Power and Politics in

Organization

Group No.(7)
Inder Mankoo.
Pankaj Vishwakarma.
Saba Khan.
Kamlesh Negi
Swetha Vijayan.
“You can get much further
with a kind word and gun
,than you can with a kind
word alone ”
-A.Capone.
 POWER.
• What is Power?

• Power:

A capacity that A
has to influence the behavior of B so that B
acts in accordance with A’s wishes.
The ability to get someone to do something
you want to be done or the ability to make
things the way you want them to be.
 Power & Leadership
Power Leadership
• Used as a means for •Focuses on goal
achieving goals achievement

• Requires follower •Requires goal compatibility

dependency with followers

•Focuses influence
• Used to gain lateral and downward
upward influence
 SOURCES OF POWER

Power

Position Personal
power Power

Reward Coercive Legitimate Expert Referent

 Bases of Power (Formal)
• Coercive power
– The person can make things difficult for people,
and you want to avoid getting him or her angry.
Power that is based on fear.

• Reward power
– The person is able to give special benefits or
rewards to people, and you find it advantageous to
trade favors with him or her.

• Legitimate power
– The person has the right, considering his or her
position and your job responsibilities, to expect
you to comply with legitimate requests.
 Bases of Power (Personal)
• Expert power
– Is influence wielded as a result of expertise,
special skills or knowledge.

• Referent power
– Develops out of admiration of another & a
desire to be like that person
– One of the ways to acquire it is through
charisma.
 Evaluating the Bases of Power
• Coercive power tends to result in negative performance
responses from individuals, decreases satisfaction,
increases mistrust, and creates fear.

• Legitimate power does not have a negative effect, but does

not generally stimulate employees to improve their attitudes
or performance, and it does not generally result in increased
commitment.

• Reward power may improve performance in a variety of

situations if the rewards are consistent with what the
individuals want as rewards.

• Expert power relies on trust that all relevant information is

given out honestly and completely.
 Consequences of Using 5 Types of
Power

Type of power used by Most likely response from

leader: followers:

• Expert
Commitment
• Referent
• Reward Compliance
• Legitimate
• Coercive Resistance
 Dependency: Key to Power
The General Dependency Postulate
– B’s relationship to A when A possesses
something that B requires.

– Possession/control of scarce organizational

resources that others need makes a manager
powerful.

– Access to optional resources (e.g., multiple

suppliers) reduces the resource holder’s power.
 Dependency: Key to Power
What creates Dependency ?

• Importance
– The things you control must be important

• Scarcity
– A resource must be perceived as scarce

• Non-substitutability
– The resource cannot be substituted with
something else
 Nine Power Tactics
Ways in which individuals Influence Tactics:
translate power bases • Legitimacy
into specific actions.
• Rational persuasion
• Inspirational appeals
• Consultation
• Exchange
• Personal appeals
• Ingratiation
• Pressure
• Coalitions
 Abuse of POWER
• Sexual Harassment
– It is any unwanted activity of a sexual nature
that affect an individual’s employment.

Includes
– Unwanted physical touching

– Recurring requests for dates when it is made

clear the person isn’t interested

– Coercive threats that a person will lose her or

his job if she or he refuses a sexual proposition
 Politics
• What is Politics?
• Politics
– Behavior to influence or attempt to influence the
distribution of advantages & disadvantages within
the organization.

– “Organizational politics is the process whereby

individuals or groups use whatever power they can
amass to influence organizational decision in the
direction of their own interests.”
Distinctions Between Power and Politics

– POWER: Capacity to influence

individuals or departments .

– POLITICS: Actual exercise of influence

applied upon individuals or
departments to influence decisions
and obtain preferred outcomes.
 Why Do We Get Politics?
• Organizations are made up of groups
and individuals who have differing
values, goals and interests
• Resources in organizations are limited
• Performance outcomes are not
completely clear and objective
Factors Influencing Political
Behaviour
 Types of Political Activity
• Attacking or blaming others
• Controlling information
• Forming coalitions
• Networking
• Creating obligations
Employee responses to organizational
politics
Controlling political behaviour
Provide
Remove
sufficient
political norms
resources

Hire
Introduce
low-politics
clear rules
employees

Increase
Free flowing
opportunities
information
for dialogue

Manage change Peer pressure

effectively against politics
 Case Study
Mr. Kabir was working in an Administration department as officer
administration. He was responsible for keeping account of all vehicles of the
company apart from other arrangements including the guesthouse of the company.
Mr. Kabir has been working in the com for 6 years in the same grade without
promotions. He was supposed to be very honest in his job.

Once the GM of the factory MR. Rakesh Gupta, requested for the company
car during office time for his personal work. Mr. Kabir refused it saying that it can
not be given during the office work as the work would suffer due to its duty to go to
the bank. Mr. Gupta became quite upset and asked his boss Mr. Srivastava to give
the car.

Mr. Srivastava (Sr. Manager Admin) was too happy to oblige Mr. Gupta as
he wanted one of his relatives to be employed as officer. Hence, he fired Mr. Kabir
for his disobedience and threatened to transfer him to stores if he continued to
show disrespect to Senior officers.

Kabir was also active member of staff union. He immediately went to the
Union President and informed him about the misuse of the company car for private
purpose by the GM at the cost of the office work. It was decided that Kabir would
send a note in writing to Mr. Srivastava asking him to approve sending the car to
the house of Mr. Gupta. Mr. Srivastava understood the repercussions and refused
to sign the approval. He lent his own car to Mr. Gupta.
 Case Study Questions.

• What power was being used by Kabir?

• What power Mr. Srivastava was using?
• What was the game Kabir played when
Srivastava ordered the car?
CORPORATE POLITICS
 Corporate Politics.
• Corporate politics are everywhere. They
inflict every company.

• Depending how far you make it up the

corporate ladder, you'll feel the heat the
higher up you go.

• Good Politics and Bad Politics

 Corporate Politics.

Moral of the story – Practice

GOOD politics and avoid the
BAD !!!!!
 Corporate Politics.
• Five characteristics of the negative politicians :
1)Self promote - They go out of their way
internally to promote themselves

2) Manage up - They typically withhold negative

information about their business to their bosses

3) Use information as power- They may use

confidential business information to enhance
credibility.
 Corporate Politics.
4) Become "buddies" with the powers-that-be -
They tend to actively network with the key movers
and shakers within the company.

5) Spread disinformation about potential

"competitors”
 Recommendations
• Keep your ear to the ground -- always.
Keep an eye out and keep a mental list of
those who consistently act the way we
described

• Don't bad mouth them to anybody. Bad

mouthing people is what negative politicians
do, and you will likely hear about it eventually.
 Corporate Politics.
• Keep your friends close, and your enemies
closer. Don't avoid negative politicians. Network
with them. Kind words and praise go a long way.

• Use some of their tactics in a principled

manner - Do some self promotion in a way that
ALSO promotes others. Network with the
powers that be in a way that shows your value to
the company.
THANK YOU