Power Politics People

- The 3 pillars of modern organization management

A famous thought by Lord Acton:

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great
men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence
and not authority: still more when you surrender to the tendency or
the certainty of corruption by authority.”
Power concept
Power is
◦ Get someone to do something you want done.
◦ Make things happen in the way you want.
Hence, power is one of the central concepts in both management practice and theory.

Influence is
◦ What you have when you exercise power.
◦ Expressed by others’ behavioral response to your exercise of power.

Ethics, on the other hand, is concerned with doing the right things in the
right way.
Do people drive power or does power drive
people!!!!!

Are all leaders powerful?

- power not necessarily needs to

transform into leadership….
We have weak leaders and very
powerful leader
 Are all leaders powerful?
Power Leadership

 Doesn’t require goal compatibility but merely  Requires some correspondence between the goal of

dependence. the leader and those lead.

 Power may have both upward, lateral,

 Leadership focuses on downward influence on its
downward influence.
followers , it minimizes the importance of lateral and
 Power has tendency to focus on tactics for
upward influence pattern.
gaining compliance. It has gone beyond the
 Leadership answers questions such as how
individual as the exercise of power because
supportive should a leader be ?How much decision
power can be used by group as well as by
should be shared with followers?
individuals to control other individual or group.
What is power?
Position power.
Derives from organizational sources.

Types of position power.

 Reward power.

 Coercive power.

 Legitimate power.

 Process power.

 Information power.
6
 Representative power.
 What is power?
Reward power.
The extent to which a manager can use
extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to
control other people.
Success in accessing and utilizing
rewards depends on manager’s skills. 7
 What is power?
Coercive power.
The extent to which a manager can
deny desired rewards or administer
punishments to control other people.
Availability varies from one organization
and manager to another.
8
 What is power?
Legitimate power.
The extent to which a manager can
use subordinates’ internalized
values or beliefs that the “boss”
has a “right of command” to
control their behavior.
If legitimacy is lost, authority will not
be accepted by subordinates.
9
What is power?
Process power.
The control over methods of
production and analysis.

Places an individual in the position of:

• Influencing how inputs are
transformed into outputs.
• Controlling the analytical process
used to make choices. 10
 What is power?
Information power.
The access to and/or control of
information.
May complement legitimate hierarchical
power. May be granted to specialists
and managers in the middle of the
information system.
People may “protect” information in order
to increase their power. 11
 What is power?
Representative power.
The formal right conferred by the
firm to speak as a
representative for a potentially
important group composed of
individuals across departments
or outside the firm.
Helps complex organizations deal 12

with a variety of constituencies.

 What is power?

Personal power.
Derives from individual sources.
Types of personal power.
Expert power.
Rational persuasion.
Referent power. 13
What is power?
Expert power.
The ability to control another person’s
behavior through the possession of
knowledge, experience, or judgment
that the other person needs but does
not have.
Is relative, not absolute. 14
 What is power?
Rational persuasion.
The ability to control another person’s
behavior by convincing the other
person of the desirability of a goal
and a reasonable way of achieving
it.
Much of a supervisor’s daily activity
involves rational persuasion. 15
 What is power?
Referent power.
The ability to control another’s
behavior because the person wants
to identify with the power source.
Can be enhanced by linking to
morality and ethics and long-term
vision. 16
 What is Power ?

Charismatic power
An extension of referent power
stemming from an individual’s
personality and interpersonal
style.
 How do managers acquire the
power needed for leadership?

• Acquiring and using power and influence.

• Building position power
• Building personal power
• Managers increase the visibility of their job
performance
• Additional tactics for acquiring and using
power and influence. 18
Dependency

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 15 19

Case study 1
• Mr. A is an honest and hardworking admin officer. He is
responsible for keeping an account of all vehicles of the
company.
• Mr. B is the GM of the company. B asks A to give the
companies most expensive car for personal use during
working hours.
• Mr. A refuses as this is against company policy and the car
has already been booked for some other work.
• Mr. B gets severely annoyed with Mr. A and asks
Mr. C to either arrange for the company car of
give C’s personal car.
• Mr. C is the Senior Admin Manager, he is Mr. A’s
boss. C wants his relative to be employed in A’s
place. So, he is more than willing to the GM,B’s
request.
• C threatens A regarding his disobedience and
warns him about dire consequences.
• A is an active member of the staff union. A informs the
union about GM asking for company car for personal
use at the cost of office work.
• Union and A decide to write a letter to C asking him to
approve sending of the car for personal use during
working hours.
• C understood repercussions of the situation and
refused to sign the document.
• In the end, C had to send his personal car to the GM.
UNEQUAL POWER LEADS TO
POLITICS
• MALE AND FEMALE DIFFERENCES
• SEXUAL HARASSEMNET
• GLASS SEALING EFFECT
• THE METAL SHIFT
• THE BALANCING ACT
• MONEY OR JOB SATISFACTION
• COMPANY SUPPORT
 POLITICS !!!!!!
• Political behavior in organizations are activities
that are not required as a part of one's formal
role in the organization but that influence, or
attempt to influence the distribution of
advantages or disadvantages within the
organization.
Factors influencing political behavior

• Individual factor

• Organizational
factor
How do people respond to organizational politics ?

• Increase of job anxiety / stress

• Loosing ground to others who are active politickers
• Hence entering into completion and power struggle
• Decline in self perceived performance (this is because
politics is unfair in nature)
• Employees quitting
Who benefits in politics ?
Politics performers
 Understanding of how’s and why’s organization Politics.
Individuals who have a clear understanding who is
responsible for making decisions.
If politics becomes a career threat it leads to protective
behaviors to avoid action blame or change.
Associated negative feelings towards job and work
environment.
Loose trust and support of their peers, boss, employees
and clients.
Political environment
Politics environment

 Confrontational

 Shaky alliances

Politicized organizations

Complex political arenas

Case Study 2
• A leading piston manufacturing company was
failing in its commitments due to low production.
• CEO, Mr. C, asks the production manager, Mr. Z
the reason for low production.
• Mr. Z replies that production has been affected due
to non-availability of raw materials.
• Fact is, there was enough stock of raw materials
on the shop floor.
• And, Mr. Z had issues with Mr. S, the purchasing
manager. Why?
• Mr. S had once reported to the CEO about the
wastage of raw materials on the shop floor.
• So, Mr. Z got a good firing from the CEO.
• In a plot to take revenge…
• Mr. Z actually sends a fresh and perfectly good
stock of 500 units that arrived the day before to
stores department, stating that they material needs
to be rechecked for quality.
• Both the CEO, and Mr. S, the purchasing manager
are unaware of this act.
• Mr. Z believes that Mr. S will get a yelling from the
CEO regarding the non-availability of raw
materials.
• The CEO phones Mr. S and asks for an
explanation regarding the supposed
shortage of raw materials.
• Mr. S informs the CEO and clarifies that
just the other day a fresh stock of 500 units
of raw material was brought in.
• The CEO decides to visit the shop floor
and see for himself what is the real
matter…
People 7%
13%
8%
THE TOUGHEST CHALLENGES
FACING MANAGERS
8% Navigating organisational politics
13% Dealing with ambiguity and
uncertainty
Creating a new network
Getting work done through others
Managing high-risk decisions
9%
Giving up my reputation as an
expert
Engaging and inspiring employees
11%
Thinking strategically
10% Learning to lead across borders
Representing the corporate line

10%
10%
People
THE SKILLS THAT HELP MANAGERS
18% COPE WITH THE TRANSITION TO A
22% NEW MANAGEMENT POSITION

Strategic thinking ability

Networking skills
19% Ability to deal with
21%
complexity/ambiguity influence
skills

20% Confidence
People
6% WORK/LIFE PRESSURES
8% 17% Leadership transition
Stress
8% Family issues
Becoming a parent
Health issues
15%
9% Getting married
Moving/relocation
Divorce/separation
10% Managing teenagers
14%

12%
Case Study 3
• A moped manufacturing company incurred a loss of
3 million in the past fiscal year. The MD, Mr. X was
under great pressure to turn things around.
• Mr. X had his second line managed by Mr. M(VP
Finance), Mr. N(VP Production), Mr. O(VP Purchase).
• Mr. M and Mr. N wanted to become the MD after
Mr. X.
• One day the production/day was very low. MD
questions Mr. N about this. N knew production was low
as one of the engine parts was not being produced due
to non arrival of certain raw materials.
• N informs MD about the same and also mentions that
the supplier of raw materials has not been paid money
by Finance.
• MD questions Mr. M, VP Finance about the same.
• M answers to MD saying payment has been stopped due
to a dispute regarding past supplies and the supplier has
been asked to send his accountant for accounts
reconciliation.
• Also, M informed MD that Audit has objections to making
such payments to parties when disputes are not resolved.
Way Forward
• Blaming others Fixing responsibility
• Kissing up Developing working relation
• Apple polishing Demonstration loyalty
• Passing the Buck Delegating authority
• CYA Documenting decisions
• Creating conflicts Encouraging chance & innovation
• Forming coalitions Facilitating team work
• Whistle Blowing Improving efficiency
• Arrogant Confident
Way Forward
Shamita
Ibtisam
Dipti
Kunal
Pooja
Karishma

THANK YOU