Power, Authority and Politics

What is Power? The ability to influence and control anything that is of value to others. The potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance and get to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do. What is Authority? The character of communication in a formal organization by virtue of which it is accepted by a contributor to or member of the organization as governing the action he contributes.

Types of Power: Coercive Power Reward Power Legitimate Power Expert Power Referent Power The Dependency Factor: As said earlier dependency is most important for possessing power. The level of dependency is based on these factors: Importance Scarcity Non-Substitutability

Power Vs Exchange Theory and Control The Exchange Theory views human behavior as an exchange process. Motivation is the outcome when an individual tries to bring about parity between the costs he incurs and the rewards he gets. Power has also been studied in conjunction with control. Although traditional OB theorists believed that power and control must be centralized. Behavioral theorist emphasized on decentralization. They felt that excessive centralization of power leads to power abuse.

Power Ploys These are techniques that a person uses to attain and retain power. Power ploys move in three directions: Upward Strategies: Here the person tries to impress his superiors and move up in the organization. Downward Strategies: Here the person tries to gain power over subordinates. Lateral Strategies: This is to gain power over peers. A person can gain power over his peers by impressing them with knowledge and personality.

What is Politics? Those activities that are not required as part of ones formal role in an organization, that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization. Factors Relating to Political Behavior Individual Factors: Personality traits Background Experiences Working environment

Conti
Organizational Factors: Scarce resources Ambiguity of goals Role ambiguity Performance appraisals and rewards Culture of organization Lack of mutual trust Pressure to perform Involvement of top management

Ethics of Power and Politics Certain guidelines that a person must consider when determining the ethics of a certain decision or action are: 1.Self interest vs. organizational interest 2.The rights of other parties 3.Conformity to standards of equity and justice

What is Control? "The process of monitoring activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned, and of correcting any deviations. Span of Control It refers to the number of employees that a manager can effectively and efficiently direct. The span of control is important to a large degree as it determines the number of levels and managers an organization has and requires.

Wider spans of control are more efficient in terms of costs. But at some point wider spans reduce effectiveness. Narrow span of control enables close control and can manage resources more effectively.

Centralized Control If the top management makes key decisions with little or no input from lowerlevel personnel the organization is centralized in it control. Decentralized Control When more inputs come from lower-level personnel for decision making process is more decentralized in nature.
Empowerment A principle of job design in which employees are delegated additional responsibility or authority.

Need for Control To adapt to environmental change To minimize variability of error Coping with environmental complexities Minimize costs Characteristics of a good control system Integrated with planning Accurate Timeliness Flexible Reasonable Easily understandable and acceptable Cost efficient Focused

Disadvantages of over-controlling Overlapping and duplication Retarded creativity Discouraged delegation Obscured costs Control as an end rather than as a mean

What is Organizational Climate? Organizational climate is a function of the physical environment of the organization, the culture within the organization.
What is Organizational Culture? A set of shared assumptions, beliefs and practices about people and work that defines the nature of the workplace and leads to common work habits and interaction patterns. It includes shared attitudes and values also.

What makes the organizational culture a strong one? The degree of consistency of beliefs, values, assumptions, and practice across organizational members
The pervasiveness (number) of consistent beliefs, values, assumptions, and practices. Therefore a strong culture was conceptualized as a coherent set of beliefs, values, assumptions, and practices embraced by most members of the organization.

Importance of Organizational Culture: Coordination and integration across organizational units. Product innovation. Strategy innovation. Process innovation and the ability to successfully introduce new technologies. Effective management of dispersed work units and increasing workforce diversity.

Cont
Cross-cultural management of global enterprises and/or multi-national partnerships. Construction of meta- or hybridcultures that merge aspects of cultures from what were distinct organizations prior to an acquisition or merger Management of workforce diversity Facilitation and support of teamwork.

Culture today must play a key role in promoting: Knowledge management Creativity Participative management Leadership Emerging Cultural Mandates The organization must be proactive, not just reactive. The organization must influence and manage the environment, not just adapt. The organization must be pragmatic, not idealistic.

Cont
The organization must be futureoriented, not predominantly present/past oriented. The organization must embrace diversity, not just uniformity. The organization must be relationshiporiented, not just task-oriented. The organization must embrace external connectivity, as well as promote internal integration.

Strategies for effecting cultural change include: Unfreezing the old culture and creating motivation to change Capitalizing on propitious moments problems, opportunities, changed circumstances, and/or accumulated excesses or deficiencies of the past Making the change target concrete and clear Maintaining some continuity with the past

Characteristics of Organizational
Cultures Collective Emotionally charged Historically based Inherently symbolic Dynamic Inherently fuzzy

What is Organizational Effectiveness? A measure of the extent to which an organization has fulfilled the aims and objectives - as reflected in project and program activity that an organization has set for itself. The ability of an organization to fulfill its mission through a blend of sound management, strong governance, and a persistent rededication to achieving results in areas like: Governance, Staff Development and Organizational Capacity, Operations Management and Leadership.

The Time Dimension of Organizational Effectiveness Involves: Meeting organizational objectives and prevailing societal expectations in the near future. Adapting to environmental demands and developing as a learning organization in the intermediate future. Surviving as an effective organization into the future.

Requirements of an effective organization: A suitable span of control A good organizational climate Effective leadership A balance of power A strong and positive culture.