Unit 06
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Power refers to an individual's ability to influence others, while politics involves using power to achieve tasks and protect interests. Authority is the formal right of managers to issue orders. It is important for managers to understand power, politics, and authority to efficiently manage organizations and balance individual and organizational goals. Job design and delegation of authority are also crucial for optimal performance.
Unit 06
- 1. COURSE CODE:: MP101 Course ::Management theory and Practice Unit -6::POWER, POLITICS, AND AUTHORITY
- 2. OBJECTIVES Discuss the concept of power Explain the concept of organizational politics Describe the significance of morale Elaborate on the concept of authority Detail upon the need of job design
- 3. INTRODUCTION Power is an indispensable management concept that encompasses influences, mechanisms, and processes to ensure that the individual actions are based on the set rules of an organization. In other words, power refers to an ability of an individual to influence others to get the tasks done. The process of mobilizing or exercising power is known as politics. Both power and politics are inevitable factors that directly affect different organizational practices. Power involves employing stored influences through which events, actions, and behaviors of individuals are directed. On the other hand, politics involves using power to get the tasks done and protect the vested interests of individuals in an organization. It is necessary for managers to understand the concepts of power and politics to manage the organization efficiently. Authority is regarded as a corner stone of an organization. It refers to formal rights granted to managers to issue orders to subordinates and get the tasks done. Authority can also be defined as an ability of an individual to ensure the compliance of instructions given by the superior in an organization. Sometimes, the terms authority and power are used interchangeably; however, these two terms are different. Authority is formal in nature and is legally enforced, whereas power is informal and depends on the individual understanding.
- 4. CONCEPT OF POWER Power is the ability of individuals or groups to induce or influence the beliefs or actions of other people or groups. Power can be present in any relationship. Following are the personal and professional attributes of a manager that makes him/her powerful: Personal Attributes: Includes interpersonal and analytical skills, knowledge, and energy level Includes a strong professional reputation Includes an ability to have favourable relationships Professional Attributes: Includes a degree at which a manager controls tangible and intangible resources Includes a sense of obligation towards the duty Includes the association of other employees with the manager Includes the perceived dependence of a manager
- 5. TYPES OF POWER The types of power, which are explained in the following points: Legitimate Power: Refers to the power that is inherent in the position and authority of an individual within an organization. Reward Power: Refers to the power possessed by individual who has the authority to give rewards to others. Coercive Power: Refers to the negative part of power in which a manager influences employees by punishment, such as termination. Expert Power: Refers to the power possessed by an individual because of his/her superior ability or expertise in one or more areas. Referent Power: Refers to the power used by an individual who is liked and respected by others.
- 6. DEFINE ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS Those activities engaged in by people in order to acquire, enhance and employ power and other resources to achieve preferred outcomes in organizational setting characterized by disagreement or uncertainty about choices. ---- Pfeffer Politics in an organization refers to 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. ---- Farrell and Peterson
- 7. REASONS FOR POLITICAL BEHAVIOR Scarce Resources: Indicate inadequacy of resources because of which goal attainment becomes difficult. Narrow Opportunities: Indicate the insufficiency of promotional opportunities. Lack of Trust: Indicates that in the fast moving competent world, people trust very less on each other. Role Ambiguity: Implies uncertainty about the job role in the minds of employees. Performance Evaluation: Refers to the reward distribution depending on the performance. Stress to Perform Well: Refers to the pressure of performing well all the time. Desire to Get Good Rewards: Refers to the employees’ wish to get high rewards. Individual Factors: Refer to the inherent nature of individuals due to which they get engaged in politicking.
- 8. POLITICAL STRATEGIES Forming Alliances: Indicates that the individuals make association with those people who themselves are either powerful or are at least close to those who enjoy powerful position in the organization. Selective Use of Information: Implies that individuals who want to indulge in politicking try to withhold information that is important or give limited information because of their selfish motives. Escapism: Indicates that individuals who have mastered the art of politicking know how to escape in cases where they are held responsible for anything wrong. Image Building: Indicates that the people who indulge in politicking would try to build their positive image in front of others, as it is must for them to be successful. Networking: Indicates that the individuals try to maintain good interpersonal relationship with others and especially with those who are at influential positions. Compromise: Indicates that the people who indulge in politicking may forgo their values and beliefs for attaining an influential position in the organization. Persuasion: Refers to the persuasive power of individuals through which they influence and convince others for attaining their own higher goals, which they conceal from everybody.
- 9. MANAGING POLITICAL BEHAVIOR Following points explain the measures that help in managing political behavior: Defining Job Duties Clearly: Refers to defining job duties in a very concise and precise manner. Demonstrating Proper Behavior: Implies that the top management should demonstrate ideal behavior, which it expects its employees to exhibit. Promoting Understanding: Indicates that the steps should be taken by top management to build better understanding among employees. Allocating Resources Judicially: Refers to optimum utilization of resources.
- 10. MORALE Morale can be defined as attitudes of individuals as well as groups towards their work environment and towards voluntary co-operation to the full extent of their ability in the best interest of the organization. ---- Keith Davis Morale is the combination or structure of employees’ attitudes towards the principal element in the situations in which they work. ---- Dale Yoder
- 11. FUNDAMENTALS OF BUILDING GOOD MORALE The four important fundamentals that help in forming good morale are explained as follows: Intrinsic Job Satisfaction: Refers to the satisfaction gained by employees when they feel contended with processes and procedures involved in a job and the responsibilities and rewards offered to them. Good Relationship with Co-workers: Helps in maintaining cordial association with colleagues. Good Relationship with Supervisors: Helps in building mutual trust between employees and the supervisor. Rewards Distribution: Refers to recognizing the contributions of employees by giving them monetary or non-monetary benefits.
- 12. AUTHORITY AND ITS DELEGATION Authority refers to a power or right of an individual to take decisions by making efficient utilization of resources. Authority includes giving commands and orders to make the tasks done. Generally, authority flows from top to bottom level in the organizational hierarchy. In an organization, a manager can neither achieve the organizational objectives alone nor can he/she instruct all the employees of the organization. Delegation refers to a process of sub-dividing or sub-allocating the authority to subordinates to achieve desirable results. A manager should delegate authority to his/her subordinates on the basis of their skills and competencies.
- 13. JOB DESIGN Job design involves aggregating the tasks, duties, and responsibilities associated with a job into a single unit of work, to achieve the organizational objectives. Job design is useful in reducing job dissatisfaction, making the job specialized, and increasing productivity. However, the jobs that are not properly designed result in increased rate of attrition, low productivity, and high overall cost of the organization. Thus, job design helps to create a match between job requirements and available human resource attributes.
- 14. TECHNIQUES OF JOB DESIGN Generally, four basic techniques are used by organizations for designing and redesigning the jobs: o Job rotation: Refers to moving an employee from one job to another. o Job enlargement: Refers to the method of broadening the scope of a job by adding more tasks and duties to it. o Job enrichment: Refers to a process in which the employees are given the opportunities to utilize their abilities and participate in the planning, decision-making, and controlling processes of an organization. o Job simplification: Refers to a process in which the tasks associated with a job are divided into small components.
- 15. SUMMARY Power is an indispensable management concept that encompasses influences, mechanisms, and processes to ensure that the individual actions are based on the set rules of an organization. The process of mobilizing or exercising power is known as politics. Organizational politics involves using power to create socially acceptable ends, which helps in balancing individuals and organizational interests. Authority refers to formal rights granted to managers to issue orders to subordinates and get the tasks done. It is necessary for managers to understand the concepts of power, politics and authority to manage the organization efficiently. © Dreamtech Press