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Power and Politics
Introduction
Power and politics are two different concepts that represent the rough side of organizational life. Organizations are not democracies composed of individuals with equal influence. Some people will always have more power than others. On the other hand, power and politics are important organizational tools that managers must use to get the job done (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). To become a more effective manager is essential to understand how both of these concepts work and the difference between them. This paper will compare and contrast power and politics in organizations. It will also provide an analysis of organizational management and leadership practices that impact organizations as well as two real-world examples of the relationship between power and politics and how this relates to management and leadership practices.
Compare and Contrast
Power is defined as the ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things happen in the way you want them to. The essence of power is control over the behavior of others. Organizations are lead by power and when someone exercises power is because he or she has influence. There are two types of power: position and personal. Position power is formal authority based on the manager’s position in the hierarchy and personal power is based on one’s expertise and referent capabilities. There are six important aspects of position power: legitimate, reward, coercive, process, information, and representative power. Four bases of personal power are expertise, rational persuasion, reference, and coalitions. Managers can have both position and personal power. They can also become skilled at using various techniques such as reason, friendliness, ingratiation, and bargaining to influence superiors, peers, and subordinates (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). For instance, at University of Phoenix a formal hierarchical authority exists and even though my manager was on the lowest level of the hierarchical pyramid she still had power over her subordinates. One of the powers I witnessed that she exercised was the expert power. Because she had been a counselor for five years before becoming a manager, she had enough knowledge and experience that her subordinates didn’t and therefore, she controlled her subordinates’ behaviors.
Politics involves the use of power to obtain ends not officially authorized; it also involves the use of power to find ways of balancing individual and collective interests in otherwise difficult circumstances. There are two different traditions in organizational politics: one is built on Machiavelli’s philosophy and defines politics in terms of self-interest and the use of no sanctioned means, and the second one treats politics as a necessary function resulting from differences in the self-interests of individuals. People can take different perspectives in politics and three main ones used in Mastering Management are the political interpretation, political forecasting and subunit power. For the manager, politics often occurs in decision situations when the interests of another manager or individual must be reconciled with one’s own (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). I believe that at University of Phoenix, the use of politicking was used by my manager because she would use whatever influence she could to spoil the facts to support her goals and interest (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
Analysis of Organizational Management and Leadership Practices
Organizational Management is essential to creating an environment that supports continuous improvement of individuals and their organizations to better provide for the communities they serve. Every organization need leaders with the ability to understand the issues facing their organization and are prepared to implement them while maintaining operational functions, developing employee skills, and managing human resources (Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership, 2009). Two contemporary leadership theories have been inspirational for leaders, the charismatic leadership and transformational leadership. A charismatic leadership theory states that followers make attributions of heroic or extraordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain behaviors. Transformational leaders inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization and are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers. Organizations are gradually searching for managers who can show signs of transformational leadership qualities. They want leaders with vision and the charisma to carry out their vision. Although both of these theories are very important, scholars have argued that a consideration of ethics and trust is also crucial to complete the picture of effective leadership. Ethics touches on leadership in many ways. Leaders can use their power in a wrong manner to get their subordinates to do something. They can also abuse their power by getting paid many times more than their employees. Because leaders are the one suppose to set the moral tone for an organization, they need to set high ethical standards, demonstrate those standards through their own behavior, and encourage and reward integrity in others (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
Ethics is not the only matter leaders should consider. Trust is also important especially in a work environment. Trust is a positive expectation that another will not act opportunistically; it is a primary attribute associated with leadership; and when this trust is broken, it can have serious adverse effects on a group’s performance (Robbins & Judge, 2009). An article by Diane Coutu discusses the importance of rebuilding leadership in these challenging economic times. The article authors observe that while there’s no single way to create trust, humanist psychologists agree that the best way to generate it is to show competence, integrity, respect, and consistency. These four competencies provide a solid foundation from which trust can be built or re-built (Coutu, 2009). When followers trust their leaders, they are more likely to be vulnerable to the action of their leaders because they trust that their rights and interests won’t be abused (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
Examples of the Relationship between Power and Politics
The basis for both power and politics is the degree of interconnectedness among individuals. One example of a leader who knows how to interact power and politics is the President and CEO of Cisco Systems, John Chambers. Cisco, the leading provider of network gear for the Internet, is back from the devastating tech bust at the turn of the century and looking to the future in a different way. Chambers cut fast and deep after the bust, disposing of some $2 billion in antiquated inventory, and immediately refocused the firm on building for the future. Cisco, the leading provider of network gear for the Internet, is back from the devastating tech bust at the turn of the century and looking to the future in a different way. Chambers cut fast and deep after the bust, disposing of some $2 billion in antiquated inventory, and immediately refocused the firm on building for the future (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008).
A second example is Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has both legitimate power and expert power. As director of the CDC, she has formal authority to use the government agency’s resources in protecting the health and safety of the U.S. population. Gerberding is able to wield power because of her expertise in infectious diseases gained through her education and work experience. She earned under-graduate degrees in biology and chemistry and an M.D. degree. Before becoming the CDCdirector, Gerberding was acting deputy director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
Both leaders have charisma and are transformational leaders. They know how to exercise their power and this can be seen trough the results they have achieved in their organizations. To achieve the high positions like they did, they probably are very ethical and trustworthy leaders and that is what companies are looking for in today leaders.
Conclusion
Power and politics are present in organizations whether people like it or not. There are similarities and differences between them in every organization and managers need to know how to master both in order to be effective. This paper compared and contrasted what is power and politics. Politics are those activities taken within organizations to acquire, develop, and use power and other resources to obtain one's preferred outcome in a situation where there is uncertainty of outcome (Robbins & Judge, 2009). The paper also provided an analysis of organizational management and leadership practices that impact organizations such as the two contemporary leadership theories (charismatic and transformational) and two essential attributes leaders should practice (ethics and trust). In addition the paper provided two examples of power and politics in the real world and how it relates to leadership practices.
References
Coutu, Diane. (2009, March 5). Rebuilding Trust: Why Capping Salaries Isn't Enough. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbreditors/2009/02/rebuilding_trust_why_capping_s.html
Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership (2009). Organizational Management. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from http://www.npgoodpractice.org/Topics/Organizational/Default.aspx
Robbins, Stephen P., & Judge, Timothy A. (2009). Contemporary Issues in Leadership. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. , : Prentice Hall. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from University of Phoenix, MGT 334.
Robbins, Stephen P., & Judge, Timothy A. (2009). Power and Politics . [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. , : Prentice Hall. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from University of Phoenix , MGT 334.
Schermerhorn, John R., Hunt, James G., & Osborn, Richard N. (2008). Power and Politics . [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. , : John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from University of Phoenix , MGT 334.
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