ORGANIZATIONAL POWER AND POLITICS In one sense, influence, power, and politics are similar, because all three

involve getting others to do something. There are, however, some important differences among them. Power y y y the use of some aspects of a work relationship to compel another to perform a certain action despite resistance capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others is not the act of changing others attitudes or behaviour; it is only the potential to do so

The most basic prerequisite of power is that one person or group believes it is dependent on another person or group for something of value. This relationship is shown in Figure 1, where Person A has power over Person B by controlling something that Person b needs to achieve his or her goals. You might have power over others by controlling a desired job assignment, useful information, important resources, or even the privilege of being associated with you. Thus, power exists when others believe that you control resources that they want. FIGURE 1 Dependence in the power relationship Person A Counterpower Power Person B Person Bs goal

Figure 1 shows a dashed line to illustrate the weaker partys (Persons B) power over the dominant participant (Person A). Counterpower y capacity of a person , team or organization to keep a more powerful person or group in the exchange relationship

For example, executives have power over subordinates by controlling the ability to work productively and thereby creating a positive impression of the supervisor to his or her job. Counterpower usually motivates executives to apply their power judiciously, so that the relationship is not broken. Organizational Politics y y behaviours that others perceive as self-serving tactics for personal gain at the expense of other people and possibly the organization selfish use of power or influence to achieved desired goals

Functional political behavior

Organizations interests and goals

Individual employees interests and goals

Dysfunctional political behavior FIGURE 2 Political behavior: Concepts and Controversies Functional Politics y political behaviours that help the organization to attain its goals

Dysfunctional Politics y political behaviours that detract from the organizations ability to attain its goals

Figure 2 shows how political behaviour that operates in the individuals self-interest can sometimes overlap with the organizations goals. The political

behaviour that satisfies the goals of both is functional; the behaviour that satisfies the goals of the individual but not those of the organization is dysfunctional. Influence y the ability to use social forces to affect the behaviour of others

POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR INFLUENTIAL FACTORS The political behaviour of individuals in the organization is influence by variety of factors. These factors can be broadly categorised into individual and organizational factors. Individual Factors y individuals play politics to satisfy their personal needs (these personal or individuals needs are like to gain power for control and to influence decision-making process of the organization) aim of such individuals is to increase the area of their influence try to sustain power as it helps to obtain personal needs and fulfil desires in organizations, individuals play politics as they have great desire and high need of gaining power (such types of individuals are basically internals and self monitored people)

y y y

Organizational Factors y Limited Resources in the organization

When there are limited resources in the organization then every individual in the organization wants to have optimum resources. It results in making individuals getting engaged themselves in politics to get the maximum advantage of the distribution of resources. y Interpretation of limited resources

The interpretation of limited resources like position, power, promotion etc in the organization makes individuals engage in the politics. The individual who craves for such resources feels that they may be deprived of such resources in the process of distribution of resources and so they play politics in the organization.

Uncertainty in decision-making

There are some individuals who take advantage of the situation where there is uncertainty and ambiguity in decision-making because of unclear rules and policies. y Performance evaluation

The individuals tend to play politics in the organization when performance evaluation and its outcome are subjective, qualitative and unclear. y High Performance pressure

The individuals play politics when they are enforced with high performance pressure. The politics playing in the organization becomes measure to pressurize authority to withdraw control and lower the performance target. y Decision-making culture

Democratic and participative decision-making culture of the organisation is also liable to organisational politics as every individual wants to enhance his/ her importance and thereafter give opinion on crucial and important matters y Affecting lower level persons

The lower level persons get affected when they experience persons at higher level playing politics.

EMPOWERMENT y y process by which organizational members can increase their sense of power and personal control in the work setting a psychological concept in which people experience more selfdetermination, meaning, competence, and impact regarding their role in the organization

FIGURE 3 Manager

Workers

Subordinates

Workers can be empowered by managers or other persons in authority positions, or by increasing important work-related skills or responsibilities. While a manager can empower subordinates by giving them some decision making power or assigning some legitimate power, workers can also be empowered when conditions in the work environment that make them feel powerless are removed. Psychological concept represented by four dimensions: y Self-determination

Empowered employees experience self-determination, which consists of freedom, interdependence, and discretion over their work activities y Meaning

Employees who feel empowered care about their work and believe that what they do is important y Competence

Empowered people have feeling of self-efficacy, meaning that they are confident about their ability to perform the work well and have a capacity to grow with new challenges. y Impact

Empowered employees view themselves as active participants in the organization; that is, their decisions and actions have an influence on the companys success.

ETHICS OF POWER AND POLITICS Ethics y study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad

Politics y y y a process by which groups of people make collective decisions art or science of running governmental or state affairs refers to the regulation of public affairs within a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy

Four Ethical Principles y Utilitarianism

Advises us to seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This is sometimes known as consequential principle because it focuses on the consequences of our actions, not on how we achieve those consequences. y Individual rights

Reflect the belief that everyone has entitlements that let them act in a certain way. Some of the most widely cited rights are freedom of movement, physical security, freedom of speech, fair trial, and freedom for torture. For example, access to education and knowledge isnt a legal requirement everywhere, but most of us believe that it is a human right. y Distributive justice

Suggests that people who are similar in relevant ways should reach similar benefits and burdens; those who are dissimilar should receive different benefits and burdens in proportion to their dissimilarity. For example, we expect that two employees who contribute equally in their work should receive similar rewards, whereas those who make a lesser distribution should receive less.

Care

States that morally correct action is one that expresses care in protecting the special relationships that individuals have with each other. Whereas distributive justice emphasizes impartiality, the care principle emphasizes partiality favoring those with whom we have special relationships.

CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION Conflict y y behaviour by a person or group intended to inhibit the attainment of goals by another person or group process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party

Negotiation y occurs whenever two or more conflicting parties attempt to resolve their divergent goals by redefining the terms of their interdependence

SOURCES OF CONFLICT FIGURE 4

Communication problems

Incompatible goals

Ambiguous rules

SOURCES of CONFLICT

Different values and beliefs

Scarce resources

Task Interdependence

Incompatible goals

A common source of conflict. It occurs when personal or work goals seem to interfere with another persons or departments goals. y Differentiation

Cultural diversity makes it difficult to understand or accept beliefs and values that other people hold toward organizational decisions and events. y Task interdependence

Conflict tends to increase with the level of task interdependence. It exists when team members must share common inputs to their individual tasks, need to interact in the process of executing their work, or receive outcomes (rewards) that are partly determined by the performance of others. The higher the level of task interdependence, the greater risk of conflict, because there is a greater chance that each side will disrupt or interfere with the other sides goals. y Scarce resources

It generates conflict because scarcity motivates people to compete with others who also need those resources to achieve their objectives. y Ambiguous rules (Complete lack of rules)

This occurs because uncertainty increases the risk that one party intends to interfere with the other partys goals. It also encourages political tactics and, in some cases, employees enter a free-for-all battle to win decisions in their favour. y Communication problems

Conflict often occurs due to lack of opportunity, ability, or motivation to communicate effectively. Ineffective communication can lead to a less motivation to communicate in the future. The lack of motivation to communicate also explains why conflict is more common in cross-cultural relationships. People tend to feel uncomfortable or awkward interacting with co-workers from different cultures, so they are less motivated to engage in dialogue with them.

HISTORY OF CONFLICT Conflict was first described in ancient Greek literature as the agon, or central contest in tragedy. According to Aristotle, in order to hold the interest, the hero must have a single conflict. The agon, or act of conflict, involves the protagonist (the "first fighter") and the antagonist (a more recent term), corresponding to the hero and villain. Even in contemporary, non-dramatic literature, critics have observed that the agon is the central unit of the plot. The easier it is for the protagonist to triumph, the less value there is in the drama. Similarly, when godlike characters enter (e.g. Superman), correspondingly great villains have to be created, or natural weaknesses have to be invented, to allow the narrative to have drama. Alternatively, scenarios could be devised in which the character's godlike powers are constrained by some sort of code, or their respective antagonist.

TYPES OF CONFLICT There are four types of organizational conflict. According to Mervin Kohn, they are as follows: y Issue conflict

It is usually a disagreement between two or more groups arising from differences in organizational viewpoint. y Interpersonal

This conflict between two individuals is based on personal differences. It may originate as an issue conflict and develop into personality clash. y Role conflict This occurs when an individual faces pressures from several resources. y Intrapersonal

In this situation, an individuals values and beliefs are incompatible with its actions.

REFERENCES:

Websites y http://madameve.co.za/cartoons/me000914.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)

http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/73866-Factors-influencingpolitical-behavior.aspx

Books y Organizational behaviour Authors : Steven L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow

Introduction to Industrial / Organizational Psychology Author : Ronald E. Riggio

Human Behavior in Organizations: A multi-disciplinary approach Author : Jose P. Leveriza

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