Power and politics

Power is defined as the possession of the potential for influencing others or the ability to act or produce
some effect (Dessler 1980)

Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his
own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.

Etzioni (1980) defines power as an actor’s ability to induce or influence another actor to carry out his
directions or any other norms he supports

• Power is an important concept in organizations and individuals exert power to get things done.

• Power, once gained usually confers major benefits on those who hold it.

• Without some degree of power, it might be very difficult to direct the efforts of his/her
subordinates.

Sources of power

Reward Power

• Ability to determine who will receive a particular reward.

• Works only if rewards are valued, and the person has control and ability to distribute or
withhold the reward.

• A person acquires power on basis of the ability to give reward. The strength of the reward
power one person holds over another increase with the magnitude of the rewards the latter
perceives the former can mediate for him.

Coerciver Power

• Lies in the ability to produce fear in other either through threat or punishment

• Ability to manipulate the attainment by another of positive (or negative) rewards.

• The coercive power of one person over another stmes from real or imagined expectations on
the part of the latter that he will be punished if he fails to conform to the influence

Legitimate power

• Stems from internalized values in a person that dictate that another person has a legitimate
right to influence. The actual source of this legitimate power and the reasons subordinates feel
they ought to obey might be tradition or may derive from the office the supervisor holds. From
social classes and structures, representative or chairman of a group.

Referent power
 • Is based on the fact that one person identifies with and is highly attracted to another.

• Comes from the desire on the part of the other person to identify with the agent wielding
power.

• Want to associate with the powerful person regardless of the outcomes.

Expert Power

• Is based on the extent to which others attribute knowledge and expertise to the power holder

• Derives from the fact that one person is viewed as an expert in some area and others MUST
therefore depend on him for advice and counsel

• The target must perceive the agent to be credible, trustworthy and relevant before expert
power is granted.

Contingency approach to power

It is said that power comes from being in the right place at the right time

• This means where the manager has:

• Control over resources – budgets, facilities (this can be used to cultivate allies and
supports)
• Control over or extensive access to information – about the organization activities,
preferences, who is doing what etc.
• Formal authority

Organizational politics

• Can be defined as any actions taken by individuals or groups to gain power and so secure goals
and outcomes that they personally desire.

• Politics is selfish in its orientation

• This element of using or gaining power to further one’s own or groups’ self-interest is one of the
major factors distinguishing politics from other more legitimate uses of power.

• Promotion, salary raises and other rewards are not always distributed solely on the basis of
merit.

• Major decisions are not always made on the basis of careful study of all available data.

The principles of fair play and rationality do not always serve as the guide. Instead, “politics rules and
rules with a vengeance
Conditions which lead to more politics than rationality

• Research on organizational politics has identified several areas that are particularly relevant to
the degree to which organizations are political rather than rational. There are

• Resources – there is a direct relationship between mount of politics and how critical and scarce
resources are. Also politics will be encourages where there is an infusion of new unclaimed
resources.

• Decisions: Ambiguous decisions on which there is lack of agreement and uncertain, long-range
strategic decisions lead to more politics than routine decisions.

• Goals – the more ambiguous and complex the goal becomes, the more politics there will be

• Technology and external environment – in general the more complex the external technology
of the organization, the more politics there will be. The same is true for organizations operating
in a turbulent external environment.

• Change – a reorganization or planned OD effort or even unplanned changes brought about by

external forces will encourage political maneuvering.

Political strategies for acquiring power.

• Coalitions – forming and maintain the right alliances

• This involves joining forces with persons or groups who have something to contribute and
who can be relied upon. Maintaining alliance with powerful people.

• Embrace or demolish – warmly welcome or sack/downgrade, transfer etc

• Divide and rule – the assumption is that those who divide will not form an alliance themselves
(e.g. – finance may generate conflict between production and marketing – hoping to get a
bigger share of the companies budget)

• Manipulating classified information – e.g. reveal some new pricing information before a
meeting to one of your key allies, the use of that information by your key ally in the meeting
will make him/her feel that they owe you.

• Making a quick show – looking good on some projects or tasks right away in order to get
peoples attention (giving you a head start)

• Wait for a crisis (things must get worse before they get better) – this strategy uses the fact
that bad news get attention.

• Take counsel with caution – this strategy is used to keep power once acquired. Manager
avoids “opening the gates” to their people in terms of shared decision making
 • Beware of resource dependence – controlling the resources other persons or other
department need creates considerable bargaining power.

• Choosing a powerful mentor

• Having an experienced and powerful mentor is beneficial to the group or individual seeking this
relationship and can be an effective tactic for acquiring power and reaching important goals.
Since there are openings for them completion in this regard can be intense. However, given the
substantial benefits yielded by the protection and guidance or a powerful mentor, efforts to
establish such a relationship are well worthwhile.

• The use of ‘dirty tricks’

• This refers to strategies that most people view as deceitful, underhanded and dishonest – ones
that violate the ethical principles of human beings. Included among dirty tricks are such steps
as:

• a) Falsely attributing blame for negative outcomes to others (holding them responsible for
events they did not produce).

• b) Announcing one agenda for meetings, but when following a totally different hidden one thus
preventing opponents from being adequately prepared.

Some general guidelines on the ethics of organizational politics

• As noted above some of the tactics in acquiring power in organizations can be quite ethical
while others are quite unethical.

• Some tactics are manipulative, dishonest and in some cases even illegal.

• Others are quite reasonable and even desirable such as coalitions and co-optation.

• Such situations leave us with one issue: when are efforts to acquire and use power through
organizational politics justified, and when are they inappropriate?

• A managers job

• Organizational politics has several dysfunctional effect – morale weakened, victors and victims
created, energy and time spent on planning attacks and counter attacks, - therefore managers
need to combat politics as part of their job.

• “Set examples – provide a positive role model, by encouraging truthfulness and even –
handed treatment of others.

• Give clear job assignment – politics tend to be more prevalent when purposes are unclear and
it is difficult to assess the performance of individual employees.
• Eliminate coalitions and cliques – through dismissal, transfers (not recommended). through
rotation of job assignment.

• Confront game players – it discourages the player. Those who give information with ulterior
motives should be challenged to give it in another open forum.