Power , Authority and

Politics

Dr. Swati jha

 Power
⚫ The term power may be used as the capacity to exert
influence over others.
⚫ From organisational point of view, it may be defined as “
the degree of influence an individual or group has in
decision making without being authorised by the
organisation to do so”.
⚫ “Power is the ability to get things done the way one wants
them to be done.”
⚫ P.M. Blau observes that “Power is an exchange process—a
person who commands services needed by others
exchanges them for compliance with his or her request.”
 Characteristics of Power
1. Specific : It may be exercised by some people in some
circumstances.
2. Dependency : The greater the dependence of one person
on another, the greater is the amount of power that can
be exerted.
3. Expand or Contract : Power is elastic. People who are
habituated to exercise power, may try to acquire more
power and expand it. Due to any type of change their may
be contraction or expansion in power.
4. Relationship : Power relationships in an organisation
are reciprocal in nature. Power exists due to relationship
between two or more persons.
 Views of Power and Influence
There are different views of power which a manager takes to
increase the power of both managers and their employees.

1. Autocratic View of Power : In autocratic view, the power

flows downward, it basically comes from the authoritative
structure from the management. In autocratic view, someone
loses and someone gains, as it has fixed amount.

2. Participative View of Power : In participative view, the

power varies i.e. Power has variable amount. It flows in all
directions. The power comes from both official and unofficial
channels and applied by activities in a group.
 Types of Power
John French and Bertram Raven identified the following five
sources or types of power which may occur at all levels of the
organisation
 1. Legitimate Power
⚫ Legitimate power comes to the leader when the
organisation’s authority is accepted.
⚫ It comes from the rules of the organisation.
⚫ For example, managers, teachers, police, parents etc.
have legitimate power only when their authority is
accepted in the positions they hold.
 2. Reward Power
⚫ Reward power is the present or potential ability to
reward for worthy behaviour. This source of power
depends on the persons who have the ability and
resources to reward others.
⚫ Managers have reward powers like pay increases,
promotions ,favourable work assignments, more
responsibility, praise, recognition.
 3. Coercive Power
⚫ This source of power depends on fear. The subordinates work as per their
superiors orders because they fear that the superior will punish them if
they do not follow the superiors instructions.
⚫ Coercive power is exercised by the manager against unproductive
employees and to restore discipline in the task environment.
⚫ Coercive power is associated with activities like assigning distasteful tasks,
no promotions, discriminating subordinates, dismissal, demotion,
reprimand, transfer, and discourage low performance etc.
⚫ Managers have coercive power. The employees have an element of fear of
punishment if they do not follow the rules, directives, or policies of the
organization.
⚫ In other words, much of organizational behaviour may be explained in
terms of coercive power rather than reward power.
 4. Expert Power
⚫ Another source of power is based on the extent to
which knowledge and expertise have impact on the
power seeker.
⚫ Experts are perceived to have knowledge and
understanding in certain well defined areas.
⚫ Only a person who has reputation for being honest and
straightforward can exercise such power.
 5. Referent Power
⚫ Referent power is defined as the ability of a leader to
influence a follower because of the follower’s admiration,
respect, or identification with the leader.
⚫ Another way to define this power is that a follower
will refer to what they think their leader would do and do
the same.
⚫ You use this power when you use your status as a role
model to get one or more followers to take some kind of
action.
⚫ It is not a formal type of power, but rather a personal
power.
 Power vs. Authority
⚫ Power may be described as the ability of imposing one’s
will on the behaviour of others.
⚫ Authority is delegated by the higher management to
make decision where as power is gained by leader on the
basis of his personality, activities.
Tactics used to gain Power
Tactics used to gain Power
Tactics used to gain Power
Tactics used to gain Power
Factor influencing political behaviour
 Impression Management
⚫ Impression management is a conscious
or subconscious process in which people attempt
to influence the perceptions of other people about a
person, object or event by regulating and controlling
information in social interaction.
⚫ Impression management is usually used synonymously
with self-presentation, in which a person tries to
influence the perception of their image. There are two
types and motivations of self-presentation:
⚫ presentation meant to match one's own self-image, and
⚫ presentation meant to match audience expectations and
preferences.
Thanks