1. Power, Politics and Organization Development

2. Introduction
Organizational Development has been criticized for not taking into account power in organizations. That criticism was essentially correct for many years although it is less valid today. Recent years have seen a sizable outpouring of theory and research on power and politics from which OD practitioners have derived implications and applications for the field of OD. But we are still in the early stages of knowing how power and organization development should be related.

3. Power defined and explored.
“ Power is the intentional influence over the beliefs, emotions, and behaviors of people. Potential power is the capacity to do so, but kinetic power is the act of doing so……..One person exerts power over another to the degree that he is able to exact compliance as desired.”
“ A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would otherwise not do.”
Power is “the ability of those who possess power to bring about the outcomes they desire.”

4. Two faces of Power Positive Face:
A socialized need to initiate, influence, and lead.
It helps to empower self and others.
Enables others to reach their goals as well as lets the person exercising power reach his or her goals.

5. Negative Face:
David McClelland observed that power has a negative connotation for most people.
It is characterized by a primitive, unsocialzed need to dominate others.
It seeks to dominate and control others.

6. Sources of Social Power : Some Theories
Power exists in virtually all social situations. It is especially salient in coordinated activities such as those found in organizations. In fact, for organizations to function, an authority or power dimension is required.
Power dependence theory states that power is inherent in any social relationship in which one person is dependant on another.

7. The sociologist Richard Emerson states that “ dependence of Actor A upon Actor B is (1) directly proportional to A’s motivational investment in the goals mediated by B, and (2) inversely proportional to the availability of those goals to A outside of the A-B relationship.

8. Bases of social power – John R.P.French & Betram Raven
Reward Power
Coercive Power
Legitimate Power
Referent Power
Expert power

9. Organizational Politics: Defined and Explored
Organizational politics involve those activities taken within organizations to acquire, develop and use power and other resources to obtain one’s preferred outcomes in a situation in which there is uncertainty.
It involves intentional acts of influence to enhance or protect the self-interest of individuals or groups.

10. Organizational politics is the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization or to obtain ends through non-sanctioned influence means.
We view politics as a subset of power, treating it………..as informal power.

11. Two faces of politics Negative face:
It is an extreme pursuit of self-interest;
A tendency to view situations in win-lose terms – what I win, you must lose – rather than win–win terms.
Positive face:
A balanced pursuit of self-interest and the interest of others.
Engaging in open problem solving followed by action and influencing.

12. Also
Organizational politics tends to be associated with decision-making, resource allocation, and conflict resolution processes.
When conflict exists, power and politics behavior are likely to result if any two additional features are present.

13. As Pfeffer states:
Together the conditions of scarcity, interdependence, and heterogeneous goals and beliefs about technology produce conflict. The first condition is the importance of the decision issue or the resource.

14. Game Theory
It views conflict as a critical condition leading to power and political behavior. In conflict of interest, different parties prefer different goals. In conflict or competition for scarce resources, different parties want the same resources but both parties cannot possess them.
These concepts from game theory apply to political processes in organizations. The sources of conflict are competition for scarce resources and conflict over incompatible goals and means to goals. A key factor is the nature of the payoff to all parties- what they stand to win or lose. Positive outcomes for both parties can often be enhanced through a two-phase bargaining process in which integrative bargaining precedes distributive bargaining.

15. Role of power and politics in the practice of OD
OD was founded on the belief that using behavioral science method to increase collaborative problem solving would increase both organizational effectiveness and individual well-being.

16. Operating in a political environment
Michael Beer has identified additional means by which an OD group can gain and wield power in the organizations:
Competence
Political access and sensitivity
Sponsorship
Stature and credibility
Resource Management
Group Support

17. Several rules of thumb to operate
Become a desired commodity, both as a person and a professional.
Make the OD program itself a desired program.
Make the OD program a valued commodity for multiple powerful people in the organization.
Create Win-Win solutions.

18. Mind your own business, which is to help someone else solve his or her problems.
Mind your own business, which is to be an expert on process, not content Organizational politics revolve around decisions.
Mind your own business because to do otherwise is to invite political troubles.

19. Four stage model
For using OD process to help the power elite transform the organization in ways beneficial for all concerned.
Phase 1: Consolidating Power to prepare for change
Phase 2: Focusing Power on strategic consensus
Phase 3: Aligning power with structure and people
Phase 4: Releasing Power through leadership and collaboration.