ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, in the name of Allah, the most gracious
and the most merciful, we have successfully finished this chapter
report to fulfill the subject course requirement for Organization
Behavior (MGT 534). We also want to say very thankfully to our
parents because they give more support and help us in order to
finish this report. Secondly, we want to thank a lot of to our
beloved lecturer, Miss Irwani Bt Abdul Rahman because she has spend
a lot of time to teach us on how to do this report and give us more
information or guideline to finish this work. We spent more time to
finish this report accurately. Besides that, we want to say thanks
to our friends (BMB3Ec) that give a lot of information for us to
finish this report at accurate time. Last but not least, we would
like to thanks everybody that was specifically involved in finish
this task successfully. In an order for us to get this task
complete, we would like to thanks again to our dear lecturer for
guiding us and give us the useful and unforgettable experience ever
in our life.
THE MEANING OF POWER
Power
Power is the capacity of a person, team, or organization to
influence others. Power is not the act of changing someones
attitudes or behavior; it is only the potential to do so. People
frequently have power they do not use; they might not even know
they have power. Also, power is not personal feeling of power. You
might feel powerful or think you have power over someone else, but
this is not power unless you truly have the capacity to influence
that person.
Countervailing powerCountervailing power is refers to the
capacity of a person, team, or organization to keep a more powerful
person or group in the exchange relationship. For example,
executives have power over subordinates by controlling their job
security and promotional opportunities. At the same time, employees
have countervailing power by possessing skills and knowledge that
keep production humming and customers happy, something that
executives cannot accomplish alone.
SOURCES OF POWERPower refers to the possession of authority and
influence over others. Power is a tool that, depending on how it's
used, can lead to either positive or negative outcomes in an
organization. They identified five sources of power, namely:
coercive, referent, legitimate, expert and reward power.
1) Legitimate Power: Comes when a leader has a legitimately held
position of authority. Example: The CEO of an organization has the
highest positional powerLegitimate power is also known as
positional power. It's derived from the position a person holds in
an organization's hierarchy, job descriptions. For example, require
junior workers to report to managers and give managers the power to
assign duties to their juniors. For positional power to be
exercised effectively, the person wielding it must be deemed to
have earned it legitimately. Legitimate power operates within a
zone of indifference, the range within which people are willing to
accept someone elses authority. The sizes of the zone of
indifference of legitimate power increases with the extent to which
the power holder is trusted and makes fair decisions. Some people
are also more obedient than others to authority, particularly those
who value conformity and tradition. People in high power distance
cultures. For example, those who accept an unequal distribution of
power also tend to have higher obedience to authority compared with
people in low distance cultures. The organizations cultures
represent a third factor. Use positional power when you need
something done quickly when you dont have time to explain why if a
political situation has grown that needs stemmingDont use
positional power when youre feeling impatient or frustrated you
have purely personal reasons to influence an outcome
2) Expert power: When a leader has significant domain
knowledge/skills.Example: An expert accountant influences how
junior accountants go about their tasksKnowledge is power. Expert
power is derived from possessing knowledge or expertise in a
particular area and originated from within the person. Such people
are highly valued by organizations for their problem solving
skills. People who have expert power perform critical tasks and are
therefore deemed indispensable. The opinions, ideas and decisions
of people with expert power are held in high regard by other
employees and hence greatly influence their actions. Possession of
expert power is normally a stepping stone to other sources of power
such as legitimate power. For example, a person who holds expert
power can be promoted to senior management, thereby giving him
legitimate power. Employees are gaining expert power as our society
moves from an industrial to knowledge based economy. The reason is
that employee knowledge becomes the means of production and is
ultimately outside the control of those who own the company and
without this control over production, owner is more dependent on
employee to achieve their corporate objectives. The power of
expertise is most apparent when observing how people respond to
authority figures. Use expert power when you have a genuine
expertise in a subject you have access to resources within your
control who doDont use expert power when youre unsure of your
competence in a subject
3) Referent Power: when others identify with them, like them, or
otherwise respect them.Example: The Human Resource Associate who is
known for ensuring employees is treated fairly and coming to the
rescue of those who are not.Referent power is derived from the
interpersonal relationships that a person cultivates with other
people in the organization. People possess reference power when
others respect and like them. Referent power arises from charisma,
as the charismatic person influences others via the admiration,
respect and trust others have for her. Referent power is also
derived from personal connections that a person has with key people
in the organization's hierarchy, such as the CEO. It's the
perception of the personal relationships that she has that
generates her power over others. Some experts describe charisma as
a special gift or trait within the charismatic person, while others
say it mainly in the eyes of beholder. However all agree that
charisma produces a high degree of trust, respect, and devotion
towards the charismatic individuals. Use referent power when.
When the employee sees the supervisor as having confidence.
Easily approachable and is fair in all dealings with people.
Ethical behavior is another important trait all must have. To get a
project going or to extract extra effort during crunch time
4) Coercive Power: This is felt when a leader creates the
perception of a threat Example: a leader has coercive power if her
followers believe that she will initiate disciplinary
actionCoercive power is derived from a person's ability to
influence others via threats, punishments or sanctions. A junior
staff member may work late to meet a deadline to avoid disciplinary
action from his boss. Coercive power is, therefore, a person's
ability to punish fire or reprimand another employee. Coercive
power helps control the behavior of employees by ensuring that they
adhere to the organization's policies and norms. Employees also
have coercive power ranging from sarcasm to ostracism, to ensure
the co-workers conform to team norm. Use coercive power when you
need to ensure standards and policies are adhered to there is
significant risk in a situationDont use coercive power when you
wont be around to put things right, afterwards youre feeling
frustrated and emotional 5) Reward Power: It is an evident when a
leader can give, or take away, a rewardExample: A leader can
influence a followers behavior by awarding a bonus, or taking away
perksReward power arises from the ability of a person to influence
the allocation of incentives in an organization. These incentives
include salary increments, positive appraisals and promotions. In
an organization, people who wield reward power tend to influence
the actions of other employees. Reward power, if used well, greatly
motivates employees. But if it's applied through favoritism, reward
power can greatly demoralize employees and diminish their output.
Managers have formal authority that give them power over the
distribution of organizational rewards such as pay, promotions,
time off, vacation schedules, and work assignment. Likewise,
employees have rewards over their bosses through the use of
360-degree feedback systems. Employee feedback affects supervisors
promotion and other rewards, so supervisor tend to behave
differently towards employees after 360-degree feedback is
introduced. Use reward power when you need something done quickly
your team needs a motivation boostDont use reward power when
resources are scarce, so that someone wins, someone loses you have
doubts about your ability to provide the reward
6) Information and power. Information is power. In one form,
people gain information power when they control through legitimate
power the flow of information to the others. Employees are
ultimately dependent on these information gatekeepers to release
the information required to perform the jobs. Furthermore, by
deciding what information is distributed to whom, and those who
control the information flow also control perceptions of the
situation by releasing information favoring one perspective more
than another. This right to control information flow is form of
legitimate power and is most commonly in bureaucratic firm1. The
wheel formation: Depicts this highly centralized control over
information flow. Occur when information must flow through your
boss to you.
2. All channels formation: Depicts a situation where no one has
control over the flow of information. Occurs when the information
was distributed to many people such as co-workers in self-directed
team. The other form of information power occurs when a person or
work unit has the ability, or is believed to have the ability to
manage environmental uncertainties. This capability, which is the
derivative of expert power, is valued because organizations are
more effective when they can operate in predictable environments. A
groundbreaking study of breweries and container companies
identified three general strategies to help organization cope with
uncertainty. This coping strategies are arranged in hierarchy of
importance, with the first being the most powerful. 1. Prevention:
the most effective strategy is to prevent environmental changes
from occurring. For example, financial experts acquire power by
preventing the organization from experiencing a cash shortage or
defaulting in loans.
2. Forecasting: the next best strategy is to predict
environmental changes or variations. In these respect trend
spotters and other marketing specialists gain power by predicting
changes in consumer preferences.
3. Absorption: people and work unit also gain power by absorbing
and neutralizing the impact of environmental shifts as they occur.
An example is the ability of maintenance crew to come to the rescue
when the machines break down and the production process stops.
CONTINGENCIES OF POWER
1. Substitutability
- Refers to the availability of alternatives. Power is strongest
when someone has a monopoly over a valued resource.
2. Centrality.
- Refers to the degree and nature of interdependence between the
power holder and others. If you have high centrality, most power in
the organization would be adversely affected by your absence, and
they would be affected quickly.
3. Discretion.
- The freedom to exercise judgment. In order to make decision
without referring to a specific rule of receiving permission from
someone else.
4. Visibility.- Employee gain visibility by being quite
literally, visible. Some people strategically locate themselves in
more visible offices, such as those closest to the elevator or
staff coffee room.
CONSEQUENCES OF POWER
Under the right conditions, employees who receive more power
feel more empowered, and this tends to increase their motivation,
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance.
In addition, research suggests that as people become more powerful,
they are more goal-directed and tend to act on their environment
rather than hide from it. At the same time, increasing power over
others can potentially undermine an individuals effectiveness and
interpersonal relations. Some studies have found that people who
have ( or believe they have) more power over others are more likely
to cling to stereotypes, have more difficulty emphatizing, and
generally have accurate perceptions compared with people who have
less power. Thy also engage in more automatic rather than mindful
thinking, possibly because power people are less concerned about
the consequences of their actions.
TYPE OF INFLUNCE TACTICS IN ORGANIZATION
1) SILENT AUTHORITYThe silent application occur when someone
complies with a request because of the requesters legitimate power
as well as the target person role expectation in a simple or silent
authority mean by influencing behavior through legitimate power
without explicitly referring to that power base. This condition
also know as deference to authority for example employees need to
do the job even the manager do not check their task because the
manager has that power that may the manager able to know.
2) ASSERTIVENESSAssertive include persistently reminding the
target of his or her obligation frequency checking the target work
confronting the target of his or her threats of sanctions it force
compliance. Assertiveness typically applies or to apply punishment
if the target does not complete. For example the manager may punish
their employees if they not do the job well.
3) INFORMATION CONTROLInformation control involves explicitly
manipulating other access to information for purpose of changing
their attitude or behavior. For example the group of students are
control the information to one of their group member in order to
change the attitude that always make the task at the end of
time.
4) COALITION FORMATIONCoalition is essentially an information
group that advocates new set of norms and behaviors this may refer
by forming a group that attempts to influence other by pooling the
resources and power of its member. For example if the coalition has
a broad based membership its member come from various part of
organization, other employees are more likely to identify with that
group and consequently accept the idea that coalition is
proposing.
5) UPWARD APPEALUpward appeal involves calling one people with
higher authority or expertise or symbolically relying on these
sources to support the influencers position. For example the
employees show their paper work to the expert (senior manager) to
know the job is correct or not before submit it.
6) PERSUASIONThe presentation of facts logical arguments and
emotional apples to change another person attitudes and behavior
for in simple word mean by using a logical argument, factual
evidence and emotional appeals to convince people of the value of
request normally this tactic is use in business activities. For
example sale person used their success testimony in order to
convince their customer.
7) INGRATION AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENTIngratiation mean by any
attempt to increase liking by or perceived similarity to some
targeted person, while impression management mean the practice of
actively shaping our public image. For example the managers are
choosing their employees to do certain job because the manager
knows the ability of their employees.
8) EXCHANGEExchange activities involve the promise of benefits
or resources in exchange for the target person compliance with your
request this tactics also includes reminding the target of past
benefits or favors with the expectation. For example the manager
are encourage their to work harder and promise the reword for
that
CONSEQUENCES AND CONTINGENCIES OF INFLUENCE TACTICS To identify
the three ways that people reacts when others try to influence
them: resistance compliance, and commitment.
1. Resistance occurs when people or work unit oppose the
behavior desired by the influencer and consequently refuse, argue
or delay engaging in the behavior
2. Compliance occurs when people are motivated to implement the
influencers request at the minimum level of effort and purely
instrumental reasons without external sources to motivate the
desired behavior it would not occur.
3. Commitment is the strongest form of influence whereby people
identify with the influencers request and highly motivate d to
implement it even when extrinsic sources of motivation are no
longer present
Generally people react more favorably to soft tactics then to
hard tactics. Soft influence tactics relied on personal sources of
power (expert and referent power) which tend to build commitment to
the influencer request in contrast, hard tactics relied on position
power (legitimate, reward, and coercion), so they tend to produce
compliance or, worse, resistance. Hard tactics also tend to
undermine trust and thus can hurt future relationship.Apart from
the general preference for soft rather than hard tactics, the most
appropriate influence strategy depends on a few contingencies. One
of obvious contingencies is which sources of power are strongest.
People with expertise tend to have more influence using persuasion,
whereas those with a strong legitimate power base are usually more
successful applying silent authority. A second contingency is
whether, compared to the influencer, the person being influence is
higher, lower, or at the same level in the organization. Finally,
the most appropriate influence tactics depend on personal,
organizational and cultural values. People with a strong power
orientation might feel more comfortable using assertiveness,
whereas, thus who values conformity might feel more comfortable
with upward appeals. At organizational levels, firm with a
competitive culture might instigate more use of information control
and coalition formation, whereas companies with learning
orientation would likely encourage more influence through
persuasion. The preferred influence tactics also vary across
societal cultures. INFLUENCE TACTICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS
The influence tactics described earlier are perceived as
organizational politics when observers view the tactics as
self-serving behaviors at the expense of others and sometimes
contrary to the interests of the entire organization or work
unit.
Organizational politics is the behaviors that others perceive as
self-serving tactics for personal gain at the expense of other
people and possibly the organization. When employees perceive many
incidents of organizational politics, the result is lower job
satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational
citizenship, as well as high levels of work-related stress. And
because political tactics serve individuals rather than
organizations, they potentially divert resources away from the
organizations effective functioning and potentially threaten its
survival.
1) Conditions Supporting Organizational Politics
Organizational politics flourishes under the right conditions.
One of those conditions is scarce resources. When budgets are
slashed, people rely on political tactics to safeguard their
resources and maintain the status quo. Office politics also
flourishes when resource allocation decisions are ambiguous or
complex or lack formal rules. This is because decision makers are
given more discretion over resource allocation, so potential
recipients of the resources use political tactics to influence the
factors that should be considered in the decision. Organizational
change encourages political behaviors for this reason. Change
creates uncertainty and ambiguity as the company moves from an old
set of rules and practices to a new set. During such times,
employees apply political strategies to protect their valued
resources, position, and self-concept.
2) Personal Characteristics
Several personal characteristics affect a persons motivation to
engage in self-serving behavior. One such characteristic is a
strong need for personal as opposed to socialized power. People
with a need for personal power seek power for its own sake and try
to acquire more power.
3) Some individuals have strong Machiavellian values.
Machiavellianism is named after Niccol Machiavelli, the
16th-century Italian philosopher who wrote The Prince, a famous
treatise about political behavior. People with high Machiavellian
values are comfortable with getting more than they deserve, and
they believe that deceit is a natural and acceptable way to achieve
this goal. They seldom trust co-workers, and they tend to use
cruder influence tactics, such as bypassing ones boss or being
assertive, to get their own way.
4) Minimizing Organizational Politics and Its Consequences
The conditions that fuel organizational politics also give us
some clues about how to control dysfunctional political activities.
One strategy to keep organizational politics in check is to
introduce clear rules and regulations to specify the use of scarce
resources. Organizational politics can become a problem during
times of organizational change, so politics can be minimized
through effective organizational change practices. Leaders also
need to actively manage group norms to curtail self-serving
influence activities. In particular, they can support
organizational values that oppose political tactics, such as
altruism and customer focus.One of the most important strategies is
for leaders to become role models of organizational citizenship
rather than symbols of successful organizational politicians. Along
with minimizing organizational politics, companies can limit the
adverse effects of political perceptions by giving employees more
control over their work and keeping them informed of organizational
events. Research has found that employees who are kept informed of
what is going on in the organization and who are involved in
organizational decisions are less likely to experience
organizational politics, which results in less stress, job
dissatisfaction, and absenteeism. REFERENCES
http://www.simonstapleton.com/wordpress/2007/12/17/the-five-sources-of-a-leader%E2%80%99s-power-and-how-and-how-not-to-use-them/
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-sources-power-organizations-14467.html
http://www.trainanddevelop.co.uk/article/referent-power-and-its-uses-a158
http://ebooks.narotama.ac.id/files/Organizational%20Behavior%20(5th%20Edition)/Chapter%2010%20%20%20Power%20and%20Influence%20in%20the%20Workplace.pdf
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