Power Politics In Organization

Influence, Power & Politics In The Organization

A Report by Roy E. Belen

Organizational Behavior & Development 1ST Semester, SY 2007-2008
MRS. DOMINICA R. LORBES, CGM, MPA Professor

Influence, Power & Politics in the Organization

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Organizational Behavior & Development

Influence, Power & Politics in the Organization

Page 3 POWER & iNFLUENCE Power - The ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things the way you want them to. DEPENDENCE THEORY OF POWER “If B is dependent on A, then A has power over B”

Influence - A behavioral response to the exercise of power.

Sources of Power:
v Five Sources of Power (French and Raven, 1960): 1. Referent or Personal Power – The ability of leaders to develop followers from the strength of their own personalities. 2. Expert Power – the ability to control another’s behavior because of the possession knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person does not have but needs. 3. Legitimate or Position Power – stems from an authority's legitimate right to require and demand compliance 4. Reward Power – the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to control other people. 5. Coercive Power – The extents to which a manager can deny desired rewards or administer punishment to control other people.
A Report by Roy E. Belen

Influence, Power & Politics in the Organization

Page 4 v Three Bases of Power (Etzioni, 1968): 1. Coercive Power – involves forcing someone to comply with one's wishes. 2. Utilitarian Power – is power based on a system of rewards or punishments. 3. Normative Power – is power which rests on the beliefs of the members that the organization has a right to govern their behavior.

Possible Responses to the Use of Power:
1. Resistance – resisting the request without apparent cause or in an arrogant manner. This is most likely response to Coercive Power. 2. Compliance – complying with the...