Influence, Power, and Politics

1. Influence, Power, and Politics • Influence: the ability to use social forces to affect the behavior of others • Power: the use of some aspect of a work relationship to compel another to perform a certain action despite resistance • Organizational Politics: self-serving actions designed to affect the behavior of others to achieve personal goals

2. Influence Tactics • Assertiveness • Ingratiation • Rationality • Sanctions • Exchanges • Upward Appeals • Blocking • Coalitions

3. Upward Influence • Congruence: enhancing your credibility by selecting an issue in keeping with your established expertise • Credibility: making it clear that your interest in the issue in not based on personal interests • Communication: using as many different communication channels as possible • Compatibility: framing the issue in terms of principles and mission of the organization

4. Upward Influence • Solvability: presenting obviously viable solutions • Payoff: identify the long-term payoff for the organization and for the manager. • Expertise: explain how your issue can be addressed using the expertise of the current staff • Visibility: selling the issue in a public forum, not a private meeting • Coalition: bring other people on-board who support the idea

5. Sources of Power • Organizational Power: power derived from a person’s position in an organization and from control over important resources afforded by that position • legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, informational power • Individual Power: power derived from personal characteristics that are of value to the organization • referent power, expert power, charisma

6. Organizational Power • Legitimate Power: formal rights or authority accompanying position in an organization • Reward Power: power that results from having the ability to offer something positive, such as money or praise • Coercive Power: the use of punishment or the threat of punishment to affect the behaviors of others • Information Power: possessing valued, difficult to obtain information

7. Individual Power • Referent Power: power resulting from the fact that an individual is respected, admired, and liked by others • Expert Power: power derived from having certain work-related knowledge or skill • Charisma: power derived through an engaging and magnetic personality (an aura of leadership)

8. Organizational Politics • Functional Politics: political behaviors that help the organization attain its goals • Dysfunctional Politics: political behaviors that detract from the organization’s ability to attain its goals

9. Organization Development is... a systemwide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development, improvement, and reinforcement of the strategies, structures, and processes that lead to organization effectiveness.

10. Five Stems of OD Practice Laboratory Training Action Research/Survey Feedback Participative Management Current Practice Quality of Work Life Strategic Change 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

11. Pre-OD History • Frederick W. Taylor • Scientific Management (1911) • Time and motion study of work • One of the original consultants • Target of much criticism from OD practitioners.

12. Laboratory Training • Training Groups (T-groups) - small, unstructured group in which participants learn from their own interactions and evolving dynamics about such issues as interpersonal relations, personal growth, leadership, and group dynamics. • Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) at MIT in 1945 • Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lippett, Leland Bradford

13. Laboratory Training • Original research on T-groups concluded: • feedback about group interaction was a rich learning experience • the process of “group building” had potential learning that could be transferred on-the-job situations • The National Training Laboratory (NTL)was founded in 1947 for continued research on T-groups. • T-group techniques eventually become known as team building.

14. Objectives of T-Groups • Increased understanding about one’s own behavior • Increased understanding about the behavior of others • Better understanding of group process • Increased interpersonal diagnostic skills • Increased ability to transform learning into action • Improvement in the ability to analyze one’s own behavior

15. Process Consultation A set of activities on the part of the consultant that helps the client to perceive, understand, and act upon the process events which occur in the client’s environment.

16. Group Processes • Communications among group members • Functional roles of group members • Problem solving and decision making • Group norms and growth • Leadership and authority

17. Team Building Activities • Activities Related to One or More Individuals • Activities Oriented to the Group’s Operations and Behaviors • Activities Affecting the Group’s Relationship with the Rest of the Organization

18. Types of Teams • Groups reporting to the same manager • Groups involving people with common goals • Temporary groups formed to accomplish a specific, one-time task • Groups consisting of people whose work roles are interdependent • Groups with no formal links but whose collective purpose requires coordination

19. Types of Team Building • Family group diagnostic meeting • A set of activities designed to understand the current structure, process, and effectiveness of the team • Family group team-building meeting • A set of activities design to address and improve a specific aspect of team functioning

20. Action Research and Survey Feedback • Action research is a cyclical process of diagnosis-change-diagnosis-change research. • A key component of Lewin’s early application of action research was the systematic collection of survey data that was fed back to the client organization. • After Lewin’s death in 1947,RCGD moved to U. of Michigan and was headed by Rensis Likert.

21. Lewin’s Change Model Unfreezing Movement Refreezing

22. Action Research Model Problem Identification Joint diagnosis Consultation with a behavioral scientist Joint action planning Action Data gathering & preliminary diagnosis Data gathering after action Feedback to Client

23. Contemporary Approaches to Planned Change Choose Positive Subjects Develop a Vision with Broad Participation Develop Action Plans Collect Positive Stories with Broad Participation Examine Data and Develop Possibility Propositions Evaluate

24. Participative Management • In New Patterns of Management (1961) Likert identifies four prototype organizations named Systems 1,2,3,4 and defined by the degree to with they were open, participative, and satisfying to work in. • Likert Created a diagnostic model, a survey form, and analytical tools for interpreting data.

25. Participative Management

26. Large Group Interventions • Future Search Conference (Weisbord) • Open-Space Meeting (Owen) • Open System Planning (Beckhard) • Real-Time Strategic Change (Jacobs) • The Conference Model (Axelrod)

27. Large-Group Meeting Assumptions • Organization members’ perceptions play a major role in environmental relations. • Organization members must share a common view of the environment to permit coordinated action toward it. • Organization members’ perceptions must accurately reflect the condition of the environment if organizational responses are to be effective. • Organizations cannot only adapt to their environment but also proactively create it.

28. Large-Group Method Application Stages • Preparing for the large-group meeting • Identify a compelling meeting theme • Select appropriate stakeholders to participate • Develop relevant tasks to address meeting theme • Conducting the meeting • Open Systems Methods • Open Space Methods • Following up on the meeting outcomes

29. Productivity and Quality of Life • Based on the research of Eric Trist and his colleagues at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London, this approach examined the technical and the human sides of organizations and how they interrelated. • Their work led to the sociotechnical system method of work design, which underlie many of the employee involvement and empowerment efforts occurring in the U.S today.

30. Productivity and Quality of Work Life • Gradually, QWL programs expanded beyond individual jobs to include group forms of work, reward systems, management styles and work environment. • The productivity and approach has gained new momentum through partnerships with the total quality movement (W. Edward Deming).

31. Employee Involvement • Power • Extent to which influence and authority are pushed down into the organization • Information • Extent to which relevant information is shared with members • Knowledge and Skills • Extent to which members have relevant skills and knowledge and opportunities to gain them • Rewards • Extent to which opportunities for internal and external rewards are tied to effectiveness

32. EI and Productivity Improved Communication and Coordination Improved Productivity Employee Involvement Intervention Improved Motivation Improved Capabilities

33. Secondary Effects of EI on Productivity Employee Well-being and Satisfaction Attraction and Retention Productivity Employee Involvement Intervention Productivity

34. Employee Involvement Applications

35. Parallel StructureApplication Stages • Define the parallel structure’s purpose and scope • Form a steering committee • Communicate with organization members • Form employee problem-solving groups • Address the problems and issues • Implement and evaluate the changes

36. Flat, lean organization structures Enriched work designs Open information systems Sophisticated selection and career systems Extensive training programs Advanced reward systems Participatively designed personnel practices Conducive physical layouts High Involvement Organization Features

37. Create a constancy of purpose Adopt a new philosophy End lowest cost purchasing practices Institute leadership Eliminate empty slogans Eliminate numerical quotas Institute on-the-job training Retrain vigorously Drive out fear Break down barriers between departments Take action to accomplish transformation Improve processes constantly and forever Cease dependence on mass inspection Remove barriers to pride in workmanship Deming’s Quality Guidelines

38. Strategic Change • A recent influence on OD, strategic change involves improving the alignment among an organization’s environment, strategy, and organization design. • Strategic change interventions include efforts to improve the organization’s relationship to its environment and the fit between its technical, political , and cultural systems. • Richard Beckhard was a pioneer in the field on strategic change.

39. Age Diversity • Trends • Median age up • Distribution of ages changing • Implications • Health care • Mobility • Security • Interventions • Wellness programs • Work design • Career development and planning • Reward systems

40. Gender Diversity • Trends • Percentage of women in work force increasing • Dual-income families increasing • Implications • Child care • Maternity/paternity leaves • Single parents • Interventions • Work design • Fringe benefit rewards

41. Disability Diversity • Trends • The number of people with disabilities entering the work force is increasing • Implications • Job skills and challenge issues • Physical space design • Respect and dignity • Interventions • Performance management • Work design • Career planning and development

42. Culture and Values Diversity • Trends • Rising proportion of immigrant and minority-group workers • Shift in rewards • Implications • Flexible organizational policies • Autonomy • Affirmation and respect • Interventions • Career planning and development • Employee involvement • Reward systems

43. Sexual Orientation Diversity • Trends • Number of single-sex households up • More liberal attitudes toward sexual orientation • Implications • Discrimination • Understanding • Interventions • Equal employment opportunities • Fringe benefits • Education and training

44. A Framework for Managing Diversity External Pressures For & Against Diversity Management’s Perspectives & Priorities Strategic Responses Implementation Internal Pressures For & Against Diversity