Organizational Power and Politics

Organizational Power and Politics

Efficient functioning of an organization is based on leadership, power, and politics. The underlying principle of both politics and power is the extent of the interconnection between individuals who must deal with the interests of others while pursuing their own goals within an organization. The actions of each member of an organization affect all other members to some degree. This interdependence of organizational members is based on a system of authority and control.

Power

Power is defined as the ability of a group or person to exert influence over or control another group or person to do something. The focus of power is to apply tactics to gain compliance for a desired result, the ability to influence others successfully. Organizations are composed of individuals with differing levels of power. For instance, the power of a chief executive officer (CEO) is much greater than that of a line manager and has a much stronger and larger sphere of influence. A manager's ability to get work done depends upon the power possessed and how that power is perceived by subordinates. Positional power is derived strictly from a manager's position or role within an organization. An individual's personal power stems from personal characteristics; expertise, political savvy, and likability (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008).

Politics

"Politics involves the use of power to obtain ends not officially sanctioned; it also involves the use of power to find ways of balancing individual and collective interests in otherwise difficult circumstances" (Schermerhorn et al., 2008, p. 236). Organizational politics can be defined as activities not required as part of one's formal role in the organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of resources and advantages within the organization" (Schermerhorn et al., 2008). One tradition of organizational politics builds on Machiavelli's philosophy; that management may use influence to obtain an organizations' sanctioned results via un-sanctioned means or they may use sanctioned means to obtain un-sanctioned results. The second tradition of organizational politics occurs when companies, groups, and individuals join and work together to serve their self-interests (Schermerhorn et al., 2008).

Organizational Management and Leadership Practices

Management's role is to enable a smooth running organization and to promote stability whereas leadership is the "process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives" (Schermerhorn et al., 2008, p. 243). Managers may be involved in both leadership and management activities or may sacrifice one for the other. However, both activities are needed for successful and effective management.

Management

Managers perform four vital functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. In most organizations, managers are the primary change agent. Managers shape the organizations' culture by the decisions they make and their role-modeling behaviors. As an example, the level of innovation within an organization is largely determined by management decisions related to cultural factors, structural design, and human resource policies. In addition, the degree to which an organization can learn and adapt to changing environmental factors is determined by management's practices, policies, and decisions (Robbins & Judge, 2009).

Leadership

An effective manager must perform the functions of a leadership