Lecture 11

Power & Authority

The Nature of Power and Politics
Power

It is defined as the ability to influence

others to do something they might not
otherwise do

It is the principal means of directing and

controlling organisational goals and
activities
The Nature of Power and Politics

• Organisational politics are activities in which

managers engage to increase their power and
pursue goals that favour their individual and
group interests.
 THE TWO FACES OF POWER
- DAVID McCLELLAND

Is the use of power and politics to promote

personal and group interests a bad thing?
 THE TWO FACES OF POWER
- DAVID McCLELLAND

NEGATIVE FACE

L Usually expressed in terms of dominance-submission.

L “ I win , you lose”

L To have power – implies having power over another; to dominate

others

L People can be used or sacrificed as the need arises

L Subordinates become passive , resist leadership and their value

to the manager / organisation is severely limited.
 THE TWO FACES OF POWER
- DAVID McCLELLAND
POSITIVE FACE

J Exert influence on behalf of rather than over others

J Win-win situation

J A concern for group goals – help to formulate and

achieve them

J Good managers – exercise power with restraint / self-

control
The Good Side of Power

 Improve decision-making quality

 Promote change

 Encourage cooperation
 Promote new organisational goals
Sources of Individual Power

Individual Power

Formal Power Informal Power

Legitimate power Expert power
Reward power Referent power
Coercive power Charismatic power
Information power
“I can get my staff to do the work I want them to do because their
promotion depends on me”

“I can get my staff to do the work I want them to do because they respect me as their
mentor”

“I can get my staff to do the work I want them to do because I am their manager”

“I can get my staff to do the work I want them to do because I will cut their salary if they
don’t do the work”

“I can get my staff to do the work I want them to do because I always teach them the
skills that they need to know”
Formal Power
• Formal individual power is the power that stems from a
person’s position in an organisation’s hierarchy.

• 4 sources:

1. Legitimate power confers on an individual the legitimate

authority to control and use organisational resources to
accomplish organisational goals.

2. Reward power: The power to give pay raises, promotion,

praise, interesting projects, and other rewards to subordinates.
 Formal Power
3. Coercive power is the power to give or withhold
punishment.

4. Information power is power stemming from access to and

control over information. The greater a manager’s access
to and control over information, the greater is his or her
information power.
Informal Power
• Informal individual power: Power stemming from personal
characteristics.

• 3 forms:

1. Expert power is informal power that stems from superior

ability or expertise in performing a task.
2. Referent Power: People who gain power and influence in
a group because they are liked, admired, and respected
have referent power.
3. Charismatic power is an intense form of referent power
stemming from an individual’s personality, physical, or
other abilities that induces others to believe in and follow
that person.
Organisational Politics

• Organisational politics are activities that

managers engage in to increase their power.

• They can use the power to influence

organisational decisions that favour their
individual, functional, and divisional interests.
Tactics for Increasing Individual Power

1. Tap sources of functional and divisional power

2. Recognise who has power
3. Control the agenda
4. Bring in an outside expert
5. Build coalitions/alliances
 Tap sources of functional and
divisional power

How?

• Managers can try to make themselves irreplaceable.

• Managers may control a crucial contingency facing their
organisation
• Able to solve a critical problem or overcome
uncertainty
• Managers can try to make themselves more central in an
organisation.
Recognise who has power

• With this knowledge a person knows who to

try to influence and impress.
 Control the agenda
• Controlling the agenda means to determine what issues
and problems decision makers will consider.

• Powerful managers can prevent formal discussion of any

issue they do not support by not putting the issue on the
agenda.
 Bring in an outside expert
• Managers may call in an outside expert in the hopes (if
not by design) that the expert will follow their suggested
course of action in a controversial or politically motivated
matter.

• If possible, a manager will use the “objective” view of the

expert to support his or her position.
 Build coalitions/alliances

• The ability to forge coalitions and alliances with the

managers of the most important divisions provides
aspiring top managers with a power base from which they
can promote their personal agenda.