Материал: Management-and-Organization-Behavior

4.“A good leader is one who understands his subordinates, their needs and their sources of satisfaction.” Comment.

5.Critically examine the different approaches to the study of the leadership behavior. Is there one best style of leadership?

Case Study

New Boss and his Leadership Style

For Several months employees of a large corporation have been very dissatisfied with the new division head. Before the arrival of the new division head, the department had functioned as a cohesive, effective unit, combining hard work with equal amount of leisure. The new division head has very strong idea about the types of environment his employees should have. As one supervisor puts it, it resembles a full scale military operation. No longer are occasional informal gatherings during office hours. The bottom line has become productivity first, with the employees’ feelings being considered as an afterthought. Grass-root employees as well as supervisory personnel are very upset about the changes in structure, and their dissatisfaction is beginning to show up in their performances. Because of the decreased productivity levels, the supervisors have been informed that if they don’t shape up their subordinates, “the axe will fall on several heads”. The frustration and anger is now beginning to come to a full boil and the supervisors have decided to meet to discuss the situation.

Questions

a.Identify the leadership style of the division head from the angle of Managerial Grid.

b.From the view point of theory of X and Y, what assumption did the new head make about the way in which people work most effectively?

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Lesson - 22 : Organisational Power & Politics

Objectives

After reading this lesson, you should be able to:

ӹӹAppreciate The Importance Of Power In The Organizational Context;

ӹӹDistinguish Power From Authority And Influence;

ӹӹIdentify Sources Of Organisational Power And Its Uses; And

ӹӹRelate Power To Organisational Politics.

Lesson Outline

ӹӹCharacteristics Of Power

ӹӹSources Of Power

ӹӹUses Or Bases Of Organisational Power

ӹӹPower Dynamics In Organisations

ӹӹReview Questions

This lesson first defines power and distinguishes it from authority. Then it identifies sources of power and explains how power is used in organisations. Finally, it presents the political perspective of power in today’s organisations. The underlying premise of this lesson is that acquisition. Power is a determinant of goals to be achieved and of how resources will be distributed. These, in turn, have far reaching implications for organisation members’ performance, satisfaction and organisational effectiveness.

There is no universally accepted meaning of power. Power has more diverse meanings than any other concept in oranisational behaviour. In general, it refers to a capacity that one has to influence the behaviour of another so that the other person does something which would not be done otherwise.

However, few of the definitions on power are presented here to capture the wide range of the meanings it has assumed over a period of time.

The earliest definition of power is one given by Max Weber, the famous Sociologist. He defines power as “the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance”.

Another definition of power refers it to the ability to get things done despite the will and resistance of others or the ability to win political fights and outmaneuver the opposition.

Pfeiffer, an organizational behavior theorist, defines power as “ the

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ability to influence behaviour, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do ”.

Characteristics of Power

Definitions of power are related to the concepts of authority and influence. Chester Barnard defined power as “informal authority”. Many modern organisational sociologists define authority as “legitimate power”. To have better understanding of power, we bring out clearly the distinctions between power and authority and power and influence.

Power – Authority Distinctions

From the preceding discussion, it is clear that a person who possesses power has the ability to manipulate or influence others. Authority legitimizes and is a source of power in the organisation. In contrast, power need not be legitimate. Distinction can be made between top-down classical, bureaucratic authority and Barnard’s acceptance theory of authority. To him, authority is “the character of a communication (order) in a formal organisation by virtue of which it is accepted by a member of the organisation as governing the action he contributes”. Power is different from such acceptance theory of the authority in the words of Grimes who notes: “what legitimizes authority is the promotion of pursuit of collective goals that are associated with group consensus”.

PowerInfluence Distinction

Influence is broader than power in its scope. It is a process of affecting the potential behaviour of others. Power is the capacity of influence. Thus, authority is different from power because of former’s legitimacy and acceptance, and influence, though broader than power, is closer to it conceptually. Hence, both are interchangeably used.

Sources of Organisational Power

French and Raven’s Classification of sources of power includes reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power and expert power. But sources of power are different from power bases. This distinction is not maintained by French and Raven. How power holders control power bases speaks about sources of power. In other words, sources of power tell us wherefrom the power holders get their power bases. There are four sources of

power, namely, position power (legitimate power), referent power (personal powers), expert power and opportunity power.

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Position Power

The source of position power is almost identical to authority. One’s structural position in the formal group or organisation enables access to power bases i.e., what the power holder has that gives him power. According to French and Raven this power stems from the internalized values of the other persons which give legitimate right to the power holder to influence them. In other words, others feel that they have obligation to accept this power. Again there are three major source of legitimate power.

-- One is prevailing cultural values of organisation or group which determine legitimacy. In orgnisational context, managers have legitimate power because employees believe in private property laws and in the hierarchy where persons holding higher positions wield power over lower position holders.

-- Second source of legitimacy is social structure. In an organisation, for example, when blue collar workers accept employment, they are in effect accepting its hierarchical structure and thereby granting legitimate power to their superiors.

-- Being designated as the representative of a powerful person or a group is a third source of legitimate power. A member of the board of directors or management committee is examples of this source. These sources of legitimate power create an obligation to accept and be influenced.

Personal Power or Referent Power

One’s personal characteristics can be a source of power. Articulation, domineering and charisma are personal characteristics that yield personal power. Others want to identify with a powerful person, regardless of consequences. In the organisational setting, a manger who depends on referent power must be personally attractive to his subordinates.

Expert Power

Expertise is the means by which the power holder controls specialized information. Others attribute knowledge and expertise to the power seeker. In a technology-oriented or knowledge society, expert power is one of the most powerful sources of influence. Credibility comes from having the right credentials, that is, the person must really know what he is talking about and be able to show tangible evidence of knowledge. Besides credibility, the person holding expert power must be trustworthy, that is, he must have reputation for being honest and straightforward.

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Opportunity Power

Being in the right place at the right time can give a person the opportunity to gain power. One need not hold a formal position in an organisation to have access to information which others value most.

Other Sources of Power

Besides these four sources of power, there is yet another source arising out of task-interdependence. Though a superior has legitimate power over subordinate, he must depend on the subordinate to get the job done correctly and on time. Hence the latter has power over the former due to task interdependency.

Bases of Organisational Power

Coercive Power

The coercive power depends on fear. The person with the coercive power has the ability to inflict punishment or adverse consequences on the other person. One reacts to this power out of fear of the negative ramifications that might result from non-compliance. In the organisational context, managers frequently exercise coercive power as revealed from their actions such as dismissing, suspending or demoting their subordinates or withholding pay increases. In other words, managers control through force or hitting at the basic physiological or safety needs. Here it is to be noted that protective labour legislation and trade unions have stripped away some of this coercive power of managers.

Reward Power

Reward power is the opposite of coercive power. People comply with the wishes of another because it will result in positive benefits. The type of rewards includes material rewards like pay increase, fringe benefits, commissions, etc. Managers exercise this power since they have ability and resources to reward their subordinates. The strength of the reward power depends on whether the subordinates look at rewards offered to them as rewards or otherwise. Managers may offer what they think as rewards, but subordinates may not value them. The reverse may also be true.

Persuasive Power

This use of power rests on the allocation and manipulation of symbolic rewards. If a person can decide who is hired, control the allocation of resources, or influence group norms, he is said to have persuasive power. A few common symbols of manager’s power in the organisation include: getting a favorable placement for a talented subordinate, getting approvals for expenditures beyond budget, getting items on agenda at policy meetings, getting fast access

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