcity of resources

If you have any question please feel free to ask

Thank You