Power and Politics?

The organization is a complex entity of interacting individuals. The kinds of interactions are dictated by individual interests and organizational interests and structure.
The realities of organizational decision making are that the interests of the decision maker and those of the organization, are at best overlapping, but never synonymous. (Overlapping circles.)
Decision makers act in their self interests first, and are not likely to sublimate their own interests to those of the organization. Decisions will be taken to enhance their own power, and these do not always coincide with an organization's best interests. eg: phasing out one's own department may be best, but which department head would do that. Rather they seek expansion of their own power domain.
Organizations are made up of individuals who are grouped into coalitions of interests. Coalitions form to protect and improve their vested interests. Often they are formed along departmental lines, but not always.

Interests

This refers to the political interests in the organization. The different subunits in an organization are not neutral. Each group has a distinct set of interests which is frequently at odds with other groups. The groups compete for favourable allocation of resources.
The structure of an organization is a crucial determinant of the flow of the distribution of resources, therefor built into the organization is a structure of advantage and disadvantage. It is in the interests of a group to have resources distributed in its favour. So interests refer to the relationship between an individual or group and the distribution of organizational resources. Interests are concerned with securing a fair share of organizational resources, and are expressed through a motivation to enhance or defend a particular distribution of organizational resources.
There are of course competing interests in any organization.

Dependencies of Power

Organizational groups vary in their ability to influence the translation of their interests into favourable organizational arrangements; they have differential power.
Power is a capacity to determine outcomes, and structures are used to obtain and utilize power.
Organizations differ in the distribution of power. In some power is focussed and concentrated within a narrowly drawn coalition, in others power is relatively dispersed between a multiplicity of groups.
There is a difference between power and authority which has to be made clear. Authority refers to the rights and privileges accrued from a legally sanctioned position. Power refers to an individuals or group's capacity to influence - decisions, others etc. This separation is important, because in organizations they are not necessarily co-resident.

Individual Power

French and Raven have identified 5 sources of power in the individual:

1. Legitimate power: Legally sanctioned power vested in the position. This power can be attained through appointment to a position, election to a position, or divine right.
2. Reward power: the ability to bestow rewards that ate valued by another. This is often related to the position. Eg. Awarding bonuses.
3. Punishment (coercive) power: the ability to coerce another by use of threats of punishment. Eg. Threatening to fire someone.
4. Expert power: the ability to influence another by virtue of the expertise and knowledge one has, that is of value to the other.
5. Referent (charismatic) power: the ability to influence by force of personality.

Organizational Power

In an organization we can talk about hierarchical power, lateral power and informal power.

• Hierarchical power refers to ascribed power structure in an organization as defined by the different levels of management.
• Lateral power is where the real power in an organization often lies. It defines the power among peers (Sables, 1979) and is attained through control of information or resources, a high level of visibility and active coalition building.
• Informal power is based on the network of relationships that underlies the formal power structure of an organization. It is through this informal network that vital information is exchanged, important contacts are made and developed, that will eventually be translated to formal and lateral power.

Routes to the Acquisition of Power

There are six routes to the acquisition of power in an organization.

1. Hierarchical authority: Here influence is sanctioned by position and the position defines rights and prerogatives, and often also control over resources.
2. Control over resources: The scarcer and more important the resource, the greater the power. Lack of substitutability makes the resource even scarcer. This refers to skills as well. Those with non-substitutable skills have power. Control over resources can mean a restriction of options. The more a resource approaches criticality to the organization, the more power accrued to its holder. This is as true of information as other kinds of resources.
3. Network centrality: Being in the right place in an organization is a source of power. This is not a random phenomenon. Who has centrality depends on organizational strategy, and the problems an organization faces at any given moment. And this often shifts according to environmental demands.
4. Discretion: the freedom to exercise ones judgment rather than referring to specific rules.
5. Visibility: being seen as possessing valuable resources is critical in attaining power.
6. Non-substitutability: possessing knowledge and/or skills which are not easily substituted in the organization. This is on the personal level. On the group level, forming a collectivity such as a union can give power to individually substitutable employees.

Vying for power and control is often a source of conflict.



Power has been an important aspect of human civilization since time immemorial. Power might be physical, political or social. In the context of business as well, power dynamics tend to influence decisions and people transactions heavily. So defining power can be difficult as it is understood and interpreted in several ways however power can definitely not be called a force which gets you what you want. Power basically emanates from position or authority which can influence people both positively and negatively.
For simplicity and understanding purposes power is usually classified into following categories:

1. Coercive Power- This kind of power involves the usage of threat to make people do what one desires. In the organizational set up, it translates into threatening someone with transfer, firing, demotions etc. it basically forces people to submit to one’s demand for the fear of losing something.
2. Reward Power- As the name suggests, this type of power uses rewards, perks, new projects or training opportunities, better roles and monetary benefits to influence people. However an interesting aspect of this type of power is that, it is not powerful enough in itself, as decisions related to rewards do not rest solely with the person promising them, because in organizations, a lot of other people come into play like senior managers and board.
3. Legitimate Power- This power emanates from an official position held by someone, be it in an organization, beurocracy or government etc. The duration of this power is short lived as a person can use it only till the time he/she holds that position, as well as, the scope of the power is small as it is strictly defined by the position held.
4. Expert Power- This is a personal kind of power which owes its genesis to the skills and expertise possessed by an individual, which is of higher quality and not easily available. In such a situation, the person can exercise the power of knowledge to influence people. Since, it is very person specific and skills can be enhanced with time; it has more credibility and respect.
5. Referent Power- This is a power wielded by celebrities and film stars as they have huge following amongst masses who like them, identify with them and follow them. Hence, they exert lasting influence on a large number of people for a large number of decisions; like from what car to buy to which candidate to choose for a higher office in the country.

So, power can be defined in a number of ways however what is important is the usage of the power by people who possess it. Within the organizational context the power dynamics and equations need to be carefully managed as they have a huge impact on the motivation and engagement level of employees. It also defines the organization’s culture in general and people transactions within the organization in particular. A very hierarchy and power driven organization finds it difficult to accommodate new and innovative ideas, any change is vehemently refused, egos clash and lesser opportunities are made available for the high performers, thus delaying organizational growth. On the other hand, in an organization which is flat in structure, people are encouraged to innovate and explore, thus bringing in new concepts and ideas to accelerate organizational growth and expansion.