International Leadership Institute

Individual Assignment for OB and Cross culture Course

Prepared By:
Dawit Asmelash (Sec.B)
ID-ILI/MBA/15/034/19

Submitted to: Kassu Jilcha Sileyew, PhD

June, 2020
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
 1. Define power.

Power is the ability to influence other people. It refers to the capacity to affect the behavior of
the subordinate with the control of resources. It is an exchange relationship that occurs in
transactions between an agent and a target. The agent is the person who uses the power and
target is the receipt of the attempt to use power.

2. What are the various bases of power?

1. Coercive: here power comes from one’s ability to punish someone else for
noncompliance, for example, through fear of losing their job or their annual bonus.
2. Reward: here power comes from one’s ability to issue rewards, for example, through a
bonus or allowing time off in lieu.
3. Legitimate: here power comes from a person’s formal right to issue directives or
commands because of their position in the organization, for example, the CEO has the right to
dictate the strategy.
4. Expert: here power comes from one’s experience or knowledge, for example, a senior
surgeon displays the expert knowledge for subordinates to trust them.
5. Referent: here power comes from being trusted or respected, for example, the boss who
treats everyone fairly and with respect.
Several years after identifying these 5 types of power, Raven added a sixth:
6. Informational: her power comes from controlling the information that others need in
order to achieve something, for example, the boss who gives away a secret about a specific
situation.

3. Discuss the three types of formal power.

1. Coercive Power

You use coercive power when you threaten that people will be punished in order to gain
compliance, such as threatening that they will be fired or demoted unless they hit their
objectives.
Coercive power only works when you have visibility of what the person under your power is
doing (surveillance). With people who consistently fail to meet the requirements of their role,
you may need to wield coercive power, for example, when you put them onto a capability
process. Another time when it might be appropriate to use coercive power is when an
organization is in crisis or cuts are threatened, for example, if a business unit needs to make
cutbacks.
Otherwise, using coercive power is rarely useful in a professional environment as it creates
resentment and can lead to accusations of bullying.

2. Reward Power
You use reward power when you use rewards to achieve compliance with your wishes. Examples
of rewards include bonuses, pay increases, days off in lieu, training opportunities, or even simply
a public compliment or thank you.
The trick to using reward power is to create the expectation of a reward and trigger that part of
the brain that enjoys being rewarded for hard work. As a simple example, if you always
publically praise your high performers and never praise your poor performers, then you create a
desire in others to achieve that praise by working hard to get it.
Note that with the exception of praise and thanks, it’s possible to either run out of rewards or not
have the ability to issue them. In this case, your power becomes diminished. For this reason, it is
advisable to use praise and thanks frequently, and other rewards very infrequently and only for
major achievements.
3. Legitimate Power
You use legitimate power when you use your position in the organization to achieve compliance
with your wishes. With legitimate power, the subordinate complies with your wishes because
they believe that you have a right to wield such power because of the position you hold.
A CEO holds legitimate power. So does a president who has been given a mandate by an
election. Legitimate power is determined by title but also by the situation: an ex-president cannot
issue orders to the military, and while a currently serving president can issue military orders,
they cannot tell their citizens to eat healthily, as their power doesn’t exist in that situation.
Legitimate power will be weakened within an organization if there isn’t a very clear
organizational structure and chain of command. This can be a disadvantage of working in
a matrix organization.
 4. Discuss factors affecting organizational politics.

Individual Factors

Researchers have identified certain personality traits, needs, and other factors that are likely to be
related to political behavior.

 Employees who are high self-monitor, possess an internal locus of control, and have a
high need for power are more likely to engage in political behavior.

 The high self-monitor is more sensitive to social cues and is more likely to be skilled in
political behavior than the low self-monitor.

 Individuals with an internal locus of control are more prone to take a proactive stance and
attempt to manipulate situations in their favor.

 The Machiavellian personality is comfortable using politics as a means to further his/her

self-interest.

An individual’s investment in the organization’s perceived alternatives and expectations of

success will influence the tendency to pursue illegitimate means of political action.

 The more that a person has invested and the more a person has to lose, the less likely
he/she is to use illegitimate means.

 The more alternative job opportunities an individual has, a prominent reputation, or

influential contacts outside the organization, the more likely he/she will risk illegitimate political
actions.

 A low expectation of success in using illegitimate means diminishes the probability of its
use.

Organizational Factors

Political activity is probably more a function of the organization’s characteristics than of

individual difference variables.

When an organization’s resources are declining, when the existing pattern of resources is
changing, and when there is an opportunity for promotions, politics is more likely to surface.

 Cultures characterized by low trust, role ambiguity, unclear performance evaluation

systems, zero-sum reward allocation practices, democratic decision making, high
 pressures for performance, and self-serving senior managers will create breeding grounds
for politicking.
 When organizations downsize to improve efficiency, people may engage in political
actions to safeguard what they have.
 Promotion decisions have consistently been found to be one of the most political in
organizations.
 The less trust there is within the organization, the higher the level of political behavior
and the more likely it will be illegitimate.
 Role ambiguity means that the prescribed behaviors of the employee are not clear.
 There are fewer limits to the scope and functions of the employee’s political actions.
 The greater the role ambiguity, the more one can engage in political activity with little
chance of it being visible.
 Subjective criteria in the appraisal process; Subjective performance criteria create
ambiguity.
 Single outcome measures encourage doing whatever is necessary to “look good.”
 The zero-sum approach treats the reward “pie” as fixed so that any gain one person or
group achieve has to come at the expense of another person or group. If I win, you must
lose!
 This encourages making others look bad and increasing the visibility of what’ you do.
 Making organizations less autocratic by asking managers to behave more democratically
is not necessarily embraced by all individual managers.
 The more pressure that employees feel to perform well, the more likely they are to
engage in politicking.
 If a person perceives that his or her entire career is riding on the next “whatever,” there is
motivation to do whatever is necessary to make sure the outcome is favorable.
 When employees see top management successfully engaging in political behavior, a
climate is created that supports politicking.

5. How do you rate your organization power and politics?

6. How can managers play power to their advantages to improve self-image?

Why?

The following are some of the political tactics proposed to achieve a competitive
advantage. These tactics have their origin in practical experience.
 - Expert influence over the time and place of your bargaining efforts so that these
conditions are selected to support your goals. In many cases, it is advisable to bargain in
your home territory.

- It is a desirable bargaining tactic to disguise your true interests for as long as possible; to
be overly eager for a given outcome may leave you at a district disadvantage with regard
to other related considerations.

- Shoot for the moon initially so that you can then settle for less but do not use this tactic
too often with the same person.

- Identify any weaknesses that adversaries may have and continually work on and
publicize them. - Where the opposition consists of a loosely assembled coalition try to
point out the differences within the coalition and any common interests you have with
each member, thus attempting to divide and conquer.

- Establish alliances with superiors, peers, and subordinates so that when needed they can
be counted to be on your side.

- Select subordinates who are not only competent but reliable, dependable and, above all
else, loyal.

- Do not get yourself in a position of relying on an adversary’s expertise: if you are not
knowledgeable in an area, secure your own expert and take steps to establish his or her
credibility.

- Do not injure another person who is or might well be in a position to take revenge.

- Do not do anything to alienate or anger former colleagues when leaving a position;

bridges that have been burned may be needed unexpectedly.

- If a proposal developed by an adversary is unattractive but cannot be thwarted

immediately, attempt to refer it to a committee to delay it and widen the bargaining area.

- If the outcome is uncertain, it is often desirable to support the aggressive efforts of

someone else rather than take the lead oneself. That way, it may be easier to get the ship
early if it happens to sink.
 - In dealing with an adversary, try to leave the door open so that communication is not
closed off and differences can still be resolved if necessary.

- Avoid dealing in personalities, never attack the adversary personally and focus on real
facts and issues. Choose when and under what circumstances a vote should be used to
settle an issue. Let matters go to a vote for resolution only when you know you have a
majority.

7. Explain various techniques of political strategies.

Control the Agenda

The decisions made in most committee meetings depend not only on the opinions of the
committee members but also on whether the committee has time to make the decision.

Decisions can be stalled by removing items from the agenda or they can be manipulated by
placing them in particular places on the agenda.

The items at the beginning of an agenda are typically discussed in greater detail, allowing greater
tolerance for ambiguity and broader consideration of empirical information than items placed at
the end of the agenda. Many items at the end of the agenda are either superficially decided or
completely overlooked.

Select the Decision Criteria

People generally try to make decisions according to some type of objective criteria.

Therefore, individuals who can change the criteria for making the decision can control the
decision as well. Decision making can be easily manipulated by the selective use of objective
criteria. In any decision-making situation, multiple measures are available for assessing
alternatives.

Rather than arguing for one’s preferred alternative, a much more effective political strategy is to
suggest that the decision should be based upon the criteria favoring the preferred alternative.

Control Access to Information

Information is a powerful weapon in a fight for power, and those who have access to information
or who have the capacity to filter or manipulate information can often succeed. in controlling
decisions.

Sales projections, salary information, quality reports, and many other items of information are
frequently treated as confidential information in order to increase the political power of those
possessing the information.

Labor management negotiations are also filled with distrust because each side attempts to
manipulate the information to increase its power.

Although information is frequently manipulated intentionally as a political power strategy, this

process occurs most frequently in an innocent way.

Use Outside Experts

Outside experts can usually be found to support any point of view, regardless of the issue.

Therefore, individuals can influence the outcome of the decision by carefully selecting the right
outside expert and providing a forum for that individual to express an opinion.

The use of outside experts as a political strategy is particularly obvious in jury trials, where the
names and reputations of the experts are more important than the substance of the testimony.

Control Access to Influential People

Many great ideas and quality suggestions are killed or ignored because they never reach the
people who have the capacity to do anything with the new ideas often rock the boat and threaten
people’s jobs.

Middle managers often succeed in preventing lower-level members from submitting creative
ideas or constructive criticisms from communicating with top management.

Being able to communicate regularly with members of top management increases one’s ability to
use power, whether the interaction comes from a scheduled meeting, or commuting to work
together.

Form a Coalition

When groups of individuals discover they lack the power to influence the decision process, they
can increase their power by forming a coalition with other groups.

Coalitions are typically formed to maximize the rewards or outcomes to the group and its
members.
Therefore, most coalitions are comprised of the minimum number of members required to
achieve a successful decision. Coalitions tend to be unstable and temporary unless there are
philosophical or ideological commonalities that keep the parties together.

Co-opt the Opposition

The strategy of co-opting is similar to the strategy of forming a coalition.

However, co-optation generally refers to an enduring relationship rather than a temporary

alliance of a coalition. Co-opting occurs, for example, when a sub Unit asks a local critic to join
their group and work with them in solving their problems.

School systems, hospitals, and other civic organizations use a co-opting strategy of placing
influential citizens on their board of directors as a conscious strategy of reducing their
uncertainty and minimizing outside criticism.

Manipulate Symbols

Politics, either in organizations or in government, has a language of its own that is designed to
rationalize and justify decisions by using the appropriate symbolic , labels. Without this
legitimization, the exercise of power would be unacceptable and would create resistance.

Political actors need to use appropriate language and symbols to generate support when their
decisions are made on the basis of power. Decisions that are largely based on power can often be
made to appear as though they resulted from rational decision making.

Use Interpersonal Manipulation

Perhaps the most blatant political strategy is when people directly pursue their goals through
persuasion, manipulation, or integration.

Persuasion is an overt attempt to influence others by asking for co-operation and by providing
information that supports the request. There is no effort to conceal the intentions of the persuader
and, for the most part, the information is considered accurate.

There is a difference between persuasion and manipulation. Both involve the presentation of
information designed to obtain one’s desired goal. In manipulation, however, the intent of the
person is concealed from the other person and critical information is either distorted or withheld
to influence the decision.

Ingratiation is a form of interpersonal manipulation that is accomplished through flattery and

display of sincerity.
Flattery is a form of positive reinforcement designed to alter the target person’s perception of the
flatterer. The most direct form of integration is when person A goes to person B and makes
flattering comments.

However, the effectiveness of this strategy is limited since person B may be skeptical of person
A’s motives. A more effective strategy is for person A to make flattering comments about person
B to someone else who could be expected to report the comments back to person B.

Flattering comments by person A do not create suspicion if they come through person C.

8. What is the difference between power and leadership/authority?

Differences Between Leadership and Power

 Definition

Power is the ability of an individual to exercise some form of control over another individual. On

the other hand, leadership is the ability to create a vision, motivate people to work towards

achieving the vision, coaching and building the team that will pioneer the completion of the

vision and managing the end delivery of the vision.

 Credibility

Credibility is needed in leadership but not a necessity in power.

 Source

Power is derived form a position of authority. Leadership is a personal attribute.

 Nature

Power is generally controlling and forceful in making followers follow commands. Leadership

involves inspiring the subordinates to complete tasks.

  Dependence

Leadership requires power in order to be effective. However, power does not depend on

leadership. One can have power but not be a leader. But, all leaders require some form of power

in order to successfully inspire subordinates.

 Types

The types of power include coercive, legitimate, expert, referent and reward. The main types of

leadership include autocratic, democratic, transformational, monarchical and laisses-faire.

9. Discuss the types of power and faces of power?

For simplicity and understanding purposes power is usually classified into following categories:

1. Coercive Power- This kind of power involves the usage of threat to make people do
what one desires. In the organizational set up, it translates into threatening someone with
transfer, firing, demotions etc. it basically forces people to submit to one’s demand for
the fear of losing something.
2. Reward Power- As the name suggests, this type of power uses rewards, perks, new
projects or training opportunities, better roles and monetary benefits to influence people.
However an interesting aspect of this type of power is that, it is not powerful enough in
itself, as decisions related to rewards do not rest solely with the person promising them,
because in organizations, a lot of other people come into play like senior managers and
board.
3. Legitimate Power- This power emanates from an official position held by someone, be it
in an organization, beurocracy or government etc. The duration of this power is short
lived as a person can use it only till the time he/she holds that position, as well as, the
scope of the power is small as it is strictly defined by the position held.
4. Expert Power- This is a personal kind of power which owes its genesis to the skills and
expertise possessed by an individual, which is of higher quality and not easily available.
In such a situation, the person can exercise the power of knowledge to influence people.
Since, it is very person specific and skills can be enhanced with time; it has more
credibility and respect.
5. Referent Power- This is a power wielded by celebrities and film stars as they have huge
following amongst masses who like them, identify with them and follow them. Hence,
they exert lasting influence on a large number of people for a large number of decisions;
like from what car to buy to which candidate to choose for a higher office in the country.
10. Discuss the relationship between power and politics in organizations.

Politics: Power in action

Political behavior are those activities that are not required as part of one’s formal role in
the organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages
and disadvantages within the organization.

Legitimate and illegitimate political behaviors are common in organizations. Politics is a

fact of life in organizations.

11. ower and politics are

inextricably interwoven
with the fabric of an
organisation’s
12. life. In any organisation,
at any given moment, a
number of people are
seeking to gain
13. and use power to achieve
their own ends. This
pursuit of power is political
behaviour.
14. Organisational politics
refers to the activities
carried out by people to
acquire, enhance
15. and use power and other
resources to obtain their
preferred outcomes in a
situation where
16. there is uncertainity or
disagreement. One great
 organisational scholar,
Tushman defined
17. politics, ‘as the structure
and process of the use of
authority and power to
affect definition
18. of goals, directions and
the other major parameters
of the organisation.
Decisions are not
19. made in rational or
formal way but rather
through compromise
accommodation and
20. bargaining
21. ower and politics are
inextricably interwoven
with the fabric of an
organisation’s
22. life. In any organisation,
at any given moment, a
number of people are
seeking to gain
23. and use power to achieve
their own ends. This
pursuit of power is political
behaviour.
24. Organisational politics
refers to the activities
carried out by people to
acquire, enhance
25. and use power and other
resources to obtain their
preferred outcomes in a
situation where
26. there is uncertainity or
disagreement. One great
organisational scholar,
Tushman defined
27. politics, ‘as the structure
and process of the use of
 authority and power to
affect definition
28. of goals, directions and
the other major parameters
of the organisation.
Decisions are not
29. made in rational or
formal way but rather
through compromise
accommodation and
30. bargaining
31. employees to be
punctual, considerate and
 creative can simply
demonstrate those
32. behaviours herself and
her employees will likely
imitate her actions.
33. 3.5 Organisational
Politics
34. Power and politics are
inextricably interwoven
with the fabric of an
organisation’s
35. life. In any organisation,
at any given moment, a
 number of people are
seeking to gain
36. and use power to achieve
their own ends. This
pursuit of power is political
behaviour.
37. Organisational politics
refers to the activities
carried out by people to
acquire, enhance
38. and use power and other
resources to obtain their
preferred outcomes in a
situation where
39. there is uncertainity or
disagreement. One great
organisational scholar,
Tushman defined
40. politics, ‘as the structure
and process of the use of
authority and power to
affect definition
41. of goals, directions and
the other major parameters
of the organisation.
Decisions are not
42. made in ra
11. Does power serve positive or negative functions for an organization? Discuss your
experiences with power.
Positive

 Power prompts people to take action

 Makes individuals more responsive to changes within a group and its environment
 Powerful people are more proactive, more likely to speak up, make the first move, and
lead negotiation
 Powerful people are more focused on the goals appropriate in a given situation and tend
to plan more task-related activities in a work setting
 Powerful people tend to experience more positive emotions, such as happiness and
satisfaction, and they smile more than low-power individuals
 Power is associated with optimism about the future because more powerful individuals
focus their attention on more positive aspects of the environment
 People with more power tend to carry out executive cognitive functions more rapidly and
successfully, including internal control mechanisms that coordinate attention, decision-
making, planning, and goal-selection
 Negative
 Powerful people are prone to take risky, inappropriate, or unethical decisions and often
overstep their boundaries
 They tend to generate negative emotional reactions in their subordinates, particularly
when there is a conflict in the group
 When individuals gain power, their self-evaluation become more positive, while their
evaluations of others become more negative
 Power tends to weaken one's social attentiveness, which leads to difficulty understanding
other people's point of view
 Powerful people also spend less time collecting and processing information about their
subordinates and often perceive them in a stereotypical fashion
 People with power tend to use more coercive tactics, increase social distance between
themselves and subordinates, believe that non-powerful individuals are untrustworthy, and
devalue work and ability of less powerful individuals

12. Are the strategies and tactics of politics realistic elements of modern organizational
life? What are your reactions to the descriptions of political strategy and tactics?

1. In everyday situations people use a variety of power tactics to push or prompt other
people into particular actions. Many examples exist of common power tactics employed
every day. Some of these tactics include bullying, collaboration,complaining,criticizing,
demanding,disengaging,evading, humor, inspiring, manipulating, negotiating,
socializing, and supplicating. One can classify such power tactics along three different
dimensions:
2. Soft and hard: Soft tactics take advantage of the relationship between the influencer and
the target. They are more indirect and interpersonal (e.g., collaboration, socializing).
Conversely, hard tactics are harsh, forceful, direct, and rely on concrete outcomes.
 However, they are not more powerful than soft tactics. In many circumstances, fear
of social exclusion can be a much stronger motivator than some kind of physical
punishment.
3. Rational and no rational: Rational tactics of influence make use of reasoning, logic, and
sound judgment, whereas no rational tactics may rely on emotionality or misinformation.
Examples of each include bargaining and persuasion, and evasion and put-downs,
respectively.
4. Unilateral and bilateral: Bilateral tactics, such as collaboration and negotiation, involve
reciprocity on the part of both the person influencing and their target. Unilateral tactics,
on the other hand, develop without any participation on the part of the target. These
tactics include disengagement and the deployment of faiths accomplish.
5. People tend to vary in their use of power tactics, with different types of people opting for
different tactics. For instance, interpersonally oriented people tend to use soft and
rational tactics. Moreover, extroverts use a greater variety of power tactics than do
introverts. People will also choose different tactics based on the group situation, and
based on whom they wish to influence. People also tend to shift from soft to hard tactics
when they face resistance.

13. Identify the costs and benefits to an organization of its members engaging in political
behavior.

Defensive behaviors- Reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame or change.

- When employees see politics as a threat, they often respond with defensive behaviors

- Defensive behaviors are often associated with negative feelings toward the job and work
environment.

- In the short run, employees may find that defensiveness protects their self-interest, but in
the long run it wears them down.

- People who consistently rely on defensiveness find that, eventually, it is the only way
they know how to behave.

- At that point, they lose the trust and support of their peers, bosses, employees, and clients.

14. What steps can women take in order to strengthen their organizational power and
influence?

1. Have an active policy in place with procedures for making complaints

2. No retaliation for reporting harassment
3. Investigate every complaint
4. Discipline or terminate offenders
5. Train - seminars and on-line courses

15. Discuss symptoms of dysfunctional

1)  There are secrets in the organization or work unit and it is not o.k. to talk about these
issues openly.   This may an unethical behavior you are seeing like mismanagement of funds
or an abuse of power.  Whatever it may be you are not supposed to call it out.  In a healthy
organization anything can be freely expressed in an open and transparent manner.

2)  Feelings are not discussed in the workplace.  The expectation is that you are a worker bee
and if you are feeling stressed out or overwhelmed for example you are supposed to just suck
it up.  You should be able to share your feelings whatever they may be as long as it is done in
appropriate manner.

3)  Never say exactly what you mean to a person who needs to hear it  In other words speak in
code and doublespeak.  In a healthy work environment you should be able to speak with
impeccable words. 

4)  Make one mistake and you are gone.  This just creates more stress on staff and increases
the chance they will make more mistakes.  A better way is to use this as a learning experience
and look for the teachable moment so they will know how to do better the next time.

5)  Leadership will take credit for your good ideas and punish you for failures.  If this is the
norm it will stifle creativity.  A better option is to encourage everyone on the team to provide
their input and make sure they are praised and rewarded for the innovative suggestions.

6)  Everything you are belongs to the organization.  This type of attitude encourages
workaholism.  When this occurs productivity actually declines and there may be some health
issues that can arise as well.  There should be realistic boundaries that every employee has
with their work and if a goal is to be home for dinner with your family then that should be
allowed. 

7)  Do as we say and not as we do.  There is a lot of hypocrisy in the organization. 
Policies and procedures apply to some of the people some of the time.  It is better to have
management and all staff walk the talk.  Don't ask others to do anything that you are not
willing to do yourself.  Set a good example.

8)  You're not here to enjoy yourself; you're here to work.  This only creates a more
stressful environment and takes the joy out of the work.  I was in this situation in several
of my jobs and it got to the point where I dreaded going to work.  A better goal would be
to have staff be happy, joyous and free at work. As Tribal people we like to joke and tease
each other and this should be allowed at work.  Of course there has to be limits as you
don't want people clowning each other all day.
9)  Don't rock the boat.  Protect the status quo at all costs.  When this is the message you
will continue to get the same results you have been getting which may be poor
communication, lots of conflicts and chaos.  It is far better to embrace change when it has
a specific purpose.  The most progressive Tribal organizations and other agencies are
those that value new ideas and input on an ongoing basis.