Political Theories

1. Political Theories By TingTing Lian, YiwenGu

2. Resources in businesses are limited, conflicts or disagreements are occurred. • E.g. departmental budgets, space allocations, project responsibilities and salary changes. • Thus, competition is created, as well as a battleground in the business which is won by power and politics.

3. Political Behavior • those activities that aren’t needed as part of the formal role of the business. • influence or attempt to influence the distribution of resources, advantages and disadvantages within the business.

4. Uses of power and influence

5. Sources of Power • Legitimate power - Based on a person’s position in the business • Reward power - Based on a person’s ability to reward others - It is the power to give positive benefits or rewards. • Expert power - It is the influence that is based on expertise, special skill or knowledge. • Coercive power - It is the power that rests on the leader’s ability to punish or control. • Referent power -Based on a person’s popularity - It is the power that arises because of a person’s desirable resources or personal traits.

6. Management as negotiating and bargaining Group ‘power tactics’ into 7 groups -> ways in which individuals use their power to get things done • Reason – use of facts and data to make a presentation. • Friendliness – being friendly prior to making a request. • Coalition – getting the support of other people in the organization to back up the request. • Bargaining – use of negotiation • Assertiveness – use of a direct and forceful approach • Higher authority – gaining the support of higher levels in the organization • Sanctions – use of organizationally derived rewards and punishments The most popular strategy – the use of reason

7. Factors that affected the selection of the power tactics • The manager’s relative power • Manager who control resources that are valued by other use a greater variety of tactics than do those with less power. • Managers with power use assertiveness more often than do those with less power. • The manager’s objective for wanting to influence • gain benefits -> use friendliness • When trying to get organization accept new idea -> reason • The manager’s expectation of the target person’s willingness to comply • When the chance of success is high -> simple requests • When the chance of success is less likely -> assertiveness and sanction • The organization’s culture • Some are warm, friendly and supportive • Some are formal and conservative

8. Structure as coalitions • Definition: Coalition is an informal group bound together by the active pursuit of a single issue. • Aim: by combining their resources, members of a coalition hope to win power and rewards for themselves.

9. Jeffrey Pfeffer • a business’s structure represents the result of power struggles by these diverse coalitions. • assess the preferences and interests of those in the organizations who have influence over the design decisions.

10. Stakeholder View • managers need to decide how important each stakeholder group is to the business’s decision and actions. -   Critical stakeholders: large institutional investors like superannuation funds have the power to control boards and even fire management if they are dissatisfied with the performance of the business. • more critical stakeholders  tight link and more effort to manage the relationship.