1. Chapter 12 Power and Politics
Essentials of
Organizational Behavior, Global Edition
12e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 12
Power and Politics

2. KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS
POWER and it’s two parts Potential Dependency BASES OF POWER Formal Coercive, Reward, Legitimate Personal Expert and Referent

3. KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS
POWER TACTICS and EFFECTIVENESS Upward, downward and lateral influence COALITIONS PROBLEM OF UNEQUAL POWER POLITICAL BEHAVIOR “POLITICKING”

4. After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
Define power and contrast leadership and power.
Contrast the five bases of power, divided into formal & personal power
Identify nine power or influence tactics and their contingencies.
Identify the causes and consequences of political behavior.
Show the influence of culture on the uses and perceptions of politics.

5. Power Two Facets or Parts: Potential:
Power: The capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes.
Two Facets or Parts:
Potential:
Power – can be used but does not need to be shown to be effective
Dependency:
The greater someone wants or desires something the greater the dependency on the person with power. Example of college degree in book.
Power refers to the capacity one person has over the other person to get the individual to do something. Inherent in this definition is the idea of dependency. The stronger the relationship or the dependency that one person has when the other possesses something they want or requires, the greater the dependency on that person.

6. Contrasting Leadership and Power
Differences
Leadership
Power
Goal Compatibility
Requires goal unity or oneness
Only needs dependence
Direction of Influence
Focuses on downward influence
Concerned with influence in all directions
Research Emphasis
Emphasizes leadership style
Broader topic: focuses on tactics used by individuals and groups
Leadership and power are two different concepts and need to be defined separately. Leadership is focusing on goal achievement along with followers. Power is used as a way to accomplish the goal and often followers are also means to accomplish the goal. Leadership will focus on using leadership downward to influence others to help them achieve their tasks, whereas power uses influence to gain something upward or laterally.

7. Two Main Bases of Power Formal Power Coercive Power Reward Power
Legitimate Power
Personal Power
Expert Power
Referent Power
Let’s look at these!
There are two main bases of power, formal and personal. Formal power is defined more by the position a person will hold in the organization. People with formal power can utilize different power bases to accomplish their tasks. The first is coercive power where employees fear negative consequences if they don’t do what they are told. Reward power is the ability to distribute rewards that others see as valuable encouraging them to accomplish the goals or tasks to get the reward. The last base is legitimate power where the formal authority to control and use resources is then based on the person’s position in the formal hierarchy.

8. Formal Power
Power based on an individual’s position in an organization.
Coercive (forcing) or threat Power
React to power out of fear of the negative results
Reward Power
Desire for positive benefits
Legitimate Power
From the formal authority to control. SIAS gives me this kind of power as a teacher.
There are two main bases of power, formal and personal. Formal power is defined more by the position a person will hold in the organization. People with formal power can utilize different power bases to accomplish their tasks. The first is coercive power where employees fear negative consequences if they don’t do what they are told. Reward power is the ability to distribute rewards that others see as valuable encouraging them to accomplish the goals or tasks to get the reward. The last base is legitimate power where the formal authority to control and use resources is then based on the person’s position in the formal hierarchy.

9. Personal Bases of Power
Power from an individual’s unique characteristics
Expert: Influence shown as a result of expertise, special skill, or knowledge
Referent: Based on identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits
Charisma (charm)
The second major form of power is personal power which comes through the individual’s personality and characteristics. This is often more effective than formal power. Personal power can be based on expert power, or the individual’s special skills or knowledge. It can also be based in referent power, or the personal traits or resources he or she offers to others.

10. Effective Power Bases
Expert and referent power are positively related to performance and commitment
Reward and legitimate power are unrelated to organizational outcomes
Coercive power is negatively related to employee satisfaction and commitment
Expert and referent power tend to be more effective when goals are related to performance and commitment. However, reward and legitimate power do not seem related to organizational outcomes.
We have seen that coercive power tends to be negatively related to work outcomes such as employee satisfaction and commitment.

11. Power Tactics
Power tactics: Used to turn power bases into specific actions that influence others
Some are more effective than others
There are a number of power tactics an individual can use or ways in which they can make the power base work for them by moving people into specific actions. Some are more effective than others.

12. Nine Influence Tactics (12-1)
Legitimacy – given
(lateral/downward influence)
Pressure - least effective
(downward influence)
3. Rational persuasion – effective (up, down, & lateral influence)
This slide exhibits 9 major power or influence tactics. They are legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation, pressure and coalitions.

13. Nine Influence Tactics
4. Coalitions (lateral influence) 5. Inspirational appeals – effective (downward influence) 6. Consultation (downward and lateral influence)
This slide exhibits 9 major power or influence tactics. They are legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation, pressure and coalitions.

14. Nine Influence Tactics
7. Exchange
(downward & lateral
influence)
8. Personal appeals
(lateral influence)
9. Ingratiation – using friendly behavior to make a request
(downward & lateral influence)
This slide exhibits 9 major power or influence tactics. They are legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation, pressure and coalitions.

15. Effectiveness of Power Tactics
Rational persuasion, inspirational appeals and consultation are most effective
Pressure is least effective
Using more than one tactic at the same time or sequentially increases chance of success
“Softer” tactics work better than “harder” tactics

16. COALITIONS 联盟 (Liánméng)
An informal group bound together by the active pursuit of a single issue
Coalitions in organization often seek to maximize their size
More coalitions will likely be created when there is a great deal of task and resource interdependence
The more routine the task of a group, the greater likelihood that coalitions will form

17. Global Implications Culture affects preference for power tactics
Individualistic cultures
See power in personalized terms and as a legitimate means of advancing personal ends
Engage in more self-promotion behaviors
Collectivistic cultures
See power in social terms and as legitimate means of helping others
Coalitions are more common in China
An individual’s culture influences preferences for power tactics. Individualistic cultures view power in personalized terms, and see it as a legitimate means of advancing personal ends, while those in collectivistic cultures view power in social terms and as a legitimate means of helping others.

18. POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
Activities that are not required as part of one’s formal role in the organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization

19. The Reality of Politics
Politics arise in organizations because of
Conflicting interests
Limited resources
Ambiguity (not clear) in decision making
Politicking: Twisting facts to support one’s own goals and interests
Politics often occurs when resources are low, the excess demand for the resources leads to competition and political behaviors. When the scarce resources are distributed there will be varying views regarding how “fairly” or “effectively” the distribution was done. Perceptions can be distorted such that the manager feels he is documenting decisions and the employee just feels that the manager is covering his rear.
Most of the time, managers are making decisions under ambiguous conditions and there is not a readily available objective standard. This creates a context in which political maneuvering is encouraged.

20. Legitimacy (Gives support) of Political Behaviors
Legitimate
Normal everyday politics – complaining
Illegitimate
“Hardball” activities such as sabotage, whistle-blowing, and symbolic protests
Political behavior can take the form of legitimate or illegitimate behavior. Legitimate political behavior is everyday normal politics such as complaining, bypassing or obstructing. Illegitimate political behavior is more extreme and violates the implied rules of the game such as sabotage, whistle blowing and symbolic protest which includes things such as wearing protest buttons or calling in sick as a group.

21. INDIVIDUAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
High need for power
Large investment in
the organization
More job alternatives
High expectations of success

22. Organizational Factors Contributing to Political Behavior
Opportunity for promotion exists
Organizational culture issues
Low trust
Roles not clear
High performance pressures
Leading by poor example
As well as organizational factors such as a culture of low trust and role ambiguity. The combination of these factors will lead to political behavior which can lead to favorable outcomes such as increased rewards or decreased punishments.

23. Responses to Organizational Politics
For those unwilling to play, or with modest political skills, the outcomes are negative
Decreased job satisfaction
Increased anxiety and stress
Increased turnover and poor performance
Most employees will not engage in a high level of politics and often react negatively to politics. Their reactions include decreased job satisfaction, increased anxiety and stress, increased turnover and a reduction in performance. Even though the given outcome for the individual employee who engages in politics may be favorable, it is often a negative impact for the group as a whole.

24. Implications for Managers
Power can be increased by:
Increasing the dependence of others
Gaining unique knowledge or skills
Minimizing one’s own dependence
Acquiring useful bases of power
Using effective power tactics
Avoiding coercion (force)
Politics are a natural part of any organization. As a manager it is important to have a healthy understanding of how politics work and how you will utilize them yourself. The best way to increase your power is to have others depend on you more and need what you are offering. Expert (knowledge) and referent (relationships) power are far more effective than tactics such as coercion and lead to better workplace outcomes.
There are benefits to politics in the workplace but when engaged at a very high level it can be damaging in the long run.

25. Keep in Mind…
Informal, expert, and referent power are the most important
Use consultation and inspirational appeals
It is important to keep in mind that power is a reality in the workplace and informal, expert, and referent power tend to be the most important. If managers want to use power effectively they need to use consultation and inspirational appeals. Impression management effectiveness is very much dependent on the context in its effectiveness.

26. Summary Defined power and contrasted leadership and power.
Contrasted the five bases of power.
Identified nine power or influence tactics and their contingencies.
Identified the causes and consequences of political behavior.
Showed the influence of culture on the uses and perceptions of politics.

27. Group Activity –Power & Politics
LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE PICTURE YOU ARE SHOWN
ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PICTURE
DISCUSS THE PICTURE WITH YOUR TEAM AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN WRITING
1. What represents power in the picture
2. What represents politics in the picture
3. What represents power and politics in the picture
4. What does your team think the picture is saying?

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