CHAPTER SEVEN

Power, Politics, and

Leadership
 Learning Objectives

• Recognize the various types of power.

• Identify tactics used for becoming an
empowering leader.
• Know how to use delegation to support
empowerment.
• Pinpoint factors contributing to
organizational politics.

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 Learning Objectives

• Describe both ethical and unethical political

behaviors.
• Explain how a leader can control
dysfunctional politics.

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 Sources of Power

• Power may
– be granted by the organization
– stem from characteristics of an individual
– stem from ownership
– stem from control of resources
– be derived from capitalizing on opportunity
– stem from managing critical problems
– stem from being close to power

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 Four Bases of Position Power

• Legitimate power is the lawful right to

make a decision and expect compliance
• Reward power stems from having the
authority to give employees rewards for
compliance
• Coercive power is the power to punish for
noncompliance
• Information power stems from formal
control over the information people need

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 Sources of Personal Power

• Expert power is the ability to influence

others through specialized knowledge,
skills, or abilities
• Referent power is the ability to influence
others through desirable traits and
characteristics
• Prestige power is power stemming from
one’s status and reputation

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 Ownership Power

• A leader’s strength of ownership power

depends on
– how closely the leader is linked to shareholders
and board members
– how much money he or she has invested in the
firm

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 Resource Dependence Perspective

• An organization requires a continuing flow

of human resources, money, customers and
clients, technological inputs, and materials
to continue to function
• Organizational subunits or individuals who
can provide these key resources accrue
power

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 Power from Capitalizing on Opportunity

• Power can be derived from being in the

right place at the right time and taking the
appropriate action

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 Strategic Contingency Theory

• Units best able to cope with the firm’s

critical problems and uncertainties acquire
relatively large amounts of power
• A subunit can acquire power by virtue of its
centrality
• Centrality is the extent to which a unit’s
activities are linked into the system of
organizational activities

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 Power from Being Close to Power

• The closer a person is to power, the greater

power he or she exerts
• The higher a unit reports in a firm’s
hierarchy, the more power it possesses

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 Effective Empowering Practices

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 Organizational Politics

• Informal approaches to gaining power

through means other than merit or luck

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 Factors Contributing to Political Behavior

• Pyramid-shaped organization structure

• Subjective standards of performance
• Environmental uncertainty and turbulence
• Emotional insecurity
• Machiavellian tendencies
• Disagreement over major issues

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 Power-Gaining Strategies

• Develop power contacts

• Control vital information
• Keep informed
• Control lines of communication
• Bring in outside experts
• Make a quick showing
• Remember that everyone expects to be paid
back
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 Relationship-Building Strategies

• Display loyalty
• Manage your impression
• Ask satisfied customers to contact your boss
• Be courteous, pleasant, and positive
• Ask advice
• Send thank-you notes to large numbers of
people
• Flatter others sensibly

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 Potential Political Blunders

• Criticizing the boss in a public forum

• Bypassing the boss
• Declining an offer from top management
• Putting your foot in your mouth

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 Unethical Political Tactics

• Back stabbing
• Embrace or demolish
• Setting a person up for failure
• Divide and rule
• Playing territorial games

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 Controlling Politics

• Be aware of its causes and techniques

• Avoid favoritism
• Set good examples at the top of the
organization
• Encourage goal congruence
• Threaten to discuss questionable
information in a public forum
• Hire people with integrity

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 Summary

• Organizational power may be derived from

position, personal characteristics,
ownership, managing critical problems,
resources, capitalizing upon opportunity,
and being close to power
• Full-fledged empowerment includes
meaning, competence, self-determination,
impact, and internal commitment

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 Summary

• Delegation is an important part of

empowerment
• To acquire and retain power, a leader must
skillfully use organizational politics
• Political tactics and strategies may be either
ethical or unethical
• Carried to the extreme, organizational
politics can hurt an organization and its
members

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