1. Chapter 3: Organizational Power and Politics
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2. Chapter Overview
Power and politics—differing perspectives on use in organizations
Power relationships in the workplace—sources of power of actors in units/departments
Positive and negative perceptions of power and politics in workplace
Organizational structures that empower employees
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3. Chapter Overview
Organizational groups that exert power and how power operates
How politics plays out in organizations
Strategies and games used in health care organizations
Types of situations that give rise to use of power and politics
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4. LO #1: Define power and politics and describe differing perspectives on their use in organizations
“The ability to exert actions that either directly or indirectly cause change in the behaviour and/or attitudes of another individual or group”
In an organization—“the ability to mobilize resources (human and material) to get things done”
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5. Five bases of power that are most common:
LO #1: Define power and politics and describe differing perspectives on their use in organizations
Five bases of power that are most common:
Reward power
Coercive power
Legitimate power
Referent power
Expert power
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6. LO #1: Define power and politics and describe differing perspectives on their use in organizations
Tactical activities or strategies a person takes to influence the decisions or actions of others
More likely to evoke a negative image than power
Has been seen in organizations as essentially illegitimate, and has been compared to an illness
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7. Multiple factors affect power relations in an organization
LO #2: Analyze power relationships in the workplace and the sources of power of the actors or units/departments of an organization
Multiple factors affect power relations in an organization
Three groups of people in an organization
Those who are naïve about power and influence in organization
Those who are cynics
Those who are in between
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8. LO #2: Analyze power relationships in the workplace and the sources of power of the actors or units/departments of an organization
Diversity or difference among people around goals, values, and perspectives
Cultural, professional
People are interdependent
Low interdependence and low diversity
Easier to resolve conflict
Multidisciplinary teams
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9. LO #3: Debate the positive and negative perceptions of power and politics in the workplace
Dominance over others
Hold-over from pre-democratic periods where leader was cruel tyrant
Social inequality, abuse and rule by elites
Westerners showed a negative association between power and cooperation.
Differing cultural views of power may lead to differing psychological and behavioural consequences in the workplace.
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10. LO #3: Debate the positive and negative perceptions of power and politics in the workplace
Positive perceptions
Contributes to order and effectiveness
Westerners showed positive association between power and reward
Politics
The constructive reconciliation of competing causes-by which diverse interests and views can be sorted out in a just way.
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11. LO #3: Debate the positive and negative perceptions of power and politics in the workplace
Competing interests and goals, jockeying for a favourable position, or approval of one over another
When politics becomes dominant force in organization, it affects legitimate power.
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12. LO #3: Debate the positive and negative perceptions of power and politics in the workplace
Negative perceptions (cont’d)
“A domain of activity in which participants attempt to influence organizational decisions and activities in ways that are not sanctioned by either the formal authority system of the organization, its accepted ideology or certified expertise”
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13. [insert Table 3.1 from text, p. 74]
LO #4: Discuss how an organization may be structured to empower employees
[insert Table 3.1 from text, p. 74]
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14. LO #4: Discuss how an organization may be structured to empower employees
Empowerment
Workplace factors that give employees a sense of power and more influence in the organization.
Factors Include the ability to act and to make decisions in their positions
Requires support (supplies, resources, education and information) and delegation to the employee
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15. Types of power used in organizations to empower employees
LO #4: Discuss how an organization may be structured to empower employees
Types of power used in organizations to empower employees
Expert power
Reward power
Referent power
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16. LO #5: Describe the groups in organizations who can exert power and ways in which power can operate
Three groups have been described as being powerful or influential in hospital decision-making:
Board of trustees or directors
Senior administration of the hospital
Senior physician
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17. Systems of Influence in Organizations
LO #5: Describe the groups in organizations who can exert power and ways in which power can operate
Systems of Influence in Organizations
Internal coalition
Top management
Operators
Line managers
Analysts
Support staff
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18. Systems of Influence in Organizations
LO #5: Describe the groups in organizations who can exert power and ways in which power can operate
Systems of Influence in Organizations
System of Authority
Formal power that accrues to the holder of an official position, e.g., CEO
They establish and design the hierarchy or chain of authority.
System of Ideology
Beliefs about the organization that integrate personal and institutional goals
Involves a sense of mission and shared goals, traditions, identification, socialization, and loyalty
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19. Systems of Influence in Organizations
LO #5: Describe the groups in organizations who can exert power and ways in which power can operate
Systems of Influence in Organizations
System of Expertise
Relies on professionals for the complex work required in the organization
Relies on less bureaucratic form of organization
System of Politics
Employees have delegated power that gives them discretion to make decisions at some level.
Discretion in work makes the use of political power possible.
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20. LO #6: Discuss how politics plays out in organizations and the strategies and games that can be used in health care organizations
Political strategies
Ways in which people develop and use power to their advantage to influence a decision and/or achieve goals
Actors in political process consider their own sources of power and that of others to develop strategies
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21. Political strategies Push strategies Pull strategies
LO #6: Discuss how politics plays out in organizations and the strategies and games that can be used in health care organizations
Political strategies
Push strategies
Threaten or force others to change behaviour through assertiveness, sanctions, or blocking through non-cooperation
Pull strategies
Positive motivation to influence behaviour through recognition, benefits, or the satisfaction of needs and goals
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22. Political strategies Persuasion strategies Preventive strategies
LO #6: Discuss how politics plays out in organizations and the strategies and games that can be used in health care organizations
Political strategies
Persuasion strategies
Appeal to logical reasoning or convincing others about behaviour in relation to goals
Preventive strategies
Designed to prevent an issue from arising and may involve focusing attention elsewhere, avoiding a topic, or leaving it off an agenda
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23. Political strategies Preparatory strategies
LO #6: Discuss how politics plays out in organizations and the strategies and games that can be used in health care organizations
Political strategies
Preparatory strategies
Aimed at preparing the ground or creating the conditions favourable to other strategies and range from the way in which someone dresses to create an impression, to ordering the agenda in a favourable way, to simply pouring on the charm
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24. LO #6: Discuss how politics plays out in organizations and the strategies and games that can be used in health care organizations
Political games
Patterns of behaviours engaged in by political actors who attempt to achieve their own ends, rather than the overall good of the whole organization
“Game” is used because the pattern reflects a set of rules that may or may not be explicit
Involves positions and moves by the players who set out with similar bases of power as they seek to “win”
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25. LO #7: Identify the types of situations in health care organizations that give rise to use of power and politics
It is likely that you will engage in the exercise of power and politics.
Certain conditions and events that are more apt to give rise to political behaviour.
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26. LO #7: Identify the types of situations in health care organizations that give rise to use of power and politics
Strategic planning processes
Budgeting processes (capital and equipment)
Periods of constrained resources in health care “downsizing”
Leadership change
Implementation of a change in work, reorganization, re-engineering
Any process involving allocation of resources, such as space and equipment
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27. Case Study Questions
What would you identify as bases and sources of power for each of the committee participants, including yourself?
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28. Case Study Questions
What factors about this committee might lead you to anticipate differences of opinion?
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29. Case Study Questions
How might you influence committee members to consider and adopt your recommendation about the requirements for the position?
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30. Case Study Questions
Can you anticipate other decisions that the committee will have to make as you proceed with your mandate? How might you prepare for each of them? What strategies and tactics might you use?
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31. Case Study Questions
The committee did not decide to limit applications to those candidates with a master’s degree. Your committee selects three candidates to interview, based on the applications received. The medical director seeks you out to discuss the candidates prior to the interviews and says that she favours the one who has a master’s. She notes that your idea of this requirement was really a good one.
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32. Case Study Questions
How would you respond? Discuss this behaviour and your response in terms of power and politics.
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