1. Influence, Power, and Politics (An Organizational Survival Kit)
Chapter Thirteen
Influence, Power, and Politics (An Organizational Survival Kit)

2. “Getting Things Done” Sequence
Leadership
Managing Change
Influence, Power, and Politics
Managing Conflict
Note: menu of options available to you in an organizational setting

3. How does one get things done, even if one has formal authority?
Power
How does one get things done, even if one has formal authority?

4. Chapter Thirteen Outline
Influencing Others
Nine Generic Influences
Three Influence Outcomes
Practical Research Insights
Strategic Alliances and Reciprocity
Social Power and Empowerment
Five Bases of Power
Practical Lessons from Research
Employee Empowerment
Making Empowerment Work

5. Chapter Thirteen Outline (continued)
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Chapter Thirteen Outline (continued)
Organizational Politics and Impression Management
Definition and Domain of Organizational Politics
Impression Management
Keeping Organizational Politics in Check

6. Nine Generic Influence Tactics
Rational persuasion. Trying to convince someone with reason, logic, or facts.
Inspirational appeals. Trying to build enthusiasm by appealing to others’ emotions, ideals, or values.
Consultation. Getting others to participate in planning, making decisions, and changes.
Ingratiation. Getting someone in a good mood prior to making a request; being friendly, helpful, and using praise or flattery.
Personal appeals. Referring to friendship and loyalty when making a request.

7. Nine Generic Influence Tactics
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Nine Generic Influence Tactics
Exchange. Making express or implied promises and trading favors.
Coalition tactics. Getting others to support your effort to persuade someone.
Pressure. Demanding compliance or using intimidation or threats.
Legitimating tactics. Basing a request on one’s authority or right, organizational rules or polices, or express or implied support from superiors.

8. Three influence outcomes
Commitment – will gladly do it
Compliance – will grudgingly do it
Resistance – will refuse in one way or another to do it
We all know what “no” means? At least most of the time. What does a “yes” mean?
Note results of research

9. Basis of strategic alliances
Reciprocity – people should be paid back for their positive and negative acts
Social power – ability to get things done with human, informational, and material resources

10. 13-3
Skills and Best Practices: How to Turn Your Coworkers into Strategic Allies
Mutual respect.
Openness.
Trust.
Mutual benefit.

11. Five Bases of Power Reward power: Promising or granting rewards.
Coercive power: Threats or actual punishment.
Legitimate power: Based on position or formal authority.
Expert power: Sharing of knowledge or information.
Referent power: Power of one’s personality (charisma).

12. Ritti: where does power come from?
Formal power – see previous slide
Informal power held by individuals
Perception that one has power
Friendship network
Intimate knowledge of key process
IOUs
Informal power held by superiors
For upwardly mobile, these superiors provide opportunities for advancement

13. Ritti: continued
How else can power exist in an organization (or why can some rank and file members give their superiors headaches?)
Those how have reached a plateau and are not going anywhere (or care to)
Hold key positions like secretaries
Non-mobile middle managers who handle key details their bosses do not want to deal with or who have expert knowledge
Controls a key part of the process – can enforce bureaucratic adherence to rules

14. Empowerment Two way street:
Management must be willing to allow employees to make key decisions
Employees must be receptive to the idea

15. Randolph’s Empowerment Model
The Empowerment Plan
Share Information
Create Autonomy Through Structure
Let Teams Become The Hierarchy
Remember: Empowerment is not magic; it consists of a few simple steps and a lot of persistence.

16. Organizational Politics and Impression Management
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Organizational Politics and Impression Management
Organizational politics: “Involves intentional acts of influence to enhance or protect the self-interest of individuals or groups.”
Political Tactics:
Attacking or blaming others.
Using information as a political tool
Creating a favorable image.
Developing a base of support.
Praising others (ingratiation).
Forming power coalitions with strong allies.
Associating with influential people.
Creating obligations (reciprocity).
Impression management: “The process by which people attempt to control or manipulate the reactions of others to images of themselves or their ideas.”

17. Levels of Political Action in Organizations
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Figure 13-2
Levels of Political Action in Organizations
Distinguishing Characteristics
Cooperative pursuit of general self-interests
Network
Level
Coalition
Level
Cooperative pursuit of group interests in specific issues
Individual
Level
Individual pursuit of general self-interests

18. Practical Tips for Managing Organizational Politics
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Table 13-1
Practical Tips for Managing Organizational Politics
Reduce System Uncertainty
Reduce Competition
Or establish formal conflict resolution and grievance processes
Break Existing Political Fiefdoms
deal with overly political individuals
Prevent Future Fiefdoms
Screen out overly political individuals

19. Pursuing Political Change
City, State, or National Level
Resistance to change
Comes from bureaucracy and other stakeholders
Exhibits similar characteristics as discussion on why change is resisted
Difficulty in “unfreezing” aspect
Enabling legislation or similar mechanism to facilitate unfreezing

20. Pursuing Political Change
Leadership issues
Lead/coordinate diverse group of “advocates”
Lead person within bureaucracy to champion the change
Role of influence and politicking to build coalition of “advocates”, allies, etc. and to obtain support for change
Managing conflict among allies, etc.