TRABUCO, Rosemarie M.

March 15,
2017
2BSA HBO | 8-11am | Wednesday

CHAPTER 14: POWER, POLITICS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE

I. INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS
A. Influence - the ability to affect the perceptions, attitudes, or behaviors of others.
B. Nature of Influence
1. Dramatic or Subtle
2. Intentional or Unintentional
3. Beneficial or Harmful
C. Impression Management - a direct and intentional effort by someone to enhance his or her
own image in the eyes of others.
II. POWER IN ORGANIZATIONS
A. Power - potential ability of a person or group to exercise control over another person/group.
Conflict resolution is a managed effort to reduce or eliminate harmful conflict. Power is
distinguished from influence due to the element of controlthe more powerful control the
less powerful. Thus, power might be thought of as an extreme form of influence.
B. Types of Power
1. Bases of Power - The most widely used and recognized analysis of the bases of
power is the classic framework developed by John R. P. French and Bertram Raven.
a. Legitimate Power - power that is granted by virtue of ones position in the
organization.
b. Reward Power - exists when one person controls rewards that another person
values
c. Coercive Power - exists when one person has the ability to punish or
physically or psychologically harm someone else
d. Expert Power - exists when one person controls information that is valuable
to someone else
e. Referent Power - exists when one person wants to be like or imitates
someone else
2. Position Power vs. Personal Power
a. Position Power - resides in the position, regardless of who is filling that
position
b. Personal Power - resides in the person, regardless of the position being filled
C. Uses of Power in Organizations
1. Commitment - will probably result from an attempt to exercise power if the
subordinate accepts and identifies with the leader. Such an employee will be highly
motivated by requests that seem important to the leader. For example, a leader might
explain that a new piece of software will greatly benefit the organization if it is
 developed soon. A committed subordinate will work just as hard as the leader to
complete the project, even if that means working overtime. Sam Walt
2. Compliance - means the subordinate is willing to carry out the leaders wishes as
long as doing so will not require extraordinary effort. That is, the person will respond
to normal, reasonable requests that are perceived to clearly be within the normal
boundaries of the job. But the person will not be inclined to do anything extra or to
go beyond the normal expectations for the job.
3. Resistance - occurs when the subordinate rejects or fights the leaders wishes.
III. POLITICS AND POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
A. Organizational Politics - Activities carried out by people to acquire, enhance, and use power
and other resources to obtain their desired outcomes. Thus, political behavior is the general
means by which people attempt to obtain and use power. Put simply, the goal of such
behavior is to get ones own way about things.
B. Pervasiveness of Political Behavior
1. Model of Ethical Behavior

C. Managing Political Behavior

1. Reasons for Political Behavior
a. Ambiguous Goals - The ambiguity of such goals provides an opportunity for
political behavior because people can view a wide range of behaviors as
helping meet the goal.
b. Scarce Resources - some people will not get everything they think they
deserve or need. Thus, they are likely to engage in political behavior as a
means of inflating their share of the resources.
 c. Technology and Environment - may influence the overall design of the
organization and its activities.
d. Non-programmed Decisions - involve ambiguous circumstances that allow
ample opportunity for political maneuvering.
e. Organizational Change - The period during which this is occurring usually
affords much opportunity for political activity.
2. Techniques of Political Behavior
a. Control of Information The more critical the information and the fewer the
people who have access to it, the larger the power base and influence of those
who do.
b. Control of Communication - to control lines of communication, particularly
access to others in the organization.
c. Use of Outside Experts - such as consultants or advisers, can be an effective
political technique.
d. Control of Agenda - This technique, then, involves group polarization. A less
sophisticated tactic is to prolong discussion of prior agenda items so that the
group never reaches the controversial one.
e. Game Playing - managers simply work within the rules of the organization to
increase the probability that their preferred outcomes will come about.
f. Coalition Building - its general goal is convincing others that everyone
should work together to accomplish certain things.
g. Control of Decision Parameters - can be used only in certain situations and
requires much subtlety. Instead of trying to control the actual decision, the
manager backs up one step and tries to control the criteria and tests on which
the decision is based.
3. Limiting the Effects of Political Behavior
a. Open Communication
b. Reduce Uncertainty
c. Forewarned is Forearmed
IV. ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE
A. Organizational Justice - the perceptions of people in an organization regarding fairness.
B. Basic Forms of Organizational Justice
1. Distributive Justice - refers to peoples perceptions of the fairness with which
rewards and other valued outcomes are distributed within the organization.
2. Procedural Justice - individual perceptions of the fairness of the process used to
determine various outcomes.
3. Interpersonal Justice - relates to the degree of fairness people see in how they are
treated by others in their organization.
4. Informational Justice - refers to the perceived fairness of information used to arrive at
decisions.
CHAPTER 15: CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION IN ORGANIZATION
I. NATURE OF CONFLICT
A. Conflict - a process resulting in the perceptions of two parties that they are working in
opposition to each other in ways that produce feelings of discomfort and/or animosity.
II. COMMON FORMS AND CAUSES OF CONFLICT
A. Common Forms of Conflict
1. Task Conflict - refers to conflict regarding the goals and content of the work.
2. Process Conflict - occurs when the parties agree on the goals and content of work but
disagree on how to achieve the goals and actually do the work.
3. Relationship Conflict - occurs when the parties have interpersonal issues.
4. Legal Conflict - may arise when there are differences in perceptions between
organizations.
B. Causes of Conflict
1. Interpersonal Conflict - Conflict between two or more individuals is almost certain to
occur in any organization, given the great variety in perceptions, goals, attitudes, and
so forth among its members.
2. Intergroup Conflict - Conflict between two or more organizational groups is also
quite common.
3. Conflict between Organization and Environment - Conflict that arises between one
organization and another is called inter-organizational conflict.
4. Task Interdependence - Task interdependence can also result in conflict across any of
the levels noted previously.
a. Pooled Interdependence - represents the lowest level of interdependence and
therefore results in the least amount of conflict.
b. Sequential interdependence - the output of one unit becomes the input for
another in a sequential fashion. This creates a moderate level of interdependence
and a somewhat higher potential for conflict.
c. Reciprocal Interdependence - exists when activities flow both ways between
units. This form is clearly the most complex, and hence has the highest potential
for conflict.
III. REACTIONS TO CONFLICT
A. Degree of goal compatibility - is the extent to which the goals can be achieved
simultaneously.
B. Five Types of Reactions to Conflict
1. Avoidance - occurs when an interaction is relatively unimportant to either partys
goals and the goals are incompatible.
2. Accommodation - occurs when the goals are compatible but the interactions are not
considered important to overall goal attainment.
3. Competition - occurs when the goals are incompatible and the interactions are
important to each partys meeting its goals.
4. Collaboration - occurs when the interaction between groups is very important to goal
attainment and the goals are compatible.
 5. Compromise - occurs when the interactions are moderately important to goal
attainment and the goals are neither completely compatible nor completely
incompatible.
IV. MANAGING CONFLICT
A. Conflict Management
1. Conflict stimulation - is the creation and constructive use of conflict by a manager.
2. Conflict resolution - is a managed effort to reduce or eliminate harmful conflict.
3. Using Structure to Manage Conflict
a. The Managerial Hierarchy - places one manager in charge of people, groups,
or departments in conflict.
b. Rules and Procedures - Rules and Procedures Routine conflict management
can be handled via rules and standard procedures.
c. Liaison Rules - a manager in a liaison role coordinates activities, acting as
d. a common point of contact.
e. Task Forces - may be created when the need for conflict management is
acute.
4. Using Interpersonal Techniques to Manage Conflict
a. Team Building - activities are intended to enhance the effectiveness and
satisfaction of individuals who work in groups or teams and to promote
overall group effectiveness; they should lead to a decrease in conflict among
members of the team.
b. Survey Feedback - each employee responds to a questionnaire intended to
measure perceptions and attitudes (for example, satisfaction and supervisory
style).
c. Third-Party Peacemaking - primarily used to address extreme conflict,
involves bringing in an outsider to facilitate conflict resolution.
5. Negotiated Conflict Management
V. NEGOTIATION IN ORGANIZATIONS
A. Negotiation - is the process in which two or more parties (people or groups) reach agreement
on an issue even though they have different preferences regarding that issue.
B. Approaches to Negotiation
1. Individual Differences - Early psychological approaches concentrated on the
personality
traits of the negotiators.
2. Situational Characteristics - the context within which negotiation takes place. They
include such things as the types of communication between negotiators, the potential
outcomes of the negotiation, the relative power of the parties (both positional and
personal), the time frame available for negotiation, the number of people representing
each side, and the presence of other parties.
3. Game Theory - developed by economists using mathematical models to predict the
outcome of negotiation situations
 4. Cognitive Approaches recognizes that negotiators often depart from perfect
rationality during negotiation; it tries to predict how and when negotiators will make
these departures.
C. Win-Win Negotiation - it approaches negotiation as an opportunity for both sides to be
winners, to get what they want out of the agreement. The focus is on both parties reaching
agreement such that both are committed to fulfilling their own end of the agreement and to
returning for more agreements in the future. In other words, both parties want to have their needs
satisfied. It assumes that both parties work together to find ways to satisfy both parties at the
same time.
1. Win-Win Planning - requires that each negotiator set his or her own goals, anticipate
the goals of the other, determine areas of probable agreement, and develop strategies for
reconciling areas of probable disagreement.
2. Win-Win Relationships - requires that negotiators plan activities that enable positive
personal relationships to develop, cultivate a sense of mutual trust, and allow
relationships to develop fully before discussing business in earnest.
3. Win-Win Agreements - requires that each party confirm the other partys goals, verify
areas of agreement, propose and consider positive solutions to reconcile areas of
disagreement, and jointly resolve any remaining differences.
4. Win-Win Maintenance - entails providing meaningful feedback based on performance,
each of the parties holding up an end of the agreement, keeping in contact, and
reaffirming trust between the parties.