Download Power and Organizational Politics - Sociology of Organizations - Lecture Slides and more Slides Organizations and Society in PDF only on Docsity! Power and Organizational Politics docsity.com Politics • Politics refers to the use of power and authority to influence organizational outcomes. docsity.com Historical Views of Politics • Maciavelli (early 1500s) “The Prince” • The End Justifies the Means • The leader can be ruthless if necessary • Machiavellian means “characterized by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith” docsity.com Historical Views of Politics • Weber’s forms of power – Charismatic – Traditional – Legal-Rational • The Iron Cage of Rationality – Compulsion of Fairness docsity.com Changing Perspectives on Workers and Organizations • A social-psychological view of power – Power is not necessarily open coercion, influence, or control • Power is the perception of others that the power wielder could exercise coercion, influence, or control if he or she chose to do so – How much power you have is based on how much power think you have! Power must be granted docsity.com Recognizing Organizational Politics • Use of power increases when structure is decentralized, resources are scarce, there is disagreement on goals, and there is uncertainty about technologies • In other words: – When resources are limited, goals and processes are unclear, Power Politics are very likely docsity.com Recognizing Organizational Politics • Three Faces of Power – First Face: Overt Coercion – Second Face: Exclusionary Actions – avoid challenges – Third Face: Hegemonic control – convince me that what you want is what I want docsity.com Balancing Power • Four styles to balance or equalize power – 1 decrease needs or demands – 2 increase alternative sources of getting what you want – 3 increase others needs or demands for us – 4 decrease other people’s alternative sources (special expertise) • Options 1 and 2 create psychological distance • 3 and 4 result in a stronger work commitment docsity.com Empowerment • Empowerment is the development of personal power of those in the organization to achieve their goals • Power is traditionally seen as a relational construct (delegation or sharing power) • Power as a motivational construct – creating motivation and feeling of personal efficacy docsity.com Empowerment Conditions of moving from Powerlessness to Empowerment 1. Conditions leading to feelings of powerlessness 2. Strategies to increase personal efficacy (participative management) 3. Feedback 4. Reinforcement of empowerment 5. Persistence of new behavior docsity.com Empowerment • Empowerment cannot be granted but has to be taken by the individual • The conditions for empowerment can be fostered docsity.com
