CHAPTER 6
POWER AND POLITICS
Power
• Underlines the managers’ effectiveness; is
essential to managers
• Power is the ability to change the
behavior of others.
• Power vs authority and influence:
– Authority: the right to try to change or
direct others; notion of legitimacy
– Influence: More subtle; less reliable; weaker
Kelman’s Theory of Influence
• Three reasons why people give in to
others’ attempts to influence them:
– Compliance: behavior results in rewards or
avoidance of punishment
– Identification: the desire to maintain a
personally satisfying relationship
– Internalization: the belief that the behavior
is consistent with ones own values
French & Raven’s Five Bases of
Power
• Five “sources” from which power is
derived:
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–
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Reward power
Coercive power
Legitimate power
Referent power
Expert power
Reward Power
• The ability to determine receives rewards
• Occurs when managers/supervisors have
ability to administer both intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards
• Gives managers the potential to obtain
desired behaviors
Coercive Power
• The ability to produce fear in others
• Based upon threat of punishment
• Managers are sometimes expected to be
coercive
• Care must be exercised
– Turnover
– Retaliation
– Lowered morale and/or productivity
Legitimate Power
• The willingness of others to accept an
individual’s direction
• Two sources:
– Social conditioning
– Designation
• Requires acceptance
Referent Power
• Possessed by people with attractive
personalities or other special qualities
• Vigor and appearance of success
important
• People want to be like them
• People identify with the qualities of an
attractive individual
Expert Power
• Possessed by those who are perceived as
knowledgeable or talented in a given area
• People are likely to follow those who are
seen as having expertise, e.g. physician,
coach
• Does not necessarily correspond with
legitimate power based upon
organizational hierarchy
Informal vs. Formal Power
• Informal Power bases (expert & referent)
– reside in characteristics of the individual
– important for satisfaction & performance
• Formal power bases (legitimate, reward,
coercive)
– based upon position in social organization
– have strong impact on immediate behavior
Politics
• Politics is “power and influence in
action”
• Politics may be regarded in a negative
light
• Political processes are actually neutral, as
is power
• We are all political beings
Political Tactics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ingratiating behavior
Impression management
Information management
Forming coalitions and networks
Promoting the opposition
Pursue line responsibility
Devious Political Tactics
• Take no prisoners
• Divide and conquer
• Exclude the opposition
Machiavellianism
• The belief that humans are weak,
gullible, easily manipulated
• The belief that humans are inherently
lazy and untrustworthy
• It is therefore rational to manipulate
people to achieve ones own ends
Machiavellians
• socially domineering, manipulative and
have a preference for political behaviors
• able to control their social interactions
effectively manipulate others, and are
very effective in face-to-face meetings
• positively correlated with occupational
attainment for those with above average
education - negatively correlated for
those with below average education
Consequences of Using
Influence Tactics
• Four influence styles are used by people:
– Shotguns: refuse to take no for an answer
and use all tactics to get what they want (e.g.
coalitions, reason, bargaining, assertiveness)
– Tacticians: influence others through reason
and logic
– Ingratiators: rely on ingratiation and
flattery
– Bystanders: watch the action rather than
attempt to influence
Consequences of Using
Influence Tactics (cont.)
• Those with shotgun style of influencing
received lower performance evaluations
• For males, male supervisors gave the highest
rating to Tacticians,
• For females, male supervisors gave the
highest ratings to Ingratiators and
Bystanders
• Tacticians earned highest salaries, followed
by Bystanders, Shotguns, and Ingratiators