CHAPTER 7
Power, Politics, and Leadership
The purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with new insights into power and politics so that they
can make better use of power and politics and thus lead others effectively. Chapter 8 is a continuation
of this topic, but with a description of various influence tactics.
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES
To function effectively, leaders must use power effectively, including applying political tactics to
acquire and retain power.
I. SOURCES AND TYPES OF POWER
To exercise influence, a leader must have power, the potential or ability to influence decisions
and control resources.
A. Position Power
A standard method of classifying power is based on whether the power stems from the
organization or the individual.
2. Reward Power. The authority to give employees rewards for compliance is referred to
as reward power.
3. Coercive Power. The power to punish for noncompliance is referred to as coercive
power. It is based on fear.
B. Personal Power
Three sources of power stem from characteristics or behaviors of the power actor: expert
power, referent power, and prestige power. All are classified as personal power because
C. Power Stemming from Ownership
The strength of ownership power depends on how closely the owner is linked to
shareholders and board members. A leader’s ownership power is also associated with how
D. Power Stemming from Dependencies
According to the dependence perspective, a person accrues power by others being
dependent on him or her for things they value. Dependence can be positional or personal.
Richard M. Emerson noted that power resides implicitly in the other’s dependence.
E. Power Derived from Capitalizing on Opportunity
F. Power Stemming from Managing Critical Problems
The strategic contingency theory of power suggests that those units best able to cope with
the firm’s critical problems and uncertainties acquire relatively large amounts of power.
G. Power Stemming from Being Close to Power
H. Power and Self-Serving Behavior
An obvious problem about leadership power is that it can be directed more toward self–
serving behavior than the good of others including the organization and all stakeholders. A
study with working supervisors, as well as a simulation, indicated that powerful leaders who
were held accountable acted less self-servingly than their non-accountable counterparts.
II. TACTICS FOR BECOMING AN EMPOWERING LEADER
It is paradoxically true that power and influence increase when the leader shares power with
others. As team members receive more power, they can accomplish more. Because the manager
shares credit for their accomplishments, the manager becomes more powerful. To empower others
A. The Nature of Empowerment
Empowerment refers to passing decision-making responsibility from managers to group
members. One study identified four components of empowerment. Meaning is the value of a
work goal evaluated in relation to a person’s ideals or standards. A person doing meaningful
work is likely to feel empowered. Competence, or self-efficacy, is an individual’s belief in
his or her capability to perform a particular task well. Self-determination is an individual’s
Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership 65
B. Empowering Practices
The practices that foster empowerment supplement standard approaches to participative
management such as conferring with group members before reaching a decision. Specific
empowering practices are described below.
2. Link Work Activities to the Goals of the Organization. Empowerment works better
when the empowered activities are aligned with the strategic goals of the organization.
4. Allow Group Members to Choose Methods. Explain to the individual or group what
5. Encourage Self-Leadership. Encourage team members to practice self-leadership
6. Establish Limits to Empowerment. To prevent dysfunction, workers need a clear
perception of the boundaries to empowerment.
6. Take Into Account Cultural Differences. Cross-cultural factors influence
empowerment, such as a study of a single firm with operations in the United States,
Mexico, Poland, and India. Among Indian workers, empowerment lowered job
satisfaction.
C. Effective Delegation and Empowerment
A major contributor to empowerment is delegation, the assignment to another person of
formal authority and responsibility for accomplishing a specific task. Delegation is narrower
66 Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership
III. FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Organizational politics refers to informal approaches to gaining power through means other than
merit or luck. Views of organizational politics are becoming increasingly positive, such as the
concept of leader political support that points to the contribution of political behavior. Leader
political support refers to “political acts and influence behaviors performed by leaders to provide
followers with valuable resources to advance individual, group, or organizational objectives.”
Contributing factors to politics are as follows:
A. Pyramid-Shaped Organization Structure
The pyramid-shaped organization structure fosters a power chase because a pyramid concen-
trates power at the top and leads to competition for limited resources.
B. Subjective Standards of Performance
C. Environmental Uncertainty and Turbulence
Environmental uncertainty and turbulence fosters politics because when people operate in an
unstable and unpredictable environment, they tend to behave politically. It is difficult to
specify what people should be doing in an uncertain situation.
D. Emotional Insecurity
. Emotional insecurity can lead to political behavior as people attempt to ingratiate themselves
with superiors because they lack confidence in their talent and skills.
E. Machiavellian Tendencies
Machiavellian tendencies represent a fundamental reason why people engage in politics.
People who are Machiavellian have a propensity to behave politically. Machiavelli has been
described as charming, wicked, and disturbing.
F. Encouraging Admiration from Subordinates
IV. POLITICAL TACTICS AND STRATEGIES
considered political.
A. Ethical Political Tactics and Strategies
Ethical political methods are placed into three related groups: those aimed directly at gaining
power, those aimed at building relationships with superiors and coworkers, and those aimed
at avoiding political blunders. All of these tactics help the leader gain or retain power, and
1. Strategies and Tactics Aimed at Gaining Power. As Tom Peters notes, the slow and
steady (and subtle) amassing of power is the surest road to success. The following ten
techniques help a person gain power directly: (a) develop power contacts, (b) have a
compelling vision, (c) control vital information, (d) do what the political environment
2. Strategies and Tactics Aimed at Building Relationships. Much of organizational
politics involves building positive relationships with network members who can be
3. Strategies Aimed at Avoiding Political Blunders. A strategy for retaining power is to
refrain from making power-eroding blunders. Some of these key blunders are (a)
B. Unethical Political Tactics and Strategies
Any political tactic might be considered unethical if it is carried to extremes. These
approaches, however, are unequivocally unethical: (a) back stabbing, (b) embrace or
III. EXERCISING CONTROL OVER DYSFUNCTIONAL POLITICS
Carried to excess, organizational politics can hurt an organization and its members. A meta-
analysis showed that employee perception of political behavior and lead to such unfavorable
outcomes as more strain, lower task performance, and less organizational citizenship behavior.
68 Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership
A comprehensive strategy to control politics is for leaders to be aware of its causes and
techniques. Open communication can also help minimize politicking. Avoiding favoritism and
cronyism is a major way of reducing politics. Setting good examples at the top may reduce the
VI. GUIDELINES FOR ACTION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Finding ways to increase your power is a vital life skill because power helps you control your
environment, which leads to less stress and better physical and mental health.
In terms of building a network of contacts, it is usually better to have a smaller network of useful,
COMMENTS ON EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES
Manager Assessment Quiz 7-1: Rating a Manager’s Power
To conduct this power rating, students might rate a present or past immediate manager. An issue worth
exploring is whether the power rating is subject to the halo effect. There might be a tendency to rate a
leader high on many characteristics just because he or she is well liked.
Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 7-2: Empowering Attitudes and
Beliefs
This brief quiz offers the advantage of focusing the students’ attention on the importance of attitudes
and behaviors tied to empowerment. The behaviors are also associated with good supervision and
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 7-1: Conducting an
Empowerment Session
A potential contribution of these role-plays is that they illustrate the importance of leadership input in
the empowerment process. In both scenarios the leader will have to discuss mutual expectations. In both
scenarios, the workers are most likely skilled and would therefore be willing to make suggestions as
part of being empowered.
Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 7-3: The Positive Organizational
Politics Questionnaire
An advantage of this questionnaire is that it focuses on the use of positive political tactics. The quiz also
gives students the opportunity to reflect on the link between using political tactics and acquiring power.
The skill-development portion of the quiz suggests that being overly political can backfire.
Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership 69
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 7-2: Paying Back Favors from
Network Members
Reciprocity is so highly recommended in networking that his skill-building exercise is potentially quite
useful. Thinking of sensible ways to return favors to people in a network is important if a person is to
maintain a high-quality network.
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 7-3: Controlling Office Politics
Although the subject is dealing with the control of impression management techniques, this exercise is
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 7-4: My Leadership Portfolio
A useful message sent by this exercise is that it is important to look for the potential political advantage
in many situations. A constructive mental set is, “What political advantage can I possibly squeeze from
this situation through using an ethical and constructive political tactic?”
COMMENTS ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
1. How might a person in an information technology company have a lot of power even he or she
does not hold an executive title.
The opportunities for having considerable power although not being an executive are limited, yet
2. How can a leader occupy a top-level executive position and still have relatively little power?
3. Contrary to popular opinion, CEOs of major U.S. companies come from a wide variety of private
universities and state universities, not just a handful of well-publicized MBA programs. What
does this fact tell you about sources of power and organizational politics?
4. What can you do this week to enhance your power?
5. To what extent do you think that wearing the right type of clothing and accessories can really
make a person appear more powerful?
6. Many business leaders say something to the effect of, “We practice empowerment because we
don’t expect our employees to leave their brains at the door.” What are these leaders talking
about?
7. Empowerment has been criticized because it leaves no one in particular accountable for results.
What is your opinion of this criticism?
8. Many people have asked the question “Isn’t office politics just for incompetents?” What is your
answer to this question?
Many competent and talented people must use organizational politics to gain the resources, and
9. A regular occurrence in business firms, and some government agencies, is for somebody to be
fired because of a Facebook or Twitter post criticizing the employer or a specific manager. Why
do you think so many people commit this career-threatening error?
All ideas are welcome here as to explain why this ridiculous blunder occurs probably every day.
One explanation is that many people are not sensitive enough to understand the impact of political
10. Ask an experienced worker to give you an example of the successful application of organizational
politics. Which tactic was used and what was the outcome?
The information gathered in response to this question should be illuminating. A modal answer is
likely to be the use of ethical politics to form alliances with a powerful person, and then cashing in
PLAUSIBLE RESPONSES TO CASE QUESTIONS
Leadership Case Problem A : Ray, the Empowered Athletic Club
Director
An important theme to this case is the challenge a leader faces in finding the right balance between
empoower ment and leaving a direct report on his or her own without offerencing useful guidance.
1. How effective is Larry’s approach to empowering Ray to boost enrollment?
2. Which political tactic or tactics do you recommend Ray use to deal effectively with his
empowering boss?
3. What might Larry do to help Ray boost enrollment, within the limits of empowerment?
72 Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership
Associated Role Play
A focal point of this role play is how well Ray can get Larry more involved in the enrollment
Leadership Case Problem B: Brenda, the Tweeting Leader
This case illustrates how social media can be used to help carry out the leadership function of
motivating, encouraging, and influencing subordinates. All of these activities have a political
component.
1. What impact do you think Brenda’s tweeting will have on her leadership effectiveness?
Brenda’s tweeting will probably have a positive impact on her leadership effectiveness. Using
2. What do you think of the political effectiveness of sending the same tweet to several workers?
3. What suggestions might you offer Brenda for making even more effective use of Twitter as a
leadership tool?
Brenda appears to be using tweets effectively. The answer to question 2 provides one suggestion for