POWER AND INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS Project Management and Leadership 2016

Transcription

1 POWER AND INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS Project Management and Leadership 2016

2 Before I served as a consultant to Kennedy, I had believed, like most academics, that the process of decision-making was largely intellectual and all one had to do was walk into the President s office and convince him of the correctness of one s view. This perspective I soon realized is as dangerously immature as it is widely held. Henry Kissinger

3 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS Informal approaches to gaining power through means other than merit or luck (aka WORKPLACE POLITICS, OFFICE POLITICS). (mod. DUBRIN 2010, p.210)

4 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS 90% of survey respondents thought politics was common in organizations 89% indicated that successful executives must be good politicians 76%: political behavior increases as one rises higher in an organization. 55% felt that politics is detrimental to efficiency 48.6%: top management should attempt to rid organizations of political behavior (GANDZ & MURRAY 1980 in GRIFFIN & O LEARY-KELLY 2004, p.240)

5 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS Workplace politics may be perceived negatively because political behavior impedes or obstructs rational decision making and blurs the relationship between effort and subsequent reward (HALL et al. in GRIFFIN & O LEARY-KELLY 2004, p.237)

6 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS WHY IS IT REGARDED NEGATIVELY? 1. People generally do not like to consider the means that are often necessary to get things done 2. People have learned in school that success in life is a matter of individual effort, ability, and achievement and is not accomplished in cooperation with others 3. People believe that intellectual analysis, leading to right and wrong answers, can be used to solve, and judge solutions to, problems in a world where things are seldom clear-cut, obvious, and knowable with any real certainty. It is as if we know that power and politics exist, and we grudgingly admit that they are necessary to individual success, but we nevertheless don t like them (PFEFFER 1992 in GRIFFIN & O LEARY-KELLY 2004, pp )

7 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS GENERAL STIMULATING FACTORS Pyramid-shaped organization structure Subjective standards of performance Environmental uncertainty and turbulence Emotional insecurity Encouraging admiration from subordinates (DUBRIN 2010, pp )

8 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS PROJECT-SPECIFIC FACTORS Ambiguity in respect to actions, planning, and decisions The frequently insufficient allocation of vital resources Dependence on stakeholders with inconsistent interests and objectives. (mod. SOLGA et al 2015 in WASTIAN et al. 2015, p.129)

9 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ZONE OF ORGANIZATIONAL UNCERTAINTY The situation of ambiguity in a project due to Vague mission and goal Fragmentary and inconsistent information Absence of clear-cut assignments for team members Superficial support from management. Leads to a lack of reliable actions, planning, or decisions. Provides the opportunity to push through individual ideas and interests. (NEUBERGER 2006 in WASTIAN et al. 2015, p.130)

10 HIGHLIGHTS: ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS 1. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS IS A FACT OF LIFE 2. IT EXISTS, PARTLY, DUE TO AN ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN, AND, PARTLY, DUE TO REDUCIBLE ORGANIZATIONAL UNCERTAINTIES

11 POWER The potential or ability to influence decisions and control resources. POSITION POWER stems from a person s position in an organization PERSONAL POWER stem from characteristics or behaviors of the power actor

12 POSITION POWER LEGITIMATE. The lawful right to decide and expect compliance REWARD. The authority to give rewards for compliance COERCIVE. The power to punish for noncompliance; INFORMATION. The power stemming from formal control over the information people need to do their work. (DUBRIN 2010, p )

13 PERSONAL POWER REFERENT. The ability to influence through one s desirable traits and characteristics EXPERT. through specialized knowledge, skills, or abilities PRESTIGE. Stems from a person s status and reputation (DUBRIN 2010, p )

14 POLITICAL BEHAVIOR CONSIDERED ETHICAL 1. To gain power 2. To build relationships 3. To avoid political blunders

15 POLITICAL BEHAVIOR TO GAIN POWER Develop power contacts Control vital information Control lines of communication Bring in outside experts Make a quick showing Be the first to accept reasonable changes Do what the political environment demands. (mod. DUBRIN 2010, p )

16 POLITICAL BEHAVIOR TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS Ask advice Be courteous, pleasant, and positive Display loyalty Manage your impression Ask satisfied customers to contact your boss Send thank-you notes to numbers of people Flatter others sensibly (DUBRIN 2010, p )

17 POLITICAL BEHAVIOR AVOID Criticizing the boss in a public forum Bypassing the boss Declining an offer from top management Being needlessly tactless Not conforming to the company dress code Writing embarrassing/incriminating messages. (DUBRIN 2010, p )

18 INFLUENCE The ability to affect the behavior of others in a particular direction, whereas power is the potential or capacity to influence. (DUBRIN 2010, p.230)

19 INFLUENCE INFLUENCE TACTICS RATIONALITY (aka RATIONAL PERSUASION) INGRATIATION EXCHANGE UPWARD APPEALS ASSERTIVENESS (aka PRESSURE) COALITIONS Using data and information to make a logical argument supporting one's request Using behaviors designed to increase the target's liking of oneself/to make oneself appear friendly to get what one wants Making an explicit offer to do something for another in exchange for their doing what one wants Calling in superiors to help get one's way Using a forceful manner to get what one wants Mobilizing others to help in persuading the target individual (mod. HIGGINS et al. J. Organiz. Behav. 2003;24:89-106)

20 INFLUENCE ETHICAL INFLUENCE TACTICS Using rational persuasion Leading by example and respect Exchanging favors and bargaining Legitimating a request Consultation with others Forming coalitions Making an inspirational appeal and emotional display (DUBRIN 2010, pp )

21 INFLUENCE UNETHICAL INFLUENCE TACTICS Deliberate Machiavellianism Manipulation Undue pressure Debasement Ingratiation Upward appeal

22 INFLUENCE INFLUENCE OUTCOMES COMMITMENT The target of the influence attempt is enthusiastic about carrying out the request and makes a full effort. RESISTANCE The target is making excuses for why the task cannot be done, procrastinating, and outright refusing to do the task COMPLIANCE The target person is not overjoyed (apathetic) about carrying out the request and makes only a modest effort.

23 INFLUENCE EFFECTIVENESS OF TACTICS Rational persuasion Ingratiation Inspirational appeal Consultation Exchange Personal appeal Coalition Legitimating Pressure *

24 POLITICAL SKILL IS THE ABILITY AND READINESS To understand others, To control one s own behavior in social networks and to adapt one s behavior to different and changing situational demands in a way, that it appears sincere and trustworthy, that influences the behavior of others in favor of one s own objectives (mod. SOLGA et al 2015 in WASTIAN et al. 2015, p.139)

25 THE DIMENSIONS OF THE POLITICAL SKILL SOCIAL ASTUTENESS NETWORKING ABILITY APPARENT SINCERITY INTERPERSONAL INFLUENCE (mod. SOLGA et al 2015 in WASTIAN et al. 2015, pp )

26 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS IS A SPECTRUM Manipulative and acquisitive behavior at one end, spontaneity, selfreliant behavior, and wholehearted commitment to the organizational goals at the other. Between these two extremes lies the vast range of everyday political behavior, such as stretching regulations, accepting white lies, cultivating relationships for a purpose, or flattery. (mod. SOLGA et al 2015 in WASTIAN et al. 2015, p.133)

27 HIGHLIGHTS: ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS 3. POWER COMES IN A VARIETY OF FORMS 4. NOBODY GRANTS YOU POWER YOU DEVELOP IT 5. POLITICAL SKILL CAN BE DEVELOPED AS WELL 6. INFLUENCING OTHERS BE AS ETHICAL AS THE SITUATION PERMITS BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SPECTRUM