Power and Politics

1. 8 Power and Politics

2. Chapter Outline • A Definition of Power • Bases of Power • Coercive Power • Reward Power • Legitimate Power • Expert Power • Referent Power • Information Power • Evaluating the Bases of Power • Dependency: The Key to Power • The General Dependency Postulate • What Creates Dependency?

3. Chapter Outline • Influence Tactics • Empowerment: Giving Power to Employees • Definition of Empowerment • The Abuse of Power • Harassment in the Workplace • Politics: Power in Action • Definition of Political Behaviour • The Reality of Politics • Types of Political Activity • Impression Management • Making Office Politics Work

4. Learning Outcomes • What is power? • How does one get power? • How does dependency affect power? • What tactics can be used to increase power? • What does it mean to be empowered? • How are power and harassment related? • Why do people engage in politics?

5. Power and Politics • Power • A capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes. • Dependency • B’s relationship to A when A possesses something that B needs.

6. Bases of Power • Coercive Power • Power that is based on fear. • Reward Power • Power based on the ability to provide benefits or rewards to people. • Legitimate Power • Power based on relative position in the organizational hierarchy.

7. Bases of Power • Expert Power • Power based on a person’s experience and knowledge. • Referent Power • You like the person and enjoy doing things for him or her. • Information Power • The person has data or knowledge that you need.

8. Exhibit 8-1 Measuring Bases of Power

9. Evaluating the Bases of Power People will respond in one of three ways: • Commitment – The person is enthusiastic about the request and carries the task out. • Compliance – The person goes along with the request grudgingly, putting in minimal effort. • Resistance – The person is opposed to the request and tries to avoid it.

10. Exhibit 8-3 Continuum of Responses to Power

11. Leaders’ Use of Power • The least effective power bases are the ones most likely to be used by managers. • Coercive, legitimate, and reward • Easiest to implement • Effective leaders use referent and/or expert power. • Deadline pressures increase group member reliance on individuals with expert and information power.

12. Dependency: The Key to Power • Importance • The things you control must be important. • Scarcity • A resource must be perceived as scarce. • Non-substitutability • The resource cannot be substituted with something else.

13. Increasing Dependency • How to increase the dependency of others on you: • Control things viewed as important. • The resources must be viewed as scarce. • The resource must have few or no substitutes (non-substitutability).

14. Influence Tactics • Rational persuasion • Inspirational appeals • Consultation • Ingratiation • Personal appeals • Exchange • Coalition tactics • Pressure • Legitimating tactics

15. Political Skill • The ability to influence others in such a way as to enhance their own objectives. • Research indicates that: • Politically skilled individuals use influence tactics more effectively. • Political skills appear to be more effective when stakes are high. • Politically skilled people are able to exert influence without others detecting it.

16. Empowerment: Giving Power to Employees • The freedom and the ability of employees to make decisions and commitments. • Managers disagree over definition of empowerment. • Empowerment as delegating decision making within a set of clear boundaries versus • Empowerment as “a process of risk taking and personal growth”

17. Conditions for True Empowerment • There must be a clear definition of the values and mission of the company. • Company must help employees acquire the relevant skills. • Employees need to be supported in their decision making, and not criticized when they try to do something extraordinary. • Employees need to be recognized for their efforts.

18. Characteristics of Empowered People • Sense of self-determination • Employees are free to choose how to do their work; they are not micromanaged. • Sense of meaning • Employees feel that their work is important to them; they care about what they are doing. • Sense of competence • Employees are confident about their ability to do their work well; they know they can perform. • Sense of impact • Employees believe they can have influence on their work unit; others listen to their ideas.

19. Exhibit 8-4 Characteristics of Empowered People

20. The Abuse of Power: Harassment in the Workplace • People who engage in harassment in the workplace are typically abusing their power position. • Manager-employee • Where position power gives the manager the capacity to reward and coerce. • Co-workers • Although co-workers appear to engage in somewhat less severe forms of harassment than do managers, co-workers are the most frequent perpetrators of harassment, particularly sexual harassment, in organizations.

21. The Abuse of Power: Workplace Bullying • Bullying can happen across levels of the organization, or among co-workers. • Recent research found that: • 40 percent of the respondents noted that they had experienced one or more forms of bullying weekly in the past six months. • 10 percent experienced bullying at a much greater level: five or more incidents a week.

22. The Abuse of Power: Sexual Harassment • The Supreme Court of Canada definition • Unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature in the workplace that negatively affects the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences for the employee. • There is disagreement as to what specifically constitutes sexual harassment. • Unwanted physical touching. • Recurring requests for dates when the person is clearly uninterested. • Coercive threats that a person will lose her or his job if she or he refuses a sexual proposition

23. Additional Examples of Sexual Harassment • More subtle forms (harder to interpret): • Unwanted looks or comments • Off-colour jokes • Sexual artifacts such as nude calendars in the workplace • Sexual innuendo • Misinterpretations of where the line between “being friendly” ends and “harassment” begins

24. Sexual Harassment: How Managers Can Protect Themselves and their Employees. • Make sure an active policy is in place. • Ensure employees that they will not face retaliation if a complaint is filed. • Investigate every complaint. • Make sure that offenders are disciplined or terminated. • Set up in house seminars to raise employee awareness.

25. Politics: Power in Action • Political behaviour is those activities that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.

26. Why Do Politics in an Organization Exist? • Organizations are made up of groups and individuals who have differing values, goals and interests. • Resources in organizations are limited. • Performance outcomes are not completely clear and objective.

27. Exhibit 8-5 A Quick Measure of How Political Your Workplace Is

28. Types of Political Activity • Attacking or blaming others • Using information • Managing impressions • Building support for ideas • Praising others • Building coalitions • Associating with influential people • Creating obligations

29. Impression Management • The process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them. • Researchers have compared applicants who use two distinct approaches in job interviews • Self promotion:promoting one’s accomplishments • Ingratiation:complimenting the interviewer and finding areas of agreement

30. Making Office Politics Work • Nobody wins unless everybody wins. • Don’t just ask for opinions—change them. • Everyone expects to be paid back. • Success can create opposition.

31. Global Implications • Views on Empowerment • Perceptions of Politics • Preference for Influence tactics

32. Summary and Implications • What is power? • The capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B, so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes. • How does one get power? • There are six bases for power: coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent, and information. • How does dependency affect power? • To maximize your power, you will want to increase others’ dependence on you. • What tactics can be used to increase power? • One study identified nine strategies: rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, ingratiation, personal appeals, exchange, coalition tactics, pressure, and legitimating tactics.

33. Summary and Implications 5.What does it mean to be empowered? • Empowerment refers to the freedom and the ability of employees to make decisions and commitments. • How are power and harassment related? • People who engage in harassment in the workplace are typically abusing their power position. • Why do people engage in politics? • People use politics to influence others to help them achieve their personal objectives

34. OB at Work: For Review • What is power? How do you get it? • Contrast the bases of power with influence tactics. • How might people respond to the different bases of power that someone might use? • Which of the six power bases lie with the individual? Which are derived from the organization? • Define the general dependency postulate.

35. OB at Work: For Review • What creates dependency? Give an applied example. • Identify the range of empowerment that might be available to employees. • Define sexual harassment. Who is most likely to harass an employee: a boss, a co-worker, or a subordinate? Explain. • How are power and politics related? • Define political behaviour. Why is politics a fact of life in organizations?

36. OB at Work: For Critical Thinking 1. Based on the information presented in this chapter, what would you do as a recent graduate entering a new job to maximize your power and accelerate your career progress? 2. “Politics isn’t inherently bad. It’s merely a way to get things accomplished within organizations.” Do you agree or disagree? Defend your position. • You are a sales representative for an international software company. After four excellent years, sales in your territory are off 30 percent this year. Describe three impression management techniques you might use to convince your manager that your sales record is better than should be expected under the circumstances. • Which impression management techniques have you used? What ethical implications, if any, are there in using impression management? • “Sexual harassment should not be tolerated at the workplace.” “Workplace romances are a natural occurrence in organizations.” Are both of these statements true? Can they be reconciled?

37. Breakout Group Exercises • Form small groups to discuss the following topics 1. Describe an incident where you tried to use political behaviour in order to get something you wanted. What tactics did you use? 2. In thinking about the incident described above, were your tactics effective? Why? 3. Describe an incident where you saw someone engaging in politics. What was your reaction to observing the political behaviour? Under what circumstances do you think political behaviour is appropriate?

38. Working With Others Exercise:Understanding Bases of Power Instructions for Role Play • Working in your group, read the instructions for the assignment. • You have 10 minutes to develop a 3-minute role play, using the source of power assigned to your group. • You MUST stick to the time limit.

39. Role Play Scenario • You are the leader of a group that is trying to develop a website for a new client. One of your group members, who was assigned the task of researching and analyzing the websites of your client’s competition, has failed twice to bring the analysis to scheduled meetings, even though the member knew the assignment was due. Consequently, your group is falling behind in getting the website developed. As leader of the group, you have decided to speak with this team member, and use your specific brand of power to influence the individual’s behaviour.

40. Concepts to Skills: Politicking • Frame arguments in terms of organizational goals. • Develop the right image. • Gain control of organizational resources. • Make yourself appear indispensable. • Be visible. • Develop powerful allies. • Avoid “tainted” members. • Support your manager.