12-1

10

Chapter

Power, Politics, and

Empowerment

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Power and Influence

12-2

Power the capability to get someone to

do something
It is the potential to influence

Influence the exercise of that capability

It is a transaction in which Person B is
induced by Person A to behave in a certain
way
It is power in action
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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Where Does Power Come

From?
Interpersonal Power
Organizational Power

Legitimate Power
Reward Power
Coercive Power

12-3

Structural Power
Resources
Decision-Making Power
Information Power

Personal Power
Expert Power
Referent Power

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of Organizational
Authority:

12-4

1.
1. ItIt is
is invested
invested in
in aa persons
persons position
position
2.
2. ItIt is
is accepted
accepted by
by subordinates
subordinates
3.
3. Authority
Authority is
is used
used vertically
vertically

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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Subordinate Responses to Different

Sources of Interpersonal Power (1 of

12-5

2)

The use of legitimate or reward power will

typically result in compliance
i.e., subordinates will obey your requests, but are
unlikely to exert more than the minimal effort
necessary

The use of coercive power may result in

resistance
i.e., subordinates may only pretend to comply with
your requests, and they may openly resist
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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Subordinate Responses to Different

Sources of Interpersonal Power (2 of

12-6

2)

The use of expert or referent power

frequently results in commitment
i.e., subordinates are likely to exert high levels of
effort to accomplish what you ask, perhaps even
exceeding what you requested

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Structural Power

12-7

(1 of 2)

Power is frequently prescribed by structure

within the organization
Result from the nature of the organizational
social system rather than from attributes of
an individual
The structure of an organization is the
control mechanism by which the
organization is governed
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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Structural Power
Formal Power
Organizational structure
creates formal power and
authority
i.e., by specifying certain
individuals to perform
specific tasks and make
certain decisions

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

12-8

(2 of 2)

Informal Power
Structure significantly
impacts informal power
i.e., through its effect on
information and
communication flows within
the system

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Symptoms and Sources of

Powerlessness

12-9

Position

Symptoms(1 of 2)

Sources

First-line supervisors
(e.g., manager)

Supervise too closely; fail

to train subordinates; not
sufficiently oriented to the
management team;
inclined to do the job
themselves

Routine, rule-minded jobs:

limited lines of communication;
limited advancement
opportunities for themselves
and their subordinates

Staff professionals
(e.g., corporate lawyer,
human resources
specialist)

Create islands and set

themselves up as experts;
use professional
standards as basis for
judging work that
distinguishes them from
others; resist change and
become conservative risk
takers

Their routine tasks are only

adjuncts to real line job;
blocked career advancement
replaced by outside consultants
for non-routine work

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Symptoms and Sources of

Powerlessness

12-10

(2 of 2)
Position

Symptoms

Sources

Top-level managers
(e.g., chief executive
officer, vice president)

Short-term horizon; topdown communication

systems emphasized;
reward followers to think
like the manager; do not
welcome bearers of bad
news

Uncontrollable lines of supply;

limited or blocked lines of
information about lower
managerial levels; diminished
lines of support because of
challenges to legitimacy

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Empowerment

12-11

Process of enhancing feelings of selfefficacy among organizational members,

through the identification of conditions that
foster powerlessness, and
through their removal by both formal
organizational practices and informal
techniques of providing efficacy information

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reasons Empowerment is not

Universally Embraced:

12-12

1. Managers fear the loss of power, control, and

authority
2. Employees are not able to make responsible
decisions
3. Empowering employees was attempted before and
it failed
4. Sharing proprietary information means leaking
ideas, plans, and knowledge to competitors
5. Not everyone wants to be empowered
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

12-13

Learning to leverage empowerment as a

means to strengthen the capabilities
and commitment of employees is one of
the most important challenges facing
managers today.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Increasing Your Effectiveness in

Empowering Others (1 of 2)

12-14

When you delegate responsibility, make certain

you are also delegating authority to go along with it
Be prepared to give up your managerial parent
role and assume a partner role
Assure your subordinates through words and
deeds that it is OK to make mistakes

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Increasing Your Effectiveness in

Empowering Others (2 of 2)

12-15

Information sharing is important

Empowered employees must have sufficient
information to be able to see the big picture

Provide training opportunities so employees can

develop skills to successfully perform new job
responsibilities
Performance feedback is particularly important for
newly empowered employees
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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Interdepartmental Power

12-16

(1 of 2)

Strategic contingency theory focuses on

subunit power
Strategic contingency event or activity
of crucial importance to completing a
project or accomplishing a goal

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Interdepartmental Power

12-17

(2 of 2)

The power differential between subunits

is influenced by the:
degree of ability to cope with uncertainty
centrality of the subunit
substitutability of the subunit

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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Strategic Contingency Model of

Subunit Power
CONTINGENCY
Coping with
uncertainty

12-18

EXAMPLES
Preventing market share decline by product
development
Providing accurate future-based predictions
Absorbing problems from other units

Being in an urgent or immediacy position

Centrality

Being located at center of work flow

Power
Power
acquired
acquired
by
bysubunit
subunit
and
andpower
power
differentials
differentials

Possessing needed skills or expertise

Substitutability

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Possessing only talents that are available to

complete job

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Political Strategies and Tactics

12-19

(1 of 2)

Individuals and subunits continually

engage in political behavior, i.e.,:
Behavior that is usually outside the legitimate,
recognized power system
Behavior that is designed to benefit an individual or
subunit, often at the expense of the organization in
general
Behavior that is intentional and is designed to
acquire and maintain power
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Political Strategies and Tactics

12-20

(2 of 2)

As a result of politically oriented behaviors,

the formal power that exists in an
organization is often sidetracked or
blocked
Political behavior results in the
displacement of power

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2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Political Game Playing

12-21

(1 of 2)

Political games are played at all

organizational levels by both managers
and non-managers

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Political Game Playing

12-22

(2 of 2)

Games are played to:

1. resist authority (insurgency game)
2. counter the resistance to authority (counterinsurgency
game)
3. build power bases (sponsorship game and coalitionbuilding game)
4. defeat rivals (line-versus-staff game)
5. bring about organizational change (whistle-blowing
game)
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Impression Management

12-23

The actions individuals take to control the

impressions that others form of them
It is universal
A significant part of behavior in organizations is
motivated by the desire of organization members
to be perceived in certain ways
Stems from political influence tactics
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Using Power to Manage

Effectively (1 of 2)

12-24

1. Recognize that there are multiple interests in

virtually every organization
2. Know what position relevant individuals and
groups hold with respect to issues important to
you

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Using Power to Manage

Effectively (2 of 2)

12-25

3. Understand that to get things done you must

have power, and in the case of those who
oppose you, you must have more power than
they do
4. Recognize the strategies and tactics through
which organizational power is developed and
used
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.