1. Power and Political Behavior

2. Concept of Power
Power – the ability to influence another
person
Influence – the process of affecting the
thoughts, behavior, and feelings of
another person
Authority – the right to influence another
person

3. Concept of Power
Zone of Indifference – the range in which attempts
to influence a person will be perceived as legitimate
and will be acted on without a great deal of thought
Zone of Indifference
Managers strive to expand
the zone of indifference
Zone of Indifference

4. Sources of Organizational
Power: Interpersonal
Reward Power – agent’s ability to control
the rewards that the target wants
Coercive Power – agent’s ability to cause
an unpleasant experience for a target
Legitimate Power – agent and target agree
that agent has influential rights, based on
position and mutual agreement

5. Sources of Organizational
Power: Interpersonal
Referent Power – based on interpersonal
attraction
Expert Power – agent has knowledge target
needs

6. Which Power is Most
Effective?
Expert Power!
• Strong relationship to performance & satisfaction
• Transfers vital skills, abilities, and knowledge within
the organization
• Employees internalize what they observe & learn
from managers they consider “experts”

7. Information Power
Information Power – access to
and control over important
information
• Formal/informal position in
communication network
• Interpreting
information when
passing it on
(the spin)

8. Criteria for Using Power
Ethically
Does the behavior produce a good
outcome for people both inside and
outside the organization?
Does the behavior respect the rights of all
parties?
Does the behavior treat all parties
equitably and fairly?

9. Two Faces of Power
Personal Power
 used for personal gain
Social Power
 used to create motivation
 used to accomplish group
goals

10. Successful Power Users
• Have high need for social power
• Approach relationships with a communal
orientation
• Focus on needs and interests of others
belief in the preference for
authority work and
system discipline
belief in
justice altruism

11. Sources of Organizational
Power: Intergroup
• Control of critical resources
• Control of strategic contingencies
– activities that other groups need
to complete their tasks

12. Sources of Organizational
Power: Intergroup
• Ways groups hold power over other
groups
– Ability to cope with uncertainty
– High degree of centrality -
functionality central to organization’s
success
– Nonsubstitutability - group’s activities
are indispensable

13. Power Analysis:
A Broader View
Organizational Power
Coercive Power – influence through threat
of punishment, fear, or intimidation
Utilitarian Power – influence through
rewards and benefits
Normative Power – influence through
knowledge of belonging, doing the right
thing

14. Power Analysis:
A Broader View
Organizational Membership
Alienative Membership – members feel
hostile, negative, do not want to be there
Calculative Membership – members
weigh benefits and limitations of belonging
Moral Membership – members have
positive organizational feelings; will deny
own needs

15. Kanter’s Symbols of Power
• Intercede for someone in trouble
• Obtain placements for favored employees
• Exceed budget limitations
• Procure above-average raises for
employees
• Place items on meeting agendas
• Access to early information
• Have top managers seek out their opinion

16. Kanter’s Symbols of Powerlessness
Top Executives Staff Professionals
• budget cuts
• resistance to change
• punishing behaviors
• turf protection
• top-down communications
Managers First-line Supervisors
• assign external attribution - • overly close supervision
blame others or environment • inflexible adherence to rules
• do job rather than train
Key to overcoming powerlessness:
share power and delegate decision making

17. Korda’s Power Symbols
Power – there are more people who
inconvenience themselves on your behalf
than there are people on whose behalf you
would inconvenience yourself
Status – a person’s relative standing in a
group based on prestige and deference

18. Korda’s Power Symbols
Size of desk
Rectangular table
Locked file cabinet
Furnishings
Time
Access
Who has access
to you?
To whom do you
have access?

19. Political Behavior in
Organizations
Organizational Politics – the use of
power and influence in organizations
Political Behavior – actions not officially
sanctioned by an organization that are
taken to influence others in order to
meet one’s personal goals

20. Conditions Encouraging
Political Activity
• Unclear goals
• Autocratic decision making
• Ambiguous lines of authority
• Scarce resources
• Uncertainty

21. Effective Political
Characteristics
What characteristics do
effective political actors
possess?

22. Influence Tactics
Consultation Upward Influence:
Inspirational appeals the boss
Rational persuasion
Lateral
Ingratiation
Influence:
Coalition a coworker
Exchange tactics
Upward appeals Downward Influence:
Pressure an employee

23. Influence by Consultation
This new attendance plan is controversial.
How can we make it more acceptable?
The person seeks your participation in making
a decision or planning how to implement a
proposed strategy, policy, or change.

24. Influence by Rational
Persuasion
This new procedure will save us
over $150,000.
The person uses logical arguments and factual
evidence to persuade you that a proposal or
request is viable and likely to result in the
attainment of task objectives.

25. Influence by Inspirational
Appeals
Getting that account will be
tough, but I know you can do it.
The person makes an emotional request or
proposal that arouses enthusiasm by appealing
to your values and ideals, or by increasing your
confidence that you can do it.

26. Influence by Ingratiation
Only you can do this job right!
The person seeks to get you in a good mood or
to think favorably of him or her before asking
you to do something.
Information on slides 23-27 from the first two columns from G. Yuki and C. M. Falbe. “Influence Tactics and Objectives in Upward, Downward, and
Lateral Influence Attempts.” Journal of Applied Psychology 75 (1990): 132-140. Copyright © 1990 by the American Psychological Association.
Reprinted with permission.

27. Managing Political Behavior
• Maintain open communication
• Clarify performance expectations
• Use participative management
• Encourage cooperation among
work groups
• Manage scarce resources well
• Provide a supportive
organizational climate

28. Managing Up: The Boss
Understand Your Boss Assess Yourself
and Her Context and Your Needs
 Her goals and  Your own strengths
objectives and weaknesses
 The pressures on her  Your personal style
 Her strengths,  Your predisposition
weaknesses, blind toward dependence on
spots authority figures
 Her preferred work
style

29. Managing Up: The Boss
Develop and Maintain a
Relationship that
• Fits both your needs and styles
• Is characterized by mutual
expectations
• Keeps your boss informed
• Is based on dependability and honesty
• Selectively uses your boss’s time and
resources
SOURCE: Information on slides 29-30 adapted and reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From J. J. Gabarro and J. P.
Kotter, “Managing Your Boss,” Harvard Business Review (January-February 1980): 92-100. Copyright© 1980 by the Harvard Business
School Publishing Corporation; all rights reserved.

30. Sharing Power:
Empowerment
Empowerment:
sharing power in such a
way that individuals learn
to believe in their ability
to do the job!

31. Empowerment’s Four
Dimensions
Meaning – Competence –
fit between the work belief that one has
role and the the ability to do the
employee’s values job well
and beliefs
E2s
Self-determination – Impact – belief that
having control over one’s job makes a
the way one does difference within the
one’s work organization

32. Guidelines for Empowering
• Express confidence in employees
• Set high performance expectations
• Create opportunities for participative
decision making
• Remove bureaucratic constraints that
stifle autonomy
• Set inspirational and meaningful goals

33. Decision-Making Authority over Job Context Employee Empowerment Grid
Implement
Follow-up Point D Point E
Mission Defining Self-management
Alt. Choice
Point C
Participatory
Alt. Eval Empowerment
Alt. Dev
Point A Point B
No Discretion Task Setting
Problem Id.
Alt. Implement
Problem Id. Alt. Dev Alt. Eval Choice Follow-up
Copyright ©2006
by South-Western,
a division of Decision-Making Authority over Job Content
Thomson Learning.
Amitai Etzioni, Modern Organizations, 1964, pp.... 59-61. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

34. Finkelstein:
Why Executives Fail
• See themselves and their companies as
dominant, without peers
• Have all the answers
• Eliminate those not 100% behind them
• Rely on what worked in the past
• No clear boundaries between personal
interests and corporate interests

35. Using Power Effectively
• Use power in ethical ways
• Understand and use all of the various
types of power and influence
• Seek out jobs that allow you to
develop your power skills
• Use power tempered by maturity and
self-control
• Accept that influencing people is an
important part of the management
job