POWER & POLITICS

WHAT IS POWER?

• ‘The ability to influence & control anything

that is of value to others’ -Stephen Robbins
• ‘The potential ability to influence behavior, to
change the course of events, to overcome
resistance & to get people to do the things
that they would not otherwise do’.
• The important element of power is
dependency.
 POWER,AUTHORITY,&
INFLUENCE
POWER AUTHORITY INFLUENCE
May or may Legitimate Associated
not be with leading
legitimate
More force Willing Less force
acceptance
Ability to alter Level wise flow Ability to alter
reality perception
 BASES OF POWER

• COERCIVE POWER
• Based on fear
• Provides an individual with the means to physically
harm, bully, humiliate, or deny something to others.
• Makes employees to strictly follow the rules, policies
of the organization.
• Fear of punishments like demotions or termination.
• Negative in nature, withdraws reward
• Feeling of hostility & resentment in employees
 REWARD POWER

• Positive reinforcement to others.

• Includes pay increases, promotions,
favorable work assignments, recognition etc.
• Encourage repetition of positive behavior.
• Ability to reward or elimination of negative
factor.
• Reward power is dependent on recipient.
 Legitimate power
• Refers to the power a person receives
because of his position in formal
organizational hierarchy.
• Right to punish as well as reward other
people
• Resembles authority.
• Legitimate power can be derived from three
main sources :
• A) Cultural values prevailing in a society
• B) Accepted social culture
• C) Persons designation
 Expert Power

• Influence due to some special skill or

knowledge.
• To assume expert power person should
be expert to be credible, trustworthy &
relevant.
• Knowledge-power people
• Position-power people
 Referent power

• Identification with an individual who has

desirable resources or personal traits.
• Need not always be linked with persons
position in the formal organization.
• People who are articulate, domineering,
physically imposing or charismatic have
ability to influence & have referent power.
The dependency factor

• The more options people have, the less

dependent they are on them & less power
that person has over them.
• The level of dependency depends on –
• Importance
• Scarcity
• Non-substitutability
 Contingency Approaches
to Power

• A person can attain power by being in

right place. (control, budget etc)
• Higher ranking organizational members
do not give sufficient importance to task
• Lower ranking members are more likely
to assume additional power over that
task
 Interdependence &
influencability
• Influencability refers to degree to which a
target is influenced by a powerful person.
• Influencability depends on-
• Degree of dependency
• Uncertainty
• Personality traits
• Intelligence
• Age
• Culture
 Contingency model for
Power
• Kelmen stated three main processes of
power.
• Compliance-Reward/ punishment for
compliance
• Identification- Associated with referent
power. People identify with & imitate another
person, giving him power over them.
• Internalization-Most effective & long lasting
process of power.
• Matching of internal value system or
consistency with internal values.
 Contingency model of
Power
Source of power Process of Targets Required
Power Influence ability conditions

Reward Compliance Wants- The agent must

Coercive favorable action have watch over
Avoid- the target
Means-end control
punishment
Referent Identification Satisfying Agent must be
Attractiveness relationship, in the forefront
wants to of the target.
develop
relationship
Expert Internalization Consistency Agent must
Legitimate with internal have the
values relevance
Credibility
 Power in groups-
Coalitions
• Consists of a group of people to combine
their resources with the aim of increasing
their bargaining power.
• Ex. Trade unions
• Coalition in organizations can take decision &
also implement ‘
• Coalition may form due to high degree of
interdependence of the departments
• Coalitions are also formed to protect the
interest of the employee
 ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS
• Called as power in action
• The activities that are not required as a part
of one’s formal role in the organization.
• Management of influence to obtained ends
not sanctioned by the organization.
• Use of power to serve ones own ends is
known as Politicking.
 ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS
• Legitimate Political • Illegitimate political
behavior behavior
• Includes forming • Includes deliberately
organizational breaking news, not
coalitions, conforming to the
networking, procedures, Whistle
adhering to rules blowing
strictly
 Factors relating to
Political behavior
• Individual factors
• Organizational factors-
• Scarce resources
• Ambiguity of goals
• Role ambiguity
• Performance appraisals & rewards
• Culture of the organization
• Lack of mutual trust
• Pressure to perform
• Involvement of top management
Ethics of power & Politics

• Self interest Vs Organizational interest

• The rights of other parties.

• Conformity to standards of equity &

justice