People & Organization

Third Lecture

 .
The Three Lenses!
Basic Concepts & Tools of a Political
Perspective
Interests
•
Interests in Organizations

Vertical Divisions of Interests

Top executives vs middle mgrs (squeezed)

Senior-long tenure vs newcomers

Full time employees vs contractors

Horizontal Divisions of Interests

Depts. or other subunits

Networks, Social Links…

Sources of Power in Organizations

 What is power?
 The ability to get someone to do what you want that
they don’t want to do on their own!

 Positional---yes for sure…but not the full story—

 •You have lots of sources of power to draw on!

Sources of Power in Organizations

 Positional: Legitimate authority; or ―I’m the boss

 Personal: Expertise, information
 Resource Control: Rewards, sanctions (e.g. legal,
budgets, compensation….)
 Tactical: commitment, deadlines, face saving,
integrative solutions
 Reputation: Trustworthy, effective, networked,
Coalitions & Networks

 Coalition—temporary, unstable, instrumental, task

or situation specific

 Networks—likely to be based on social

relationships as well as tasks—friendship ties, past
interactions, mentors, peers….
Tools
 Interests: Do a stakeholder map—allies, adversaries,
neutrals

 Power:
 What sources of power can I mobilize in dealing with
others?
 How can I empower others to do what I want done?
 Coalitions-Networks: Who else can I draw on for support?
Political lense
 Political lense refers to the skills of inquiry needed
to understand the ways in which power operates in
democratic, autocratic or in any other form.

 It includes an understanding of how government

works and the many complex political issues facing
society, as well as the critical thinking skills to
evaluate different points of view.
Political lense (Cont’d)
 This consider the political ideas and analyze the
structure and operation of governments, policies,
political trends, and related issues
 Some questions of focus are:

 How do policies impact us?

 What effect does it have on a discussion when
each person has an equal voice?
 Even when you give everyone an equal voice,
what happens?
Political lense (Cont’d)
 What does authority mean? Who has authority and
why?
 What interests are being served by those in
power?
 When conflict arise?
 Conflicts between the public interest and special
interests naturally emerge in the design and
implementation of public policies.
 Some public policies pursue the public interest by
attempting to correct for market imperfections,
lower transaction costs, effectively regulate
externalities, or enhance productivity.
Political Lens!
 Model: organizations contest for power and
autonomy among internal stakeholders
 Key processes: conflict, negotiation, coalition building
 Key concepts: power, influence, networks, autonomy,
interests, dominant coalition
 Leader: coalition builder, negotiator
 Drivers of change: shifts in power of stakeholders
(can be influenced by changes in design,
environment, or strategy)
Activity
 Think about some examples of organizations and
how they can be effected by political lense?

 What’s An Organization?
 A machine? • An organism? • A community? • A
distributed intelligence? • A battlefield? Or What?
Activity!
1. What are the goals of your organization?
2. What team member knowledge and skills are
needed to organizational success?
3. How do you organize sub-goals and sub-tasks?
4. How do you assign roles and responsibilities?
5. How do you communicate with each other?
6. How do you align individuals to the team goals?
7. Was it rational coordination enough?
 Activity!
So What? Using The Lenses
Diagnosing organizations

Leading a team

Leading change

Developing yourself for a career

Questions

Describe your organization?

What are the multiple powers effecting your

organization?
Activity!
 How are you going to deal with them or make
coalition with them?
 How are you going to make the network?
References
 Managing for the future (Organizational Behavior
and Processes) By Ancona
 Managing People and Organizations (2010) by
Guido Stein
 Rouse, W. B. (2007. People and
Organizations: Explorations of Human-Centered
Design.