Mata kuliah
Dosen Pembuat
Tahun
: J0754 - Pengelolaan Organisasi Entrepreneurial
: D3122 - Rudy Aryanto
: 2009
Kekuasaan dan Politik
Chapter 14
Learning Objectives
– Understand the difference between power and authority
– Describe five interpersonal power bases
– Discuss how subunits within an organization acquire and use
power
– Identify impression management tactics
– Identify the reasons perceived authority can influence a person’s
behavior
Personal Power of Great Leaders
• Great leaders make things happen by utilizing four types
of personal power
–
–
–
–
Communicating their visions to others
Overcoming resistance to change
Mobilizing resources in the required direction
Managing their own ambitions so they don’t lose perspective
Personal Power of Great Leaders
• Power is a pervasive part of organizational life
– Getting things done requires it
• A person’s ability to use or react to power is determined
by
– Understanding power
– Knowing how and when to use it
– Being able to anticipate its effects
Power and Authority
• Power
– The ability to get others to do what one wants them to do
– Involves a relationship between two or more people
– Cannot be forced on people
Power and Authority
• Power sharing
– Unless some power is shared, productivity, quality, and
customer satisfaction won’t be maximized
– Takes time to implement
Power and Authority
• Authority
– The formal power a person holds because of his or her position
in the organizational hierarchy
• Characteristics
– It is vested in a person’s position
– It is accepted by subordinates
– It is used from the top down in an organization
Bases of Power
Interpersonal
Structural
Situational
Interpersonal Power
• Legitimate
A person’s ability to influence
others by being in a more
powerful position
• Reward
A person’s ability to reward
the behavior of others
• Coercive
Capability to punish followers
for noncompliance
• Expert
The power to influence others
based on special expertise
• Referent
Power based on charisma
Need for Power (nPow)
• A desire to influence others
– Strong action, by giving help or advice,
or by controlling someone
– Action that produces emotion in others
– A concern for reputation
Structural and Situational Power
• Organizational structure creates formal power and
authority
– Specifies individuals to perform specific jobs and make certain
decisions
• Other forms of structural power exist because of
– Resources
– Decision-making power
– Information power
Resource Power
• Individuals have open channels to resources
– Resources are allocated downward
– Limited resources and labor cause a
dependency relationship
• To ensure compliance with goals
– Resources are allocated on the basis
of performance and compliance
• To improve performance
– Lower-level managers must have adequate power and
resources to control their destinies
Decision-Making Power
• The degree to which individuals or subunits can affect
decision making
– It determines their level of power
• A person or subunit with decision making power can
influence
– How decision-making occurs
– What alternatives are considered
– When a decision is made
Information Power
• Having access to relevant and important information
gives power
– Information is the basis for making effective decisions
– Those who possess the information
have power
• A person’s power may be weakened
by sharing too much information
Upward Flow of Power
A person exerting power upward has
personal power, but no authority
Manipulative Persuasion

A person’s direct attempt
to disguise the true
persuasion objective

The hidden agenda ploy
Manipulation

The form of influence in
which both the objective
and the attempt are
concealed
Interdepartmental Power
• Strategic contingency
– An event or activity that is important to accomplishing
organizational goals
– Focuses on subunit power
• The power differential between subunits is influenced by
the…
– Ability to cope with uncertainty
– Centrality of the subunit
– Substitutability of the subunit
Interdepartmental Power
Preventing market share decline
by product development
Coping with
uncertainty
Providing accurate future-based
predictions
Absorbing problems from other
units
Centrality
Being in an urgent or immediacy
position
Located at center of work flow
Substitutability
Possessing needed skills or
expertise
Possessing only talents that are
available to complete job
Power acquired
by subunit
and power
differentials
Coping With Uncertainty
• Copying with uncertainty activities
– Prevention
– Information
– Absorption
Centrality
• Subunits most central to the flow of work acquire power
– A subunit that can affect other subunits has some degree of
centrality and power
• A subunit also possesses power if its activities have a
more immediate impact than those of other subunits
– The higher the pervasiveness and immediacy of the work flow of
a subunit, the greater its power
Substitutability
• Refers to other subunits’ ability to perform activities of a
particular subunit
– The lower the substitutability of a subunit, the greater its power
– A subunit can increase its power by assuming responsibility for
activities critical to the organization
Obedience to Authority
• Exercising power in an authoritative way isn’t the only
way power can be exerted
– Power is often exerted by individuals who have only minimum or
no actual power
– An individual may be able to influence others simply because he
or she is perceived to have power
Potential Strategies and Tactics
• Individuals and subunits continually engage in
political behavior
– Outside the legitimate, recognized power system
– Designed to benefit an individual or subunit, often at the expense
of the organization
– Intentional and designed to acquire and maintain power
• Political behavior often sidetracks the formal
power that exists in an organization
Potential Strategies and Tactics
• Common political tactics
– Rule evasion: evading the organization’s formal procedures.
– Personal-political: using friendships
to facilitate or inhibit processes and procedures.
– Educational: attempting to persuade others to think like a
particular subunit.
– Organizational: attempting to change
the formal or informal interaction patterns between subunits
Impression Management
• Behaviors individuals use to…
– Preserve their self-image
– Influence the ways in
which others perceive them
– Create a favorable impression
with important others in the
workplace
Impression Management Tactics
•
•
•
•
•
Self-Presentation
Smiling
Making eye contact
Positive tone of voice
Appropriate dress
High level of energy
Other-Enhancement
 Doing favors for others
 Using flattery
 Showing interest in
others
 Being an active listener
 Agreeing with others’
opinions
Playing Politics
• Political games
–
–
–
–
–
–
Insurgency
Counter-insurgency
Sponsorship
Coalition-building
Line versus staff
Whistle-blowing
Ethics, Power, and Politics
Managers confront ethical dilemmas
in their jobs because they frequently
use power and politics to accomplish
their goals.
Each manager, therefore, has an
ethical responsibility.
Ethics, Power, and Politics
• A manager’s behavior must satisfy certain criteria to be
considered ethical
– Utilitarian Outcomes
– Individual Rights
– Distributive Justice
Ethics, Power, and Politics
• Utilitarian Outcomes
– The manager’s behavior results in the optimal satisfaction of
people both inside and outside the organization
– It results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people
Ethics, Power, and Politics
• Individual Rights
– The manager’s behavior respects the basic human rights of all
affected parties
•
•
•
•
•
Free consent
Free speech
Freedom of conscience
Privacy
Due process
Ethics, Power, and Politics
• Distributive Justice
– The manager’s behavior respects the rules of justice
– It treats people equitable and fairly,
not arbitrarily