By: CHUOP Theot Therith MBA, BIT, DPA. Power and Politics By: CHUOP Theot Therith MBA, BIT, DPA.

Power A Definition of Power: It is a capacity that a person has to influence the behavior of another person. Contrasting leadership and power: Leaders achieve goals, and power is means of facilitating their achievement.

What differences are there between the two terms? Power Leadership - 1st difference ( relates to goal compatibility Power does not require goal compatibility, merely dependence. Require some congruence between the goal of the leader and those being led. - 2nd difference ( relates to the direction of influence) Power does not. Still another difference deals with research emphasis. Focus on the downward influence on one’s followers. It minimizes the importance of lateral and upward influence patterns.

Influence based on special skills or knowledge Bases of Power Formal Power Personal Power 1.Coercive Power 2. Reward Power 3. Legitimate Power 4. Information Power 1. Expert Power 2.Referent Power 3. Charismatic Power A power base dependent on fear Compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that other view as valuable. Influence based on possession by an individual of desirable resources or personal traits. The power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization An extension of referent power stemming from an individual’s personality and interpersonal style Power that comes from access to and control over information

Why power? The term of “Power” is misunderstood and used in wrong ways: as autocratic as absolute power make corruption forcing others

Why Power? (con’t) In fact, power provides advantages as following: Is a means of facilitating our achievement Ensure to control things and staff activities To lead org. etc. So, how to get Power? Create dependency

What’s dependency? B’s relationship to A when A possesses something that B requires. It’s called “B depend on A or A influent B”. i.e., - lecturer has power over student - the power that parent hold over their children

What creates Dependency? Important Scarcity Non-substitutability The thing (s) we control must be perceived as being important If something is plentiful, possession of it will not increase your power. A resource needs to be perceived as scarce to create dependency. The more that a resource as no viable substitutes, the more power that control over that resource provided

Relation between Power and Dependency Potential to Power Dependency Key to power Important Scarcity Nonsubstitution Important of power

Contrasting Legitimacy and Legality Legality is about the lawfulness of a rule. Legitimacy has to do with justification and being just and fair. Legitimacy Is political sentiment Legality Is juridical concept Regulation base/Depend on law Hierarchically respect General regulation… Respect to self issue regulation

Power and Tactics Research: 165 managers were asked how they influenced their bosses, co-workers. The results were summarized into seven tactical strategies: Reason. The use of facts and data to make a logical or rational presentation of ideas. 2. Friendliness – Use of flattery, acting humble, being friendly before making a request. 3. Coalition – Getting the support of other people in the organization to back up the request.

4. Bargaining – Use of negotiations 5. Assertiveness – Use of a direct and forceful approach such as demanding compliance with requests, repeating reminders, pointing out that rules need compliance. 6. Higher authority. Gaining the support of higher levels in the organization to back up requests. 7. Sanctions – Use of rewards and punishment such as salary increase or withholding a promotion Researches found that the most popular strategy was the use of reason regardless whether the influence was directed upward or downward.

Sexual Harassment – Any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individual’s employment. This includes unwanted physical touching, recurring requests for dates when the person is not interested, threatening that a person will lose his job if he/she refuses and sexual proposition. Most research confirm that power is the center of sexual harassment.. The formal power gives the supervisor capacity to reward and coerce. Supervisor give their employees their assignments, evaluate their performance, make recommendation for salary adjustment and promotion, and even decide whether the employee will be retained or not. In this job, supervisor control them. Sexual harassment is about power. It’s about an individual controlling another individual. It’s wrong.

Politics – Power in action When employees in an organization convert their power to action, they are engaged in politics. This is the use of power to affect the decision making in the organization. In OB, political behavior in organization refers to activities that are not required as part of one’s formal role in the organization, but that influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization. The political behavior is outside specified job requirements. Example: • Withholding key information from decision makers • Joining a coalition • Leaking confidential information about organizational activities to media • Exchanging favors with others for benefit

The Reality of politics Politics is a fact of life in organization. Is it possible for an organization to be politics free? It’s possible but most unlikely. Organizations are made up of individuals and groups with different values, goals, interests. This sets up potential for conflict. Department budget, space allocation, salary adjustment are some examples. Resources are limited and so this can cause conflict. .These can create competition among members of organization. The problem sometimes is the way the facts that are used to allocate the limited resources are open to interpretation. Ex: What is good performance? What is an unsatisfactory job?

Conclusion If you want to get things done in a group or organization, it help you have power. As a manager who wants to maximize your power you will want to increase other dependence on you. Moreover, the effective manager accept the political nature of organizations. By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can better predict the actions of other and use information to formulate political strategies that will gain advantages for you and your work unit.

Thanks for your attention! Q & A