CHAPTER 13 Influence, Power, and Politics

1. CHAPTER 13Influence, Power, and Politics Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology by Ronald E. Riggio

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

3. Influence: The Use of Social Control • Choice of influence tactics is determined by the situation, the status of individuals involved, and other organizational characteristics like size. • Higher-status persons are more likely to use assertiveness or sanctions; lower-status persons use rational appeals. • Coworkers use ingratiation, exchange, rationality, and coalitions. • When seeking personal goals, subordinates tend to use ingratiation; in seeking organizational goals, subordinates use upward appeals and rationality. • Rationality is a more effective managerial tactic; pressure tactics are least effective in influencing subordinates.

5. Power: A Major Force in Work Organizations • Power is derived from a variety of sources of two main types. • Organizational power is power derived from a person’s position in an organization and from control over important resources afforded by that position. • Individual power is power derived from personal characteristics that are of value to the organization, such as expertise or ability.

6. Power: A Major Force in Work Organizations • Power bases are sources of power possessed by individuals in organizations. • Coercive power is the use of punishment or threats to affect behavior of others. • Reward power results from having the ability to offer something positive. • Legitimate power involves formal authority accompanying a position in an organization. • Expert power is derived from having certain work-related knowledge or skill. • Referent power results from the fact that an individual is respected, admired, and liked by others.

7. Power: A Major Force in Work Organizations

8. Power: A Major Force in Work Organizations • Power dynamics in work organization have several features. • Differences in power distribution: usually organizations are arranged in a power hierarchy, with some people having more power than others (although low-status members can have increased power through individual sources, like expertise). • Ways to increase power include developing expertise, forming relationships with higher-status members, or forming coalitions.

9. Power: A Major Force in Work Organizations • Power dynamics in work organization have several features. • Power and dependency relationships: workers commonly depend on others for work resources; those possessing those resources have more power. • Power and work outcomes: expert power is related to effective job performance; referent power is linked to member satisfaction with the person having the power; use of coercive power decreases job satisfaction among targets of power.

10. Power: A Major Force in Work Organizations • Power dynamics in work organization have several features. • The power corollary: the concept that for every exercise of power, there is a tendency for the subject to react with a return power play. • Power and leadership: ideally, leaders would possess all five forms of power (legitimate, reward, coercive, referent, and expert).

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

14. Organizational Politics • There are several causes of organizational politics: • Competition for power and resources. • Subjective performance appraisals. • Delay in measurement of work outcomes. • Compensation for inadequacies. • Lack of cooperation and interdependence. • Increased group decision making.

15. Organizational Politics • Consequences of organizational politics can be positive and negative. • May lead to increased job performance if workers and supervisors share similar goals (Witt, 1998) • Lower job satisfaction • Lower organizational commitment and OCBs • Poorer quality organizational communication • Higher absenteeism and turnover

16. Organizational Politics • There are several strategies for managing organizational politics: • Remove ambiguity and uncertainty. • Provide “slack” resources. • Create a positive organizational climate. • Clarify personnel selection and appraisal processes. • Reward performance, not politics.

17. A Contingency Approach to Organizational Politics • The form and incidence of organizational politics changes across an organization’s “life cycle” (Gray & Ariss, 1985). • Cobb (1984) proposes an “episodic model of power” that examines use of power in actual work settings. • The episodic model includes consideration of aspects of the power agent, target, and elements of the power situation.