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Questions for Review
13-1. How is leadership different from power?
Answer: Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B, so
that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes. Power may exist but not be used. It is,
therefore, a capacity or potential. Probably the most important aspect of power is
Learning Objective: Contrast leadership and power
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13-2. What are the similarities and differences among the five bases of power?
Answer:
1. Coercive power: a power base dependent on fear of negative results valuable.
2. Reward power: compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards
3. Legitimate power: the formal authority to control and use resources based on a
4. Expert power: influence based on special skills or knowledge.
5. Referent power: influence based on possession by an individual of desirable
Learning Objective: Explain the three bases of formal power and the two bases of personal
power.
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13-3. What is the role of dependence in power relationships?
Answer: Probably the most important aspect of power is that it is a function of
dependency. The greater B’s dependence on A, the greater A’s power is in the
Learning Objective: Explain the role of dependence in power relationships
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13-4. What are the most often identified power or influence tactics and their
contingencies?
Answer:
1. Legitimacy. Relying on your authority position or saying a request accords
2. Rational persuasion. Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to
3. Inspirational appeals. Developing emotional commitment by appealing to a
4. Consultation. Increasing the target’s support by involving him or her in
5. Exchange. Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in exchange for
6. Personal appeals. Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty.
7. Ingratiation. Using flattery, praise, or friendly behavior prior to making a
8. Pressure. Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats.
9. Coalitions. Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the target to
Learning Objective: Identify power or influence tactics and their contingencies
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13-5. What are the causes and consequences of abuse of power?
Answer: There is evidence that there are corrupting aspects of power. Power
leads people to place their own interests ahead of others’ needs or goals. Power
also appears to lead individuals to “objectify” others and to see relationships as
Learning Objective: Identify the causes, consequences, and ethics of political behavior
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13-6. How do politics work in organizations?
Answer: Political behavior in organizations consists of activities that are not
required as part of an individual’s formal role but that influence, or attempt to
influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the
organization. It includes behaviors such as withholding key information from
decision makers, joining a coalition, whistle-blowing, spreading rumors, leaking
Learning Objective: Describe how politics work in organizations
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13-7. What are the causes, consequences, and ethics of political behavior?
Answer: It can be difficult to weigh the costs and benefits of a political action,
but its ethicality is clear. The department head who inflates the performance
evaluation of a favored employee and deflates the evaluation of a disfavored
employee—and then uses these evaluations to justify giving the former a big raise
Learning Objective: Describe how politics work in organizations
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Ethical understanding and reasoning; Reflective thinking
Experiential Exercise
Comparing Influence Tactics
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Contrast leadership and power
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Students working in groups of three are each assigned to a role. One person is the
influencer, one will be influenced, and one is the observer. These roles can be randomly
determined.
To begin, students create a deck of cards for the seven tactics to be used in the exercise.
These are legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange,
ingratiation, and pressure (defined in the chapter). Only the influencer draws cards from
the set, and no one else may see what has been drawn.
The influencer draws a card and quickly formulates and acts out a strategy to use this
tactic on the party being influenced. The person being influenced reacts realistically in a
back-and-forth exchange over a brief period and states whether or not the tactic was
effective. The observer attempts to determine which tactic is being used and which power
base (coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, or referent) would reinforce this tactic. The
influencer confirms or denies the approach used.
Change the roles and cards throughout the rounds. Afterward, the class discusses:
13-8. Based on your observations, which influence situation would probably have
resulted in the best outcome for the person doing the influencing?
13-9. Was there a good match between the tactics drawn and the specific role each
person took? In other words, was the tactic useful for the influencer given his
or her base of power relative to the person being influenced?
13-10. What lessons about power and influence does this exercise teach us?
Ethical Dilemma
How Much Should You Defer to Those in Power?
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Describe how politics work in organizations
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Ethical understanding and reasoning; Reflective thinking
Though it is not always easy to admit to ourselves, often we adapt our behavior to suit
those in power. To some degree, it is important for organizational success that we do so.
After all, people are in positions of authority for a reason, and if no one paid attention to
the rules these people put in place, chaos would rule. But is it always ethical for us to
defer to the powerful?
More often than we acknowledge, powerful individuals in organizations push our actions
into ethical gray areas, or worse. For example, managers of restaurants and stores
(including McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Winn Dixie, and others) were persuaded
to strip-search customers or employees when an individual impersonating a police officer
phoned in and instructed them to do so. What would you do if you thought a police
officer, definitely a symbol of power, ordered you to do something you’d never choose to
do as manager?
Outright abuses aside, power is wielded over us in more prosaic ways. For example,
many stock analysts report pressure from their bosses to promote funds from which the
organization profits most (a fact that is not disclosed to their clients). These might be
good funds that the analysts would promote anyway. But maybe they’re not. Should the
analyst ever promote the funds without discussing the conflict of interest with the client?
Few of us might think we would perform strip-searches. But examples of power taken to
the limit highlight the disturbing tendency of many of us to conform to the wishes of
those in power. For all of us, knowing that blindly deferring to those in power might
cause us to cross ethical lines is enough to keep us thinking.
Sources: J. Sancton, “Milgram at McDonald’s,” Bloomberg Businessweek, September 2, 2012, 74–75; and A. Wolfson, “Compliance’
Re-Creates McDonald’s Strip-Search Ordeal,” USA Today, September 1, 2012, http://usatoday30 .usatoday.com/news/ nation/story/
2012-09-01/Compliance-strip-search-hoax/57509182/1).
Questions
13-11. Do you think people tailor their behavior to suit those in power more than they
admit? Is that something you do?
Answer: Response to this question will vary by student.
13-12. One writer commented that these acts of bending behavior to suit those in power
reminds “anyone who is under pressure to carry out orders from ‘above’ to
constantly question the validity and prudence of what they’re being asked to do.”
Why don’t we question this more often?
Answer: Responses to this question will vary by student. Many will probably
13-13. Why might some individuals resist the effects of power more strongly than
others?
Answer: Again, students will respond to this question in different ways
depending on their own experiences and perspectives. Some students may suggest
Case Incident 1
The Powerful Take All
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Identify the causes and consequences of abuse of power; Explain how power works in
organizations
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Few situations generate as much frustration as having a supervisor steal your idea. Just
ask Sophia Kim. She was an engineer working for a company that designs wearable
insulin pumps for diabetics when she developed a very inexpensive and effective way to
improve the design of one of the most significant components of the device. She was
excited by her idea and couldn’t wait to head up the development team. At least, she was
excited until her boss told her she would play no part in rolling out the new product.
Instead, her boss took the idea to the top executives alone.
The loss of control over intellectual property you have created is a common fear. In many
workplaces, it is standard operating procedure to require employees to sign over their
ideas to the organization. It is also common for supervisors to use their power to claim
employee ideas for themselves. Due to resource dependence issues, it can be very
difficult for employees to speak out and get their due.
What are the consequences of this kind of abuse of power? Some recent experimental
evidence suggests fear of having ideas stolen decreases creativity. Orly Lobel and his
colleague On Amir developed a virtual workplace and then put participants in one of two
conditions. One group was told the members would be paid for the work they did but
then would have to sign over their ideas to their virtual employers. The second group was
not required to sign over their ideas. The study found those who lost ownership of their
ideas reduced their concentration and effort on the task and made far more errors.
The question then arises—when supervisors appropriate employees’ ideas, do they not
consider the long-run effects of their political plays?
Sources: Based on O. Lobel “My Ideas, My Boss’s Property” New York Times, April 13, 2014,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/opinion/my-ideas-my-bosss-property.html?_r=0; and J. Smith, “9 Things You Can Do When the
Boss Takes Credit for Your Work,” Forbes, April 30, 2013,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/30/9-things-you-can-do-when-the-boss-takes-credit-foryour-work/.
Questions
13-14. What types of power and influence are organizations using when they require
employees to sign over their creative rights to the company? Why are these tactics
effective?
Answer: Organizations requiring employees to sign over their creative rights to
the company are using formal power – specifically coercive power and legitimate
13-15. Do the results of the Lobel and Amir study fit with the ways the chapter describes
employee reactions to organizational politics? Why or why not?
Answer: Responses to this question will vary by student, but most students will
probably suggest that the study does fit with the ways the chapter describes
13-16. What are some ways a company might try to prevent supervisors from stealing
employee ideas and damaging motivation?
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in
Case Incident 2
Barry’s Peer Becomes His Boss
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Identify the causes and consequences of abuse of power; Explain how politics work in
organizations
Learning Outcome: Explain the effects of power and political behavior on organizations
AACSB: Reflective thinking
As Barry looked out the window of his office in Toronto, the gloomy October skies
obscured his usual view of CN Tower. “That figures,” Barry thought to himself – his
mood was just as gloomy.
Five months ago, last May, Barry’s company, CTM, a relatively small but growing
technology company, reorganized itself. Although such reorganizations often imperil
careers, Barry felt the change only improved his position. Barry’s coworker, Raphael,
was promoted to a different department, which made sense since because Raphael had
been with the company for a few more years, and had worked with the CEO on a
successful project. Because Raphael was promoted and their past work roles were so
similar, Barry thought his own promotion was soon to come.
However, six weeks ago, Barry’s boss left. Raphael was transferred back to the same
department, and became Barry’s boss. Although Barry felt a bit overlooked, he knew he
was still relatively junior in the company, and felt that his good past relationship with
Raphael would bode well for his future prospects.
The new arrangement, however, brought nothing but disappointment. Although Raphael
often told Barry he was doing a great job, drawing from several observations, Barry felt
that opinion was not being shared with the higher-ups. Worse, a couple of Barry’s friends
in the company showed Barry e-mails in which Raphael had failed to make Barry look
good.
“Raphael is not the person I thought he was,” thought Barry.
What was his future in the company if no one understood his contributions? He thought
about looking for work, but that prospect only darkened his mood further. He liked the
company. He felt he did good work there.
As Barry looked again out his window, a light rain began to fall. The CN Tower was no
more visible than before. He just didn’t know what to do.
Sources: Based on M. G. McIntyre, “Disgruntlement Won’t Advance Your Career,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 23, 2012),
downloaded May 14, 2013, from www.post-gazette.com/; and S. Shellenbarger, “What to Do with a Workplace Whiner,” The Wall
Street Journal (September 12, 2012), pp D1, D3.
Questions
13.17. Should Barry complain about his treatment? To whom? If he does complain, what
power tactics should Barry use?
Answer: Responses to this question will vary by student, but many will suggest
that Barry should indeed engage in a conversation about his treatment. Many
13.18. Studies have shown those prone to complaining or “whining” tend to have less
power in an organization. Do you think whining leads to diminished power and
influence, or the other way around? How can Barry avoid appearing to be a
“whiner”?
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in
13.19. Do you think Barry should look for another job? Why or why not?
Answer: Again, responses to this question will vary by student, however, many
My Management Lab
Go to mymanagementlab.com for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the
following
13.20. In Case Incident 1, how would you expect employees who have to sign over their
rights to their creative projects react in the short term? In the long term?
13.21. After reading the chapter and Case Incident 2, what impression management
techniques would you say Raphael is using?
13-22. MyManagementLab Only – comprehensive writing assignment for this chapter.
Instructor’s Choice
Applying the Concepts
For a number of years, Scott McNealy has been Sun Microsystems’ leader and champion.
Mr. McNealy carried the company through the wild 1990s and made profits for
shareholders. Sun produced products that the industry wanted and needed and McNealy’s
presence and vision kept Sun on the correct path. What happened to derail the Sun
Express? Instead of listening to those who preached conservatism as the dot.com bubble
burst in the early 2000s, McNealy conducted business as usual and with this approach
made a big and costly mistake. Sun stock went from a high of $64 in 2000 to roughly $4
today. McNealy’s leadership style—optimism, daring, humor, and even outrageousness—
that served Sun so well in the 1990s do not seem to be what Sun needs in the more
cost-conscious 2000s. Friends have pleaded with McNealy to back off of his old
approach a notch or two, but have failed to sway him. Is there any way out for Sun and
Scott McNealy?
Do an online search of Sun Microsystems current status (or see
www.sun.com) and review Sun’s history. Write a short one- to two-page paper
reviewing management practices that have helped and hurt Sun in the past few
years.
Review current periodicals to determine views on Mr. McNealy’s
leadership style and managerial decisions at Sun. Summarize your findings.
Assuming that you were hired as a consultant to the Sun board of
directors, write a one-page brief describing what should be done with the Sun
management team. Make it clear whether the management team should be
changed or whether economic and technological circumstances have caused the
problems at Sun, meaning the current management team can still lead Sun to
success.
Instructor Discussion
Students will find an abundant amount of material on the Internet and in current
periodicals about Sun and Scott McNealy. The difficulties will also be reported. An
excellent source is “A CEO’s Last Stand” by Jim Kerstetter and Peter Burrows in
BusinessWeek, July 26, 2004, on pages 64–70. Students can also see a Q&A with Scott
McNealy by going to www.businessweek.com/magazine/extra.htm. (These interviews are
normally carried for some time on the magazine’s website.) Students should also
appreciate the rich history of Scott McNealy and his leadership of Sun. This activity is a
good study of how a senior executive can have difficulties in retaining power when
economic and managerial decisions become difficult.
Exploring OB Topics on the Web
1. Knowing about “personal power” is one thing—applying it to everyday work life is
another. Learn how Craig Ohlson of Activation applies personal power to be the top
salesperson in a featured article in Inc. Magazine. Go to
http://www.inc.com/magazine/19950201/2142.html to read the article. Write a short
reaction paper describing the power tactics he uses to influence his customers. Could
any of his methods be applied to an activity you are involved in—why or why not?
2. For a wide variety of resources on business ethics (articles, cases, corporate ethics
codes, publications, and organizations visit:
http://www.web-miner.com/busethics.htm. Browse through the various resources.
Select one or two articles to read, print them out, and bring to class to discuss during
the next class session. Are smart people overrated? That was the question put forth by
New Yorker Magazine in the article, The Talent Myth. Read this article at:
h ttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/07/22/020722fa_fact. Make a list of every
impression management behavior you spot in the article. Then make a list of impression
management techniques you plan to develop in the next years. Bring both lists to class for
discussion.
3. Go to http://www.itstime.com/oct97map.htm and develop your own personal power
map for an organization you’re involved (or have been involved) with. Bring it to
class for discussion.
