Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 8/e Stephen P. Robbins Chapter 11 Power and Politics © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Power Refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B does something he or she would not otherwise do © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Power Potential Dependence Discretion © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Leadership and Power Leaders use power as a way to attain group goals, and power is a means for facilitating their achievement © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Bases of Power Formal Coercive Reward Legitimate Information © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Reward power - complying will produce positive benefits Coercive power - fear of the negative results that might occur if one failed to comply Reward power - complying will produce positive benefits © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Legitimate power - represents the formal authority to control and use organizational resources usually incorporate Reward and Coercive powers © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Information power - comes from access to and control over information © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Bases of Power Personal Expert Referent Charismatic © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Expert power - influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill, or knowledge Referent power - based on identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Charismatic power - extension of referent power stemming from an individual’s personality and interpersonal style © 2005 Prentice-Hall

The General Dependency Postulate The greater B’s dependency on A, the greater the power A has over B © 2005 Prentice-Hall

What Creates Dependency? Dependency is increased when the resource you control is Important Scarce Nonsubstitutable © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Power in Groups: Coalitions Seek to maximize their size  power Works inversely with Barney’s RBV © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Power and Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment is about power It’s about one person controlling or threatening another Supervisor’s power over subordinates for rewards and job security Co-worker’s influence in denial or delay of information Subordinate’s highlighting gender stereotypes © 2005 Prentice-Hall

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 © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Factors Contributing to Political Behavior Individual factors: Authoritarian High-risk propensity High need for power Autonomy Security Status © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Factors Contributing to Political Behavior Organizational factors: Low trust Role ambiguity Unclear performance evaluation systems Zero-sum reward allocation practices Democratic decision making High pressures for performance © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Political Behavior Very strong evidence that perceptions of organizational politics are negatively related to job satisfaction Increased job anxiety and stress © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Responding to Political Behavior Defensive – mostly negative Sensible – using it to your advantage © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Techniques Used for Impression Management Self-descriptions Conformity Accounts Apologies Acclaiming Flattery Favors © 2005 Prentice-Hall

Is a Political Action Ethical? © 2005 Prentice-Hall