Chapter 15
POWER, INFLUENCE AND
POLITICS
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Definitions
• Power - the capacity to get others to behave in desired
ways
• Influence - the process by which others are induced to
behave in desired ways
• Conformity - the act of changing one’s behaviour to
match the responses of others
• Compliance - the acquiescence to an explicit or
implicit request
• Obedience - a form of compliance- the acquiescence
to demands made by a person with authority
• Authority - the legitimate power vested in managers
based on their position and role in an organization
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Sources of social power in
organizations
French and Raven (1968) and Raven (1993) - sources of power
within a social context:
• Reward power
• Coercive power
• Legitimate power
• Expert power
• Information as power
• Referent power
Handy (1993) - a sixth form of power:
• Negative power
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Sources of subunit power in
organizations
• Structural and dependency-based sources of power:
• Ability to control or manage uncertainty
• Ability to generate or control resources
• Irreplacability and non-substituability
• Centrality in information flow and transformation processes
• Cultural power
• Unobtrusive power - exercised by those groups who have the
ability to influence the way in which issues, problems and
opportunities are interpreted and considered
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
The manipulation cycle - A model of
managerial fairness activities over time
Figure 15.1
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Influence tactics (1)
Specific interaction patterns used by agents to bring about the target’s
compliance with a particular request:
• Rationality – using logic to gain compliance
• Exchange – offering incentives for compliance
• Ingratiation – praising and flattering target to induce positive
emotional disposition
• Assertiveness – using frequent demands, reminders, checks, or
even threats to gain compliance
• Coalition – enlisting third parties to exert pressure or to show broad
support for request
• Upward appeal – obtain approval and support from authority to
sway target
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Influence tactics (2)
• Consultation – using participation to gain commitment from target
• Inspirational appeal – call on values and ideals to sway target
• Personal appeal – using personal relationship to gain commitment
• Legitimating – using rules, norms, policies, or other sources
• Collaboration – using involvement and interdependent work in
pursuit of the objective behind the request
• Apprising – pointing out the benefits for the target from agreeing
• Self-promotion – creating an appearance of competence that the
agent is capable of successfully completing the task
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Influence mechanisms
• Actions and interaction patterns that prompt automatic response
patterns which increase the likelihood of acquiescence with
influencing attempts
• Cialdini (2008) Identifies six central influence mechanisms:
• Reciprocity. Based on the social exchange norms
• Consistency and commitment
• Social proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Traditional perspectives on power
Generally based on the existence of three features:
– Humans have needs, wants and desires that can only be met
by the individual engaging with an organization
– The existence of resources through which these needs and
wants can be met
– The existence of a manager acting as the go-between in
facilitating the ‘deal’ between the individual and the organization
and subsequently managing its realization in practice
– Pfeffer (1992) argues that power is a commodity for managers
and that political activity is the means through which it is
obtained and traded
– Lower level employees can also gain and exercise power in a
number of ways
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Foucault and power
Power is a condition that exists in society as a whole
Power in this context uses discourse (language) to create the rules which in turn
creates and classifies the knowledge and social practice in particular ways
In organizations this allows the compartmentalisation and hierarchical framework to be
perpetuated as legitimate
Boundaries around the things that we see, understand and take for granted are in fact
artificial and socially created
We are effectively socialized into seeing and understanding the world in which we live
through the discourses that we experience and these are a reflection of the distribution
of power as it exists in society
O’Neill (1986) describes organizations as - places where the system can project its
conception of the disciplinary society in the reformed criminal, the good worker, student,
loyal soldier and committed citizen – the outcome of power
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Labour process theory and Lukes’
view on power
Labour process theory: originated from the Marxist tradition - ‘the means by
which raw materials are transformed by human labour, acting on the objects
with tools and machinery first into products for use and, under
capitalism, into commodities to be exchanged on the market’
Manufacture of consent
Lukes (1982) - three dimensional model:
First dimension - reflects the nature of power as described in literature
Second dimension - the agenda
Third dimension - concepts of hegemony, incorporation, dependency and
inaction underpin authority
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Politics within organizations
Early work (Renaissance Italy) - Machiavelli – The prince
The negative view of politics imposes a definition that considers it to
be outside normal practice used to enhance existing power or to offset
the power of another, with the purpose of achieving self-serving goals
The more positive view regards it as an inevitable part of the need for
individuals
and groups to function in a collective context
Most managers recognize that politics contains elements of both good
and bad and that it can be an important, indeed inevitable part of the
experience of work
Political behaviour - deliberately designed social-influence processes
that aim at covertly or overtly advancing the actor’s self-interest
regardless of its alignment with other parties’ interests
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Political behaviour
Figure 15.2
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Perceptions about politics among
managers
Table 15.1
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Political behaviour
Figure 15.3
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Political strategies
• Offensive
strategies - attacking behaviours intended to
produce advantages over others
• Defensive strategies - are not intended to harm others
but are destined to prevent harm being done by them
• Neutral strategies - a stance that reflects an actively
protectionist approach to politics
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Political tactics
• Approaches that combine power
generation and influencing tactics in
concerted ways to orchestrate influence
attempts aimed at getting other people to
accept or take decisions, viewpoint or
courses of action favoured by the initiator
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Using political behaviour
• Control of information
• Control of communication channels
• Use of outside specialists
• Control over work and meeting agendas
• Game playing
• Impression and image management
• Creating coalitions
• Control over decision-making criteria
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Political tactics and techniques
Table 15.2
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
MANAGING POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR
Political skill - the ability to effectively understand others
at work, and to use such knowledge to influence
others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal
and/or organizational objectives - Ferris et al., 2005)
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Factors associated with increased
political behaviour in organizations
Table 15.3
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
The impact of individual political skill at
different levels of analysis in organizations
Figure 15.4
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Managing office politics
Table 15.4
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning