Governing with Power and
Perspective
AN OVERVIEW OF GOVERNANCE,
STRUCTURE, POLITICS AND
LEADERSHIP
Very Big Picture of Governance
Multi-Level Thinking
Ferguson “Civilization- The West and Rest”
• Civilizations – Largest single unit of human
organization
– Consisting of Institutions – Which set norms,
keep a culture honest, determine good
behavior rather than bad
• Consist of organizations – Which help with sense
making for individuals, protection from external,
and accomplishment of what one cannot do alone.
Distinguishing Characteristics of a
Lasting Civilization- Ferguson
• Extracted Elements:
– Science – understanding the changing world
– Medicine – major improvement in health and
life expectancy
– Consumer Society- Consumption of items
involved in material living
– Work Ethic- moral framework viewing a
positive human activity
What is governance at the
organizational level?
A Working Definitions
• “….how we distribute power, and privilege,
and the control of money (Block)”
Governance Works When • Governance acts as a “safeguard for the
greater good, a way to deal with an
illegitimate leader who has risen to power
through the backdoor. (Wergin)”
Organizational Structure
• At some level it is about control
– The challenge is to answer questions such as:
• What is control?
• Why do we need it?
• Is control incompatible with involvement?
A Framework to help understand the case for Dyad
Leadership and a “One Sutter” Culture
• Structure rests on the degree of participation in
the decision-making process. All parties
recognize that with participation comes
ownership, enthusiasm, commitment, and a
greater chance that decisions accurately reflect
administrative and organizational (modified)
realities. (Rowley & Sherman)
Litmus Test
• Ownership and responsibility are felt
strongly at every level – from bottom to
top. (Block)
How Can We Make It Happen?
New Ways to Think about Control, Thinking, Designing,
Relationships, Conflict and Coming Together
Control in an authoritarian organization
tend to:
•
•
•
•
Rely on fear
Control information flow
Encourage close supervision
Use money to gain compliance. If that fails bring out the
stick
• Be overly rational by:
– Being rule centric, using detailed plans, designing
complex organizational charts, creating unnecessary
hierarchies and reporting relationship, relying heavy
on procedures over good judgment and core values,
and having goals imposed from on high
A different view of control
• Control is a by-product of everything that the
organization does. (structures that integrate thinking and
doing, places people in accountable relationships with
their primary accountability being service to the
organization)
• Policies, reviews, approvals and disciplinary systems are
in place to stabilize organization not to create matrix
thinking (Check the box)
• Processes and systems that allow for organizational
learning
• Organization becomes a bundle of partnerships
Governance at the job level
Job Characteristics Model
Core Job
Dimensions
Skill Variety
Task Identity
Critical
Psychological
States
Experience
Meaningfulness
of Work
Task Significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Experience
Responsibility for
Outcomes of Work
Knowledge of
Actual Results of
Work Activities
Personal
& Work
Outcomes
High Internal
Work Motivation
High-quality
Work Performance
High Satisfaction
with Work
Low Absenteeism
& Turnover
Thinking differently about organizations, the
people who work in them and how we shall lead
Remember at some level it is about
control
• The challenge is to answer questions such
as:
– What is control?
– Why do we need it?
– Is control incompatible with involvement?
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
FIRST LOOK
Plato
“Those who think they are
too smart, too competent, too
ethical, too good looking to
engage in politics will be
governed by those who are
dumber, incompetent,
unethical and far less better
looking.” (Loosely translated
by Jerry Estenson)
Political Behavior In
Organizations
Organizational Politics are informal,
unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts
to sell ideas, influence an organization, increase
power or achieve other targeted objectives.
(Brandon & Selman)
Political Behavior – actions not officially
sanctioned by an organization that are taken to
influence others in order to meet one’s personal
goals
Conditions Encouraging
Dysfunctional Political Activity
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Unclear goals and metrics
Autocratic decision making
Ambiguous lines of authority
Scarce resources
Uncertainty
Lack of role clarity
Unrealistic performance
expectations
Significant Tools to Use in the Political
Arena
Consultation
Inspirational appeals
Rational persuasion
Ingratiation
Coalition
Exchange tactics
Upward appeals
Pressure
Personal Appeals
Legitimate
Upward Influence:
the boss
Lateral Influence:
a coworker
Downward Influence:
an employee
Putting The Piece Together:
Work That Political Side Of Your Project: Look at
stakeholders impacted by your proposal.
• Step one: Locate the decision you are making or change
suggested in the center of a chart
• Step Two: Create a space for each stakeholder that will be
effected by the decision or change
• Step Three: Determine the degree of power this stakeholder
has to influence the outcome of your decision or change
initiative. Use a scale to measure intensity
• Step Four: From that node determine the source of their
power (and individual, access to information …..) determine
the amount of influence they have on your stakeholder. Use
a scale.
• Step Five: Determine the stakeholder’s agenda. In
looking at agenda determine what is influencing the
agenda (fear, loss of status, true believer in cause……)
• Step Six: Determine which influence strategies or tactics
you can utilize to help change stakeholder’s agenda.
Power Map
Access to
Patient
Power
Factor
4
Agenda
Status
Quo
Source of
Power
Stakeholder
Physicians
Power Factor
5
Change a Policy
Financial
Loss
Status
Influence
Tool
Security