The Nature of Power and Politics• Power

– Principal means of directing and controlling organizational goals and activities

– Ability to get others to do something they might not otherwise do• Organizational politics Activities in which managers engage to increase their

power and to pursue goals that favor their individual and group interests.

The Good Side of Power

• Improve decision making quality• Promote change • Encourage cooperation• Promote new organizational goals

Sources of Individual Power

• Formal power

– Legitimate power– Reward power– Coercive power– Information power

• Informal power

– Expert power– Referent power– Charismatic power

Sources of Functional and Divisional Power

• Ability to control uncertain contingencies• Irreplaceability• Centrality• Ability to control and generate resources

Tactics for Increasing Individual Power

• Tapping the sources of functional and divisional power

• Recognizing who has power• Controlling the agenda • Bringing in an outside expert• Building coalitions and alliances

Factors of Relative Power• Sources of power• Consequences of power• Symbols of power• Personal reputations• Representational indicators

What is Organizational Conflict?

Self-interested struggle that arises when the goal-directed behavior

of one person or group blocks the goal-directed behavior

of another person or group

Sources of Conflict• Differentiation

– Differences in functional orientations– Status inconsistencies

• Task relationships– Overlapping authority– Task interdependencies– Incompatible evaluation systems

• Scarcity of resources

Figure 13.5 Pondy’s Model of Organizational Conflict

• Stage 1 – Latent conflict• Stage 2 – Perceived conflict• Stage 3 – Felt conflict• Stage 4 – Manifest conflict• Stage 5 – Conflict aftermath

Forms of Manifest Conflict• Open aggression• Violence• Infighting• Sabotage• Physical intimidation• Lack of cooperation

Negotiation

• Initial offer• Counteroffers• Concession• Compromise

A process in which groups with conflicting interests meet togetherto make offers, counteroffers, and concessions to each other in aneffort to resolve their differences.

Individual-Level Conflict Management

• Manager meets with employees in conflict. All understand facts of conflict

• Manager summarizes dispute in written form• Manager discusses facts in report with each

employee separately and works out a common solution

• Manager gets commitment to resolving dispute

Group-Level Conflict Management

• Compromise• Collaboration• Accommodation• Avoidance• Competition

Promoting Compromise• Emphasize common goals• Focus on the problem, not the people• Focus on interests, not demands• Create opportunities for joint gain• Focus on what is fair

Union-Management Negotiations• Distributive bargaining• Attitudinal structuring