July 19, 2022

Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you

Initial Postings: Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding in each assigned textbook chapter.

Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion.

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:

While it is popular today to ascribe all successes to the concept of leadership, much of an organization's success or failure is due to factors outside the influence of leadership. Based on what you have studied, what do you see as the true value of leadership?

[Your post must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. Postings must be in the student's own words – do not provide quotes!]

[Your initial post should be at least 200+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced).

Essentials of Organizational Behavior

Fifteenth Edition

Chapter 13

Power and Politics

Learning Objectives

13.1 Contrast leadership and power.

13.2 Explain the three bases of formal power and the two bases of personal power.

13.3 Explain the role of dependence in power relationships.

13.4 Identify power or influence tactics and their contingencies.

13.5 Identify the causes and consequences of abuse of power.

13.6 Describe how politics work in organizations.

13.7 Identify the causes, consequences, and ethics of political behavior.

Power and Leadership (Learning Objective 13.1)

Power: the capacity, discretion, and means to enforce one’s will over others

The most important aspect of power is that it is a function of dependence

Power refers to the capacity one person has over the other person to get the individual to do something. That is, we may think of it as the capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes.

Inherent in this definition is the idea of dependency. The stronger the relationship or the dependency that one person has when the other possesses something they want or requires, the greater the dependency on that person.

Contrasting Leadership and Power

Leadership requires goal congruence, focuses on downward influence, and emphasizes the leadership style

Power only needs dependence, is concerned with influence in all directions, and focuses on tactics used by individuals and groups

Leadership and power are two different concepts. Leadership is focusing on goal achievement along with followers. Power is used as a way to accomplish the goal and often followers are also a means to accomplish the goal. Leadership will focus on using leadership downward to influence others to help them achieve their tasks, whereas power uses influence to gain something upward or laterally.

Bases of Power (Learning Objective 13.2)

Formal power is based on an individual’s organizational position

Coercive Power: complies from fear of the negative results

Reward Power: complies due to desire for positive benefits

Legitimate Power: from the formal authority to control and use organizational resources

There are two main bases of power, formal and personal. Formal power is defined by the position a person will hold in the organization. People with formal power can utilize different power bases to accomplish their tasks. The first is coercive power, where employees fear negative consequences if they don’t do what they are told. Reward power is the ability to distribute rewards that others see as valuable, encouraging them to accomplish the goals or tasks to get the reward. The last base is legitimate power where the formal authority to control and use resources is then based on the person’s position in the formal hierarchy.

Personal Power

Personal power stems from an individual’s unique characteristics

Expert: influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill, or knowledge

Referent: based on identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits

Charisma

The second major form of power is personal power, which comes through the individual’s personality and characteristics. This is often more effective than formal power. Personal power can be based on expert power, or the individual’s special skills or knowledge. It can also be based on referent power, or the personal traits or resources he or she offers to others.

Which Bases of Power are Most Effective?

Different bases of power are effective

Perceptions

Characteristics of the dependent

Different bases of power are effective depending upon the perceptions and characteristics of the dependent.

Referent power can be an especially powerful motivator.

Dependence: The Key to Power (Learning Objective 13.3)

Dependence: most important aspect of power

The greater B’s dependence on A, the more power A has over B

What creates dependence?

Importance

Scarcity

Non-substitutability

The most important aspect of power is that it is a function of dependence. Understanding dependence helps us understand degrees of power.

Dependence increases when a resource you control is important, scarce, and non-substitutable.

Example of a Sociogram (Exhibit 13-1)

We can use social network analysis to assess the exchange of resources and dependencies within an organization.

A graphical illustration of the associations among individuals in a social network is called a sociogram, which functions like an informal version of an organization chart. The difference is that a formal organization chart shows how authority is supposed to flow, whereas a sociogram shows how resources really flow in an organization.

Networks can create substantial power dynamics.

Long Description:

The details of the sociogram are as follows:

Thomas is interconnected to Martha, sales and marketing team, and Albert and Eric from the project team.

Sales and marketing is interconnected to project team and customers.

Martha is interconnected to Anne and customer service team.

Anne is interconnected to finance and operations team.

Operations is interconnected to project team and suppliers.

The customers are interconnected to the customer service team.

All the interconnections in the sociogram are denoted by bi-directional solid arrows.

Nine Influence Tactics (Learning Objective 13.4)

Legitimacy

Rational persuasion

Inspirational appeals

Consultation

Exchange

Personal appeals

Ingratiation

Pressure

Coalitions

Influence tactics are ways in which individuals translate power bases into specific actions.

This slide exhibits 9 major power or influence tactics. They are legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation, pressure, and coalitions.

Using Influence Tactics

Some tactics are more effective than others

Combining tactics increases effectiveness

Direction, audience, sequencing, individual skill, and organizational culture influence effectiveness

Many factors can influence the effectiveness of influence tactics. In influencing performance, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, and consultation are often most effective while pressure can backfire.

The effectiveness of some influence tactics depends to some extent on the direction of influence and on the audience.

Their ability to encourage the desired behavior could depend on the sequencing of the tactics. It is often better to start with softer tactics such as exchange and work up to harder tactics such as pressure. The success of the tactics will, however, greatly depend on the political skill of the user and the context or culture of the organization.

Preferred Influence Tactics by Influence Direction (Exhibit 13-2)

While rational persuasion may work for you, the effectiveness of some influence tactics depends on the direction of influence. This exhibit shows that rational persuasion is the only tactic effective across organizational levels, although it is stronger when used for downward influence attempts.

Long Description:

The details are as follows:

Upward influence: Rational persuasion.

Downward influence: Rational persuasion; Inspirational appeals; Ingratiation; Legitimacy.

Lateral influence: Rational persuasion; Consultation; Ingratiation; Exchange; Legitimacy; Personal appeals; Coalitions.

Cultural Preferences for Influence Tactics

Culture affects preference for power tactics

Individualistic cultures

See power in personalized terms and as a legitimate means of advancing personal ends

Engage in more self-enhancement behaviors

Collectivistic cultures

See power in social terms and as legitimate means of helping others

An individual’s culture influences preferences for power tactics. Individualistic cultures view power in personalized terms and see it as a legitimate means of advancing personal ends, while those in collectivistic cultures view power in social terms and as a legitimate means of helping others.

Managers in the U.S. seem to prefer rational appeal, whereas Chinese managers may prefer coalition tactics.

Applying Influence Tactics

Political skill: ability to influence others to enhance one’s own objectives

Politically skilled are more effective users of all the influence tactics

More effective when social skills are required to do well in the job

Those with political skill can exert their influence without others detecting it

Political skill is the ability to influence others to enhance one’s own objectives. Those who are politically skilled are more effective users of all the influence tactics and are more effective when social skills are required to do well in the job. Those with political skill can exert their influence without others detecting it.

When an organization is run with open and fairly applied rules, free of favoritism or biases, political skill is actually negatively related to job performance.

People who fit the culture of the organization also tend to obtain more influence. Extraverts tend to be more influential in team-oriented organizations, and highly-conscientious people are more influential in organizations that value working alone on technical tasks.

Overall, political skill leads to several positive individual outcomes including boosting performance and productivity. Being politically skilled can improve reputation and career success.

How Power Affects People (Learning Objective 13.5)

Power can corrupt

Put their interests ahead of others

Objectify others

React to threats against their competence

Tend to be overconfident

But there can be positive effects of power

Depends on personality

Power affects the power holder.

Power leads people to place their own self interests ahead of others’ needs or goals, to objectify others, and to see relationships as more peripheral. Powerful people react to any threats to their competence and are more likely to denigrate others. Power also leads to overconfident decision making.

The toxic effects of power depend on one’s personality. Power doesn’t corrupt those with anxious personalities because they are less likely to think that using power benefits them. The corrosive effects of power can be contained by organizational systems. We have the power to blunt the negative effects of power. The people who are most likely to abuse power are those who are low in status and gain power.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individual’s employment or creates a hostile work environment

Power is central to understanding sexual harassment

Managers have a responsibility to protect their employees from a hostile work environment

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that sexual harassment happens when a person encounters “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature” on the job that disrupt work performance or that create an “intimidating, hostile, or offensive” work environment.

While countries define sexual harassment differently, most nations have at least some policies to protect workers. However, the real question may be whether the policies or laws are followed.

Sexual harassment is more likely when there are large power differentials.

Managers’ commitment to the process and responsibility for protecting employees from sexual harassment is critical.

Politics: Power in Action (Learning Objective 13.6)

Political behavior: consists of activities that are not required as part of an individual’s formal role but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization

Organizational politics focuses either on the use of power to affect decision making in an organization, or on self-serving and organizationally unsanctioned behaviors.

The Reality of Politics

Politics arise in organizations because of:

Conflicting interests

Limited resources

Ambiguity in decision making

Politicking: Twisting facts to support one’s own goals and interests

Politics often occurs when resources are low; the excess demand for the resources leads to competition and political behaviors. When the scarce resources are distributed, there will be varying views regarding how “fairly” or “effectively” the distribution was done. Perceptions can be distorted such that the manager feels he or she is documenting decisions, but the employee just feels that the manager is covering his rear.

Most of the time, managers are making decisions under ambiguous conditions and there is not a readily available objective standard. This creates a context in which political maneuvering is encouraged.

Politicking is the twisting of facts to support one’s own goals and interests.

Antecedents and Outcomes of Political Behavior (Exhibit 13-3)

There are a number of factors that influence political behavior. These factors include individual factors such as those with high “mach” personalities or high expectations of success. Situational influences such as low organizational investment or high expectations of success can lead to illegitimate political actions. Organizational factors such as a culture of low trust and role ambiguity can influence political behavior. The combination of these factors will lead to political behavior, which can lead to favorable outcomes such as increased rewards or decreased punishments.

Long Description:

The sequence explains how individual and organizational factors lead to political behavior, which in turn leads to favorable outcomes such as rewards and averted punishments. The political behavior is also denoted by a continuum which ranges from low to high.

The individual factors are listed below:

High self-monitors

Internal locus of control

High Mach personality

Organizational investment

Perceived job alternatives

Expectations of success.

The organizational factors are listed below:

Reallocation of resources

Promotion opportunities

Low trust

Role ambiguity

Unclear performance evaluation system

Zero-sum reward practices

Democratic decision making

High performance pressures

Self-serving senior managers.

How do People Respond to Organizational Politics?

Organizational politics may threaten employees

Decreased job satisfaction

Increased anxiety and stress

Increased turnover

Reduced performance

For most people who have modest political skills or who are unwilling to play the politics game, outcomes tend to be predominantly negative in terms of decreased job satisfaction, increased anxiety and stress, increased turnover, and reduced performance.

Qualifiers to Responses to Organizational Politics

The politics-performance relationship is moderated by individual’s understanding of who makes decisions and why they were selected

Political behavior at work moderates the effects of ethical leadership

When politics are perceived as a threat, people respond with defensive behaviors

Research has demonstrated that the more politics play a role in one’s environment, organization, or team, the more negative outcomes will be experienced, regardless of how necessary people perceive them to be.

Political behaviors can empower people to do well also. The politics-performance relationship is moderated by an individual’s understanding of the “how’s” and “why’s” of organizational politics.

Most employees will not engage in a high level of politics and often react negatively to politics. Their reactions include decreased job satisfaction, increased anxiety and stress, increased turnover, and a reduction in performance. Even though the given outcome for the individual employee who engages in politics may be favorable, it is often a negative impact for the group as a whole.

Defensive Behaviors (Exhibit 13-4)

This exhibit shows examples of defensive behaviors – reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change.

Long Description:

The defensive behaviors are divided into following categories are as below:

Avoiding Action

Overconforming: Strictly interpreting your responsibility by saying things like “The rules clearly state …” or “This is the way we’ve always done it.”

Buck passing: Transferring responsibility for the execution of a task or decision to someone else.

Playing dumb: Avoiding an unwanted task by falsely pleading ignorance or inability.

Stretching: Prolonging a task so that one person appears to be occupied. For example, turning a two-week task into a four-month job.

Stalling: Appearing to be more or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing privately.

Avoiding Blame

Bluffing: Rigorously documenting activity to project an image of competence and thoroughness, known as “covering your rear.”

Playing safe: Evading situations that may reflect unfavorably. It includes taking on only projects with a high probability of success, having risky decisions approved by superiors, qualifying expressions of judgment, and taking neutral positions in conflicts.

Justifying: Developing explanations that lessen one’s responsibility for a negative outcome and or apologizing to demonstrate remorse, or both.

Scapegoating: Placing the blame for a negative outcome on external factors that are not entirely blameworthy.

Misrepresenting: Manipulation of information by distortion, embellishment, deception, selective presentation, or obfuscation.

Avoiding Change

Prevention: Trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.

Self-protection: Acting in ways to protect one’s self-interest during change by guarding information or other resources.

Impression Management

Impression management: the process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them

Interviews:

Self-promotion and ingratiation work well

Performance evaluations:

Ingratiation positively related

Self-promotion is negatively related

Impression management is a response to political behavior and is defined as the process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them. Some techniques used to manage this impression are conformity, self-promotion, favors, excuses, apologies, self-promotion, and association.

Impression management has shown to be effective in different situations, such as job interviews and performance evaluations. It is important that in an interview you set forth a positive impression. Many applicants utilize IM to get the interviewer to like them. Self-promotion is seen as important because it shows confidence; however, in an interview, ingratiation is not as effective. Nevertheless, in performance evaluations ingratiation has been found to be a positive technique and linked to higher rankings. However, self-promotion does not work as well in this context.

Impression Management (IM) Techniques (Exhibit 13-5)

Examples of impression management (IM) techniques are provided.

Long Description:

The impression management techniques are divided into following categories are as below:

Conformity: Agreeing with someone else’s opinion to gain his or her approval is a form of ingratiation. Example: A manager tells his boss, “You’re absolutely right on your reorganization plan for the western regional office. I couldn’t agree with you more.

Favors: Doing something nice for someone to gain that person’s approval is a form of ingratiation. Example: A salesperson says to a prospective client, “I’ve got two tickets to the theater tonight that I can’t use. Take them. Consider it a thank-you for taking the time to talk with me.”

Excuses: Explaining a predicament-creating event aimed at minimizing the apparent severity of the predicament is a defensive IM technique. Example: A sales manager says to her boss, “We failed to get the ad in the paper on time, but no one responds to those ads anyway.”

Apologies: Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously seeking to get a pardon for the action is a defensive IM technique. Example: An employee says to his boss, “I’m sorry I made a mistake on the report. Please forgive me.”

Self-Promotion: Highlighting your best qualities, downplaying your deficits, and calling attention to your achievements is a self-focused IM technique. Example: A salesperson tells his boss, “Matt worked unsuccessfully for three years to try to get that account. I sewed it up in six weeks. I’m the best closer this company has.”

Enhancement: Claiming that something you did is more valuable than most other members of the organizations would think is a self-focused IM technique. Example: A journalist tells his editor, “My work on this celebrity divorce story was really a major boost to our sales” (even though the story only made it to page 3 in the entertainment section).

Flattery: Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make yourself appear perceptive and likeable is an assertive IM technique. Example: A new sales trainee says to her peer, “You handled that client’s complaint so tactfully! I could never have handled that as well as you did.”

Exemplification: Doing more than you need to in an effort to show how dedicated and hardworking you are is an assertive IM technique. Example: An employee sends e-mails from his work computer when he works late so that his supervisor will know how long he’s been working.

The Ethics of Behaving Politically (Learning Objective 13.7)

Questions to consider:

What is the utility of engaging in politicking?

How does the utility of engaging in the political behavior balance out any harm it will do to others?

Does the political activity conform to standards of equity and justice?

Is political behavior ethical in the workplace? Well, the answer is probably yes and no. It is difficult to tell ethical from unethical politicking. There are three questions that can help define ethical/unethical political behavior:

What is the utility of engaging in the behavior?

Does the utility balance out any harm done by the action?

Does the action conform to standards of equity and justice?

The answers to these questions can help you decide if the behavior is ethical or unethical.

Drawing Your Political Map (Exhibit 13-6)

One of the most useful ways to think about power and politics is in terms of your own career. This exhibit is an example of a political map based on your hypothetical relationships with the people upon whom your career might depend.

Long Description:

The details of the tree diagrams are summarized below:

The diagram for “You” shows close connections with Jamie in operations and Zack in finance. “You” also have a loose connection with Lane in HR and no connections with Jia in sales and Marty in IT.

The diagram for Jamie shows she has a close connection with Mark, a former coworker; loose connections with Anna, a senior VP and Jamie’s boss; Tamar, Drew’s best friend; and Chris, Jaime’s spouse; and no connection with CJ, Jaime’s favorite blogger.

Implications for Managers

Recognize that certain power bases tend to be more effective than others.

You may have more success with rational persuasion, inspirational appeal, and consultation, and the least success with pressure and self-promotion.

Be aware that power arises from dependence.

Social network positions affect power.

Recognize that power affects people in several ways.

Make sure to establish policy regarding how your organization handles sexual harassment.

By assessing behavior in a political framework, to better predict the actions of others and formulate strategies that will gain advantages for you and your unit.

Recognize that certain power bases tend to be more effective than others.

You may have more success with rational persuasion, inspirational appeal, and consultation, and the least success with pressure and self-promotion.

Be aware that power arises from dependence.

Social network positions affect power.

Recognize that power affects people in several ways.

Make sure to establish policy regarding how your organization handles sexual harassment.

By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can better predict the actions of others and formulate strategies that will gain advantages for you and your unit.

Discussion Questions

Consider mapping your own sociogram. What does this reveal about your own power? Do you have access to information brokers?

Share how you have effectively used impression management techniques in job interviews. In retrospect, were there opportunities for additional techniques to be used?

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Essentials of Organizational Behavior

Fifteenth Edition

Chapter 12

Leadership

Learning Objectives

12.1 Summarize the conclusions of trait theories of leadership.

12.2 Identify the central tenets and main limitations of behavioral theories.

12.3 Contrast contingency theories of leadership.

12.4 Describe the contemporary theories of leadership and their relationship to foundational theories.

12.5 Discuss the roles of leaders in creating ethical organizations.

12.6 Describe how leaders can have a positive impact on their organizations through building trust and mentoring.

12.7 Identify the challenges to our understanding of leadership.

What Is Leaders

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Read and reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Then post what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you

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