This document discusses power and politics in organizations. It defines power as the ability to influence and change behavior. There are two main sources of individual power: position power, which comes from one's formal role, and personal power, which stems from individual qualities. Organizational politics involve activities not formally required but that influence the distribution of advantages. Both legitimate and illegitimate political behaviors are common. People typically respond to politics with decreased satisfaction, increased stress, and defensive or impression management behaviors.

1. Power, Politics, Sources of Individual,
Functional & Divisional Power and
Organisational Politics
Dr. G C Mohanta, BE, MSc(Engg), MBA, PhD(Mgt)
Professor
Al-Qurmoshi Institute of Business Management
Hyderabad

2. Power
 Power is the potential ability to influence
behaviour, to change the course of events, to
overcome resistance, and to get the people to do
the things they would not otherwise do.
 The greater A’s dependency on B, the greater B’s
power over A.
 Dependency arises as some body has control over
the resources and due to:
 Importance of the resource to the organization
 Scarcity of the resource
 Non-substitutability of the resource

3. Sources of Individual Power
 Two main sources of individual power
 Position power—based on one’s formal position in
an organization
 Personal power—derived from a person’s
individual qualities or characteristics
Position Power
• Legitimate power
• Reward power
• Coercive power
• Information power
Personal Power
• Rational persuasion
• Referent power
• Expert power
• Charismatic power
Individual Power

4. Legitimate Power
 Legitimate Power—refers to the ability to influence
others because of the position one holds in the
organization.
 It is also called authority, or the right to command.
Characteristics of organizational authority are:
i. It is invested in a person's position.
ii. It is accepted by subordinates.
iii. Authority is used vertically, flows from the top
down.

5. Coercive & Reward Power
Coercive Power—the power to punish or withhold
punishment.
 It is based on fear.
 It can come from legitimate power.
 It can come informally, e.g., fear of rejection by co-
workers.
Reward Power—The power to give pay raises,
promotion, praise, interesting projects, and other
rewards to subordinates.

6. Information, Expert & Rational
Persuasion Power
 Information Power—The power that stems from
access to and control over information.
 Expert Power—based on an individual's special and
valued expertise.
 The lower the substitutability of the expertise, the
greater the expert's power.
 Rational Persuasion - Ability to mount logical
arguments and factual evidence to convince others an
idea as acceptable.

7. Referent & Charismatic Power
 Referent Power - Informal power that stems from
being liked, admired, and respected.
 Charismatic Power - An intense form of referent
power that stems from an individual’s personality or
physical or other abilities, which induce others to
believe in and follow that person.
 Vision
 Inspire trust
 Excellent communicators

8. Sources of Functional and
Divisional Power

9. Power Tactics
 Ways in which Individual translates power bases into
specific actions
Seven tactical dimensions or strategies
 Reason
 Assertiveness
 Friendliness
 Coalition
 Bargaining
 Higher authority
 Sanctions

10. Power Tactics:
From Most to Least Popular

11. Strategies for Attaining Power
 Maintaining alliance with powerful people
 Embrace or Demolish
 Divide and Rule
 Manipulate Information
 Create good impressions
 Collect and use IOUs
 Go slow and easy
 Wait for crises
 Reservations against participation

12. Power Sharing
 Decentralization of power- shared decision
making.
 De-concentration – handing over some admin
authority to lower levels
 Delegation- Transferring responsibility for
specifically defined functions
 Devolution - creating and strengthening sub-
units
 Privatization – passing responsibility to private
organisations.

13. Organizational Politics
 Politics are the activities that are not required as part of
one’s formal role in the Organization, but that influence,
or attempt to influence the distribution of advantages
and disadvantages within the organization.
 Politics = Power in Action
 Legitimate and illegitimate political behaviors are
common in organizations.
 Factors contributing to Political Behavior
 Individual factors (e.g., personality traits, needs)
 Organizational factors (e.g., when organizational resources
decline, resources change, low trust exists, high
performance pressures, and the opportunity of promotion
exists)

14. Good Power and Politics
 Processes
 Empowerment, open conflict, positive-sum
games, creative turbulence, acceptance of rules of
the game, consensus on core values, shifting
coalitions and interests
 Outcomes
 Flexibility, adaptiveness, overcome dependency
and inertia, root out entrenched interests, abolish
unproductive routines, increased efficacy,
efficiency

15. Bad Power and Politics
 From the organization’s perspective
 Processes
 Back-stabbing, rumor-mongoring, vengeance-
seeking, sabotage, corruption, secrecy, hoarding,
zero-sum games
 Outcomes
 Goal subversion/sub-optimization; factionalism;
stalemate & inertia, high cost in time & resources,
loss of transparency and accountability
 From the participant’s perspective
 Uncertainty, anxiety, frustration, stress, isolation,
inability to focus on tasks, failure

16. How Do People Respond
to Organizational Politics?
 Decreased job satisfaction, increased anxiety,
increased turnover, and reduced performance
 Defensive Actions:
Reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action,
blame, or change
 Impression Management
The process by which individuals attempt to
control the impression others form of them.

17. Defensive Behaviour
 Avoiding Action
 Over conforming
 Buck Passing
 Playing Dumb
 Stretching
 Stalling
 Avoiding Blame
 Bluffing
 Playing Safe
 Justifying
 Scapegoating
 Misrepresenting
• Avoiding Change
– Prevention
– Self-protection

18. Impression Management
 Conformity: Agreeing to gain approval
 Excuses: To minimize severity
 Apologies: Admitting responsibility and attempt
to gain pardon
 Self-Promotion: Highlighting one’s achievements
and positives
 Flattery: Complimenting others
 Favours: Doing something nice to gain approval
 Association: Reflected glory