1. BA 5201 Organization and Management Power and politics
Instructor: Çağrı Topal

2. Authority
Rationally based formal right to make decisions and influence behavior through instructions or directions to implement those decisions based on formal organizational relationships
Based on private property ownership
Associated with the responsibility to protect the interest of the organization and the owner

3. Managerial authority Right to make and enforce decisions
Possessed by all managers
Larger with the increase in the hierarchical level
Based on the principle of parity of authority and responsibility

4. Staff authority Right to make suggestions and recommendations
Possessed by everyone in an organization
Based on the assumption that individuals should know best about their jobs
Not exercised much in practice

5. Situational authority
Right to make binding decisions within a very restricted area or scope
Containing elements of both managerial and staff authority
Delegated to an expert staff by a manager

6. Operative authority
Right to determine certain components of the work and to work without undue supervision
Regarding specific tasks and duties and work conditions
Applying to all levels
Supposed to be reasonably exercised

7. Power Potential or actual ability to impose one’s will on others
Ability of one person to affect the behavior of someone else in a desired way
Influence that does not necessarily depend on but nevertheless may extend from formal organizational relationships
Not necessarily reflecting hierarchical relationships
Based on single individual characteristics or dependency relationships

8. Individual bases Rational or legal or traditional power
Acceptance that its exercise, by another person, agrees with some set of rules or laws or traditions considered legitimate by both parties
Called legitimate power
Function of culture when tradition-based
Identical with authority when rule- or law- based

9. Individual bases Reward power
Ability to control and dispense benefits to others
Ability to shape the behavior of others by the act of dispensing or withholding benefits
Based on the size of the reward and the belief that it will be dispensed
Depending on the measurement of the behavior to be rewarded
Indicating a dependency relationship

10. Individual bases Coercive power
Ability to coerce into something or punish another person
Effective to the extent that punishments are considered as punishing actually, strong enough, and likely
Depending on the measurement of desired behaviors or task accomplishments
Changing behaviors
Potentially leading to avoidance and estrangement

11. Individual bases Referent power
Identification with a person in a power position
Not depending on explicit recognition
Indicating role modeling
Observed in hero worship or master/apprentice relationship
Creating strong commitment

12. Individual bases Charismatic power
Influence or power based on one’s personality
Involving no special effort
Helping followers attain personal goals
Possible to involve referent power
Indicating leadership qualities
Easily attracting others
Retained long after loss of official power positions or life

13. Individual bases Expert power
Based on knowledge or special skills or academic and professional credentials
Irrespective of hierarchical positions
Involving a dependency relationship

14. Dependency bases Control of resources
Power of individuals or departments who control critical or scarce resources within an organization
Influencing organizational decisions through control of resources

15. Dependency bases Solving critical contingencies
Power through possessing and using information, knowledge, and special skills
Solving key problems facing an organization or reducing uncertainty
Depending on the degree of pervasiveness of threats or uncertainty

16. Dependency bases Substitutability
Power of individuals and departments with non-substitutable or difficult-to-substitute skills, expertise, and resources
Outside availability and insiders’ loss of power
New dependency relationships with outsiders

17. Dependency bases Location in the organization
Being located near power sources
Controlling the availability of decision-makers
Network centrality and access to critical information

18. Dependency bases Position in the organization
Power based on formal dependency relationships between hierarchical levels
Emergence of informal dependencies
Scarcity of expertise at middle and lower levels due to downsizing
Reliance on sophisticated new technologies used by lower levels
Longer organizational tenure
Vacuum created by a transition in leadership
Following organizational rules strictly

19. How to assess power Power determinants
Consequences of decisions made by various organizational actors
Power symbols
Representational indicators of power

20. Dominant coalition in power
Group holding extensive power and authority that may be separate from formal power
Key group of decision-makers
In-group members

21. Stickiness of power
Individuals or groups trying to retain power as long as possible
Transition of power problematic and costly
Existing dominant coalitions reframing problems in line with their competencies
New coalitions emerging and struggling for power

22. Politics and power Different groups different interests and goals
Stakeholder-specific effectiveness
Uncertainty and bounded rationality
Dissociation of formal and informal power
Organizational politics: those activities taken within the organization to acquire, develop, and use power and other resources to obtain one’s preferred outcomes in a situation in which there is uncertainty or a lack of consensus about choices

23. Rational vs. political organizations
Agreement on goals vs. multiple and conflicting goals
Compatibility vs. incompatibility between formal and informal power, and centralized vs. decentralized power
Low to moderate uncertainty overcome by more information vs. extensive uncertainty resulting in power games with information
Rational-economic decision-making vs. bounded rational decision-making