Power, Politics, and Empowerment

2. Chapter 12 Power, Politics, and Empowerment

3. Power and Influence • Power – the capability to get someone to do something • It is the potential to influence • Influence – the exercise of that capability • It is a transaction in which Person B is induced by Person A to behave in a certain way • It is power in action

4. Interpersonal Power Organizational Power Legitimate Power Reward Power Coercive Power Personal Power Expert Power Referent Power Structural Power Resources Decision-Making Power Information Power Where Does Power Come From?

5. Characteristics of Organizational Authority: • It is invested in a person’s position • It is accepted by subordinates • Authority is used vertically

6. Subordinate Responses to Different Sources of Interpersonal Power(1 of 2) • The use of legitimate or reward power will typically result in compliance • i.e., subordinates will obey your requests, but are unlikely to exert more than the minimal effort necessary • The use of coercive power may result in resistance • i.e., subordinates may only pretend to comply with your requests, and they may openly resist

7. Subordinate Responses to Different Sources of Interpersonal Power(2 of 2) • The use of expert or referent power frequently results in commitment • i.e., subordinates are likely to exert high levels of effort to accomplish what you ask, perhaps even exceeding what you requested

8. Structural Power (1 of 2) • Power is frequently prescribed by structure within the organization • Result from the nature of the organizational social system rather than from attributes of an individual • The structure of an organization is the control mechanism by which the organization is governed

9. Formal Power Organizational structure creates formal power and authority i.e., by specifying certain individuals to perform specific tasks and make certain decisions Informal Power Structure significantly impacts informal power i.e., through its effect on information and communication flows within the system Structural Power (2 of 2)

10. Symptoms and Sources of Powerlessness(1 of 2)

11. Symptoms and Sources of Powerlessness(2 of 2)

12. Empowerment • Process of enhancing feelings of self-efficacy among organizational members, • through the identification of conditions that foster powerlessness, and • through their removal by both formal organizational practices and informal techniques of providing efficacy information

13. Reasons Empowerment is not Universally Embraced: • Managers fear the loss of power, control, and authority • Employees are not able to make responsible decisions • Empowering employees was attempted before and it failed • Sharing proprietary information means leaking ideas, plans, and knowledge to competitors • Not everyone wants to be empowered

14. Learning to leverage empowerment as a means to strengthen the capabilities and commitment of employees is one of the most important challenges facing managers today.

15. Increasing Your Effectiveness in Empowering Others (1 of 2) • When you delegate responsibility, make certain you are also delegating authority to go along with it • Be prepared to give up your managerial “parent” role and assume a “partner” role • Assure your subordinates through words and deeds that it is OK to make mistakes

16. Increasing Your Effectiveness in Empowering Others (2 of 2) • Information sharing is important • Empowered employees must have sufficient information to be able to see the “big picture” • Provide training opportunities so employees can develop skills to successfully perform new job responsibilities • Performance feedback is particularly important for newly empowered employees

17. Interdepartmental Power (1 of 2) • Strategic contingency theory focuses on subunit power • Strategic contingency – event or activity of crucial importance to completing a project or accomplishing a goal

18. Interdepartmental Power (2 of 2) • The power differential between subunits is influenced by the: • degree of ability to cope with uncertainty • centrality of the subunit • substitutability of the subunit

19. A Strategic Contingency Model of Subunit Power CONTINGENCY EXAMPLES Preventing market share decline by product development Providing accurate future-based predictions Absorbing problems from other units Being in an urgent or immediacy position Being located at center of work flow Possessing needed skills or expertise Possessing only talents that are available to complete job Coping with uncertainty Power acquired by subunit and power differentials Centrality Substitutability

20. The Illusion of Power • Exercising power in an authoritative way isn’t the only way power can be exerted • Power is often exerted by individuals who have only minimum or no actual power • An individual may be able to significantly influence others simply because he or she is perceived to have power

21. Political Strategies and Tactics (1 of 2) • Individuals and subunits continually engage in political behavior, i.e.,: • Behavior that is usually outside the legitimate, recognized power system • Behavior that is designed to benefit an individual or subunit, often at the expense of the organization in general • Behavior that is intentional and is designed to acquire and maintain power

22. Political Strategies and Tactics (2 of 2) • As a result of politically oriented behaviors, the formal power that exists in an organization is often sidetracked or blocked • Political behavior results in the displacement of power

23. Political Game Playing (1 of 2) • Political games are played at all organizational levels by both managers and non-managers

24. Political Game Playing (2 of 2) • Games are played to: 1. resist authority (insurgency game) 2. counter the resistance to authority (counterinsurgency game) 3. build power bases (sponsorship game and coalition-building game) 4. defeat rivals (line-versus-staff game) 5. bring about organizational change (whistle-blowing game)

25. 1. Consultation 2. Rational persuasion 3. Inspirational appeals 4. Ingratiating tactics 5. Coalition tactics 6. Pressure tactics 7. Legitimating 8. Personal appeals 9.Exchange tactics Political Influence Tactics

26. Frequency of Outcomes for the Use of Political Influence Tactics Outcomes

27. Impression Management • The actions individuals take to control the impressions that others form of them • It is universal • A significant part of behavior in organizations is motivated by the desire of organization members to be perceived in certain ways • Stems from political influence tactics

28. Ethics, Power, and Politics • For a manager’s behavior to be considered ethical, it must satisfy certain criteria: 1. Criterion of utilitarian outcomes 2. Criterion of individual rights 3. Criterion of distributive justice 4. Criterion of overwhelming factors

29. Using Power to Manage Effectively (1 of 2) • Recognize that there are multiple interests in virtually every organization • Know what position relevant individuals and groups hold with respect to issues important to you

30. Using Power to Manage Effectively (2 of 2) • Understand that to get things done you must have power, and in the case of those who oppose you, you must have more power than they do • Recognize the strategies and tactics through which organizational power is developed and used