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Chapter 13 Power and Politics Page
a.
II. The Ethics of Behaving Politically
A. Although there are no clear-cut ways to differentiate ethical from unethical
politicking, there are some questions you should consider.
1. For example, what is the utility of engaging in politicking?
a. Sometimes we engage in political behavior for little good reason. Major
league baseball player Al Martin claimed he played football at USC when
in fact he never did.
b. As a baseball player, he had little to gain by pretending to have played
football.
c. Outright lies like this may be a rather extreme example of impression
management, but many of us have distorted information to make a
favorable impression.
B. One thing to keep in mind is whether it’s really worth the risk. Another question
to ask is this:
1. How does the utility of engaging in the political behavior balance out any
harm (or potential harm) it will do to others?
C. Finally, does the political activity conform to standards of equity and justice?
1. Sometimes it is difficult to weigh the costs and benefits of a political action,
but its ethicality is clear.
a. The department head who inflates the performance evaluation of a favored
employee and deflates the evaluation of a disfavored employee—and then
harmed in the process.
E. If you have a strong power base, recognize the ability of power to corrupt.
III. Mapping Your Political Career
A. One of the most useful ways to think about power and politics is in terms of your
own career.
people?
C. The best way to answer these questions is with a political map, which can help
you sketch out your relationships with the people upon whom your career
depends.
D. Power and politics are a part of organizational life.
politics didn’t matter.
IV. Summary and Implications for Managers
A. Few employees relish being powerless in their job and organization.
B. People respond differently to the various power bases.
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organizationally derived.
E. Competence especially appears to offer wide appeal, and its use as a power base
results in high performance by group members.
F. An effective manager accepts the political nature of organizations. Some people
are significantly more politically astute than others, meaning that they are aware
politically naïve or inept.
H. The politically astute are also likely to exhibit higher job satisfaction and be better
able to neutralize job stressors. Specific implications for managers are below:
1. To maximize your power, you will want to increase others’ dependence on
ready substitute.
2. You will not be alone in attempting to build your power bases. Others,
you. The result is a continual battle.
3. Try to avoid putting others in a position where they feel they have no power.
4. By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can better predict the
actions of others and use that information to formulate political strategies that
will gain advantages for you and your work unit.
5. Consider that employees who have poor political skills or are unwilling to
play the politics game generally relate perceived organizational politics to
lower job satisfaction and self-reported performance, increased anxiety, and
higher turnover. Therefore, if you are adept at organizational politics, help
your employees understand the importance of becoming politically savvy.
EXPANDED CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Power and Leadership
A. Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B, so that B acts
in accordance with A’s wishes.
B. Power may exist but not be used. It is, therefore, a capacity or potential.
C. Probably the most important aspect of power is that it is a function of dependence.
1. The greater B’s dependence on A, the greater is A’s power in the relationship.
2. Dependence, in turn, is based on alternatives that B perceives and the
importance that B places on the alternative(s) that A controls.
D. A person can have power over you only if he or she controls something you
desire.
E. Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals.
F. Differences Between Leadership and Power
1. Goal compatibility:
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a. Power does not require goal compatibility, merely dependence.
b. Leadership, on the other hand, requires some congruence between the
goals of the leader and those being led.
2. The direction of influence:
a. Leadership focuses on the downward influence on one’s followers.
b. Leadership research, for the most part, emphasizes style.
c. The research on power focuses on tactics for gaining compliance.
d. It goes beyond the individual as the exerciser of power, because groups as
well as individuals can use power to control other individuals or groups.
II. Bases of Power
A. Formal Power
1. Coercive power
physiological or safety needs.
c. At the organizational level, A has coercive power over B if A can dismiss,
suspend, or demote B, assuming that B values his or her job.
d. Similarly, if A can assign B work activities that B finds unpleasant or treat
B in a manner that B finds embarrassing, then A possesses coercive power
over B.
2. Reward power
a. The opposite of coercive power is reward power.
b. People comply because doing so produces positive benefits; therefore, one
who can distribute rewards that others view as valuable will have power
over those others.
shifts or sales territories.
3. Legitimate power
a. In formal groups and organizations, the most common access power is
through legitimate power.
b. It represents the power a person receives as a result of his/her position in
the formal hierarchy.
organization.
B. Personal Power
1. Expert power
a. Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill, or
knowledge.
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experts to achieve goals.
2. Referent power
resources or personal traits.
i. If I admire and identify with you, you can exercise power over me
because I want to please you.
b. Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be
like that person.
endorse products in commercials.
d. Some people who are not in formal leadership positions nonetheless have
referent power and exert influence over others because of their charismatic
dynamism, likability, and emotional effects on us.
C. Which Bases of Power Are Most Effective?
1. Personal sources are most effective.
these outcomes.
3. Coercive power usually backfires.
III. Dependence: The Key to Power
A. The General Dependence Postulate
1. The greater B’s dependency on A, the greater the power A has over B.
supply.
4. This is why most organizations develop multiple suppliers rather than using
just one.
5. It also explains why so many of us aspire to financial independence.
B. What Creates Dependence?
1. Importance
important.
2. Scarcity
a. A resource needs to be perceived as scarce to create dependency.
b. The scarcity-dependency relationship can further be seen in the power of
occupational categories.
there is an abundance of candidates.
3. Nonsubstitutability
a. The more that a resource has no viable substitutes, the more power that
control over that resource provides.
C. Social Network Analysis: A Tool for Assessing Resources
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organization is social network analysis.
2. This method examines patterns of communication among organizational
members to identify how information flows between them.
3. Within a social network, or connections between people who share
professional interests, each individual or group is called a node, and the links
resources really flow in an organization. (Exhibit 13-1)
4. Networks can create substantial power dynamics, such as enforcing norms
(see Chapter 9) or creating change within an organization. Employees who
have many connections to an organizational social network are less likely to
different groups.
5. In other words, many people are dependent upon brokers, which gives the
brokers more power.
6. There are many ways to implement a social network analysis in an
organization.
document sharing across departments.
b. Other organizations look at data from human resources information
systems, analyzing how supervisors and subordinates interact with one
another.
IV. Power Tactics
with organizational policies or rules.
2. Rational persuasion. Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to
demonstrate a request is reasonable.
deciding how you will accomplish your plan.
5. Exchange. Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in exchange for
following a request.
request.
8. Pressure. Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats.
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9. Coalitions. Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the target to
agree.
C. Using Power Tactics
1. Some tactics are more effective than others.
a. Rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, and consultation tend to be the
most effective, especially when the audience is highly interested in the
outcomes of a decision process.
b. Pressure tends to backfire and is typically the least effective of the nine
tactics.
c. You can also increase your chance of success by using more than one type
of tactic at the same time or sequentially, as long as your choices are
compatible.
d. Using both ingratiation and legitimacy can lessen the negative reactions
from appearing to “dictate” outcomes, but only when the audience does
not really care about the outcomes of a decision process or the policy is
routine.
2. But the effectiveness of some influence tactics depends on the direction of
influence.
a. As Exhibit 13-2 shows, rational persuasion is the only tactic effective
across organizational levels. Inspirational appeals work best as a
downward influencing tactic with subordinates.
b. When pressure works, it’s generally downward only. Personal appeals and
coalitions are most effective as lateral influence.
c. Other factors that affect the effectiveness of influence include the
sequencing of tactics, a person’s skill in using the tactic, and the
organizational culture.
d. You’re more likely to be effective if you begin with “softer” tactics that
rely on personal power, such as personal and inspirational appeals, rational
persuasion, and consultation.
i. If these fail, you can move to “harder” tactics, such as exchange,
coalitions, and pressure, which emphasize formal power and incur
greater costs and risks.
e. Interestingly, a single soft tactic is more effective than a single hard tactic,
and combining two soft tactics or a soft tactic and rational persuasion is
more effective than any single tactic or combination of hard tactics.
f. The effectiveness of tactics depends on the audience.
i. People who especially likely to comply with soft power tactics tend to
be more reflective, are intrinsically motivated, have high self-esteem,
and have greater desire for control.
ii. People especially likely to comply with hard power tactics are more
action-oriented and extrinsically motivated and are more focused on
getting along with others than with getting their own way.
D. Cultural Preferences for Power Tactics
1. People in different countries prefer different power tactics.
a. Those from individualistic countries tend to see power in personalized
terms and as a legitimate means of advancing their personal ends, whereas
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those in collectivistic countries see power in social terms and as a
legitimate means of helping others.
i. A study comparing managers in the United States and China found that
U.S. managers prefer rational appeal, whereas Chinese managers
preferred coalition tactics.
(a) These differences tend to be consistent with the values in these two
countries.
(b) Reason is consistent with the U.S. preference for direct
indirect approaches.
E. Applying Power Tactics
1. People differ in their political skill, or their ability to influence others to
enhance their own objectives.
a. The politically skilled are more effective users of all of the influence
satisfaction, work productivity, and career success.
ii. They are less likely to be victims of workplace aggression.
iii. Political skill also appears more effective when the stakes are high—
such as when the individual is accountable for important
organizational outcomes.
be labeled political).
b. Politically skilled individuals tend to receive higher performance ratings
when they strategically ask for feedback in a way that enhances their
image in the organization.
2. Finally, we know cultures within organizations differ markedly—some are
influence.
i. Specifically, extraverts tend to be more influential in team-oriented
organizations, and highly conscientious people are more influential in
organizations that value working alone on technical tasks.
ii. Part of the reason people who fit the culture are influential is that they
are competent.
b. So the organization itself will influence which subset of power tactics is
viewed as acceptable for use.
V. How Power Affects People?
A. Does power corrupt?
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of others.
2. Powerful people react—especially negatively—to any threats to their
competence.
3. Power also leads to overconfident decision making.
B. Power Variables
benefits us.
b. Second, the corrosive effect of power can be contained by organizational
systems.
i. One study found, for example, that while power made people behave
in a self-serving manner, when accountability of this behavior was
initiated, the self-serving behavior stopped.
of power.
i. One study showed that simply expressing gratitude toward powerful
others made them less likely to aggress against us.
d. Finally, remember the aphorism that those with little power grab and abuse
what little they have? There appears to be some truth to this in that the
power.
f. But there also appear to be general positive effects.
i. Power energizes and leads to approach motivation.
ii. It also can enhance people’s motivation to help others, at least for
certain people.
moral awareness.
VI. Sexual Harassment: Unequal Power in the Workplace
A. Sexual harassment is defined as any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that
affects an individual’s employment and creates a hostile work environment.
1. Although the definition changes from country to country, most nations have at
followed is another question, however.
2. Organizations have generally made progress in the past decade toward
limiting overt forms of sexual harassment.
a. This includes unwanted physical touching, recurring requests for dates
when it is made clear the person isn’t interested, and coercive threats that a
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3. Generally, sexual harassment is more prevalent in male-dominated societies.
4. Most studies confirm that the concept of power is central to understanding
sexual harassment.
differentials.
b. The supervisor-employee dyad best characterizes an unequal power
relationship, where formal power gives the supervisor the capacity to
reward and coerce.
c. Because employees want favorable performance reviews, salary increases,
important and scarce.
d. Thus, sexual harassment by the boss typically creates the greatest
difficulty for those being harassed.
e. If there are no witnesses, it is the victim’s word against the harasser’s. Has
this boss harassed others, and, if so, will they come forward or fear
retaliation?
employees from sexual harassment.
a. Make sure an active policy defines what constitutes sexual harassment,
informs employees they can be fired for sexually harassing another
employee, and establishes procedures for how complaints can be made.
b. Reassure employees that they will not encounter retaliation if they issue a
complaint.
departments.
d. Make sure offenders are disciplined or terminated.
e. Set up in-house seminars to raise employee awareness of the issues
surrounding sexual harassment.
6. The bottom line is that managers have a responsibility to protect their
themselves.
a. Managers may be unaware that one of their employees is being sexually
harassed. But being unaware does not protect them or their organization.
b. If investigators believe a manager could have known about the
harassment, both the manager and the company can be held liable.
VII. Politics: Power in Action
A. Definition of Organizational Politics
organization.
2. Political behavior is outside one’s specified job requirements.
3. It encompasses efforts to influence the goals, criteria, or processes used for
decision making.
4. It includes such varied political behaviors as withholding key information
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confidential information, etc.
B. The Reality of Politics
c. Most also indicate they had never been trained to use political behavior
effectively.
2. Organizations are made up of individuals and groups with different values,
goals, and interests.
conflict into real conflict.
a. Because resources are limited, not everyone’s interests can be provided for
causing the conflict.
b. Gains by one individual or group are often perceived as being at the
expense of others.
c. These forces create a competition.
are open to interpretation.
1. What is good performance?
2. What’s an adequate improvement?
D. Most managerial decisions take place in the large and ambiguous middle ground
of organizational life.
their goals and interests.
1. These are activities we call politicking.
2. It is possible for an organization to be politics free, if all members of that
organization hold the same goals and interests, however, that is not the
organization most people work in.
VIII. Causes and Consequences of Political Behavior
1. Individual factors
a. Researchers have identified certain personality traits, needs, and other
factors that are likely to be related to political behavior.
b. Employees who are high self-monitors, possess an internal locus of
control, and have a high need for power are more likely to engage in
political behavior.
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ii. The Machiavellian personality is comfortable using politics as a means
to further his/her self-interest.
means of political action.
i. The more that a person has invested and the more a person has to lose,
the less likely he/she is to use illegitimate means.
ii. The more a person expects increased future benefits from the
organization, the more that person has to lose if forced out and the less
illegitimate means is unlikely to use them.
v. High expectations from such measures are most likely to be the
province of both experienced and powerful individuals with polished
political skills and inexperienced and naïve employees who misjudge
their chances.
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