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POWER AND POLITICS:Coercive Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power

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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
Lesson 34
POWER AND POLITICS
Power may be defined as getting things done in spite of opposition and resistance: get a person/group to
change. It is the capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B, so B does something he or she would
not do otherwise. This definition implies:
·  a potential that need not be actualized to be effective,
·  a dependency relationship, and
·  the assumption that B has some discretion over his or her own behaviour.
Types of Power
There are five types of powers:
Reward Power
It is the ability to change people because one controls their rewards. People comply with the wishes or
directives of another because it produces positive benefits; therefore, one who can distribute rewards that
others view as valuable will have power over them. These rewards can be anything another person values.
In an organizational context, we think or money, favourable performance appraisals, promotions,
interesting work assignments, friendly colleagues, important information, and preferred work shifts or sales
territories.
Coercive Power
It is the ability to create fear in people, can inflict pain or punishment. One reacts to this power out of the
fear or the negative results that might occur if one failed to comply. It rest on the application, or the threat
of application, of physical sanctions such as the infliction of pain, the generation of frustration through
restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic psychological or safety needs.
At the organizational level, A has a coercive power over B if A can dismiss, suspend or demote B, assuming
B values his or her job. Similarly if A can assign B work activities that B finds unpleasant or treat B in a
manner that B finds embarrassing, A possesses coercive power over B.
Coercive and reward power are actually counterparts of each other. If you can remove something of
positive value from another or inflict something of negative value upon him or her, you have coercive
power over that person. If you can give someone something of positive value or remove something of
negative value, you have reward power over that person.
Legitimate Power
In formal groups and organizations, probably the most frequent access to one or more of the power bases
is one's structural position. This is called legitimate power. It represents the power a person receives as a
result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization.
Positions of authority include coercive and reward powers. Legitimate power, however, is broader than the
power to coerce and reward. Specifically, it includes acceptance by members of an organization of the
authority of a position. When school principals, bank presidents, or army captains speak; teachers, tellers,
and officers listen and usually comply.
Referent Power
Its base is identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits. If I admire and
identify with you, you can exercise power over me because I want to please you.
Referent power develops out of admiration or another and a desire to be like that person. In a sense, then, it
is a lot like charisma. If you admire someone to the point of modelling you behaviour rand attitudes after
him o her, this person possesses referent power over you. Referent power explains why celebrities are paid
huge sums of money to endorse products in commercials. Marketing research shows that people like Imran
Khan, Shahrukh Khan, etc. have the power to influence your choice of purchase. In organizations, if you
are articulate, domineering, physically imposing, or charismatic, you hold personal characteristics that may
be used to get others to do what you want.
Expert power
It is the influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skills, or knowledge. Expertise has become one of
the most powerful sources of influence as the world has become more technologically oriented. As jobs
become more specialized, we become increasingly dependent on "experts" to achieve goals. So, while it is
generally acknowledged that physicians have expertise and hence expert power-most of us follow the advice
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Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
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our doctor gives us-you should also recognize that computer specialists, accountants, engineers,
psychologists, and other specialists are able to wield power as a result of their expertise.
Influencibility and Power
There are six factors of influencibility that are responsible for developing power:
1. Dependence
The greater B's dependency on A, the greater the power A has over B. When you possess anything that
others require but you alone control, you make them dependent on you and, therefore, you gain power over
them. Dependency, then, is inversely proportional to the alternative sources of supply. If something is
plentiful, possession of it will not increase your power. If everyone is intelligent, intelligence gives no special
advantage.
2. Uncertainty
Uncertainty refers to the doubt in the minds of the people about a particular behaviour being correct or
incorrect. Therefore, more uncertain the people are, more likely are they to be influenced.
3. Personality
People who are anxious, ambiguity intolerant are easy to influence while people who have high self-esteem
are less likely to be influenced.
4. Intelligence
People who are more intelligent are less likely to be influenced while they may pay more attention; on the
other hand, people with lower level of intelligence are easily influenced.
5. Sex
Research has shown that women are more likely to be influenced as compared to men.
6. Culture
Cultural values of a society play a vital role in determining the influencibility of a person. It is seen that the
Eastern cultures are more influenceable as compared to the Western cultures.
Two Faces of Power
In addition to sources of power, two types of power have also been identified by the works of David
McClelland:
1. Negative Power
2. Positive Power
Negative Power: It is also called personal power. It is when people are trying to use their abilities to get
ahead of others and are only oriented towards personal goals rather than organizational goals. In
organizations, people try to find reasons to convince the boss for a promotion. This is when they are using
the power for their personal motives rather than the objective of the organization.
Positive Power: It is also called social power. It is characterized by the concern for others, groups, and
society. In the context of the organization, it has the concern for the organizational goals. According to
McClelland, social power is a "we" oriented power as compared to personal power which is an "I" oriented
power. Socially powerful leader and managers are more effective in organizations.
Employees' perception of their own power or empowerment in an organization is critical to the success of
an organization.
It increases:
·
Innovation
Innovation is increased by the employees' perception of being powerful because he or she feels that
that they can take the liberty of trying and inventing. They feel that they have the resources at their own
disposal which they can use for the benefit of the organization responsibly.
·
Cooperation
When employees feel they have power in the organization, they are more willing to cooperate and share
knowledge, information and experiences. Therefore, the performance of the organization is enhanced.
·
Responsibility
When employees have power in the organization, they also have the sense of responsibility and can be
held responsible for their actions. It is not meant to punish the employees but to ensure that they put in
their best efforts to improve the working of the organization.
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REFERENCES
·
Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behaviour (Tenth Edition). United States: McGraw Hill Irwin.
·
Mejia, Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). Managing Human Resources (Fourth Edition).
India: Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.
·
Robbins, P., Stephen. (1996). Organizational Behaviour (Seventh Edition). India: Prentice Hall, Delhi.
·
Huczynski, Andrzej & Buchanan, David. (1991). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text
(Second Edition). Prentice Hall. New York.
·
Moorhead, Gregory & Griffin, Ricky. (2001). Organizational Behaviour (First Edition). A.I.T.B.S.
Publishers & Distributors. Delhi.
FURTHER READING
·
Power (sociology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(sociology) - 59k
·
Positive and Negative Power: Thoughts on the Dialectics of Power: Abell, Peter 1974: http://intl-
oss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/1/1/
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHLOGY:Hawthorne Effect
  2. METHODOLOGIES OF DATA COLLECTION:Observational method, Stability of Measures
  3. GLOBALIZATION:Aspects of Globalization, Industrial Globalization
  4. DEFINING THE CULTURE:Key Components of Culture, Individualism
  5. WHAT IS DIVERSITY?:Recruitment and Retention, Organizational approaches
  6. ETHICS:Sexual Harassment, Pay and Promotion Discrimination, Employee Privacy
  7. NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS:Flat Organization, Neoclassical Organization Theory
  8. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Academy Culture, Baseball Team Culture, Fortress Culture
  9. CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Move decisively, defuse resistance
  10. REWARD SYSTEMS: PAY, Methods of Pay, Individual incentive plan, New Pay Techniques
  11. REWARD SYSTEMS: RECOGNITION AND BENEFITS, Efficiency Wage Theory
  12. PERCEPTION:How They Work Together, Gestalt Laws of Grouping, Closure
  13. PERCEPTUAL DEFENCE:Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Stereotyping
  14. ATTRIBUTION:Locus of Control, Fundamental Attribution Error
  15. IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT:Impression Construction, Self-focused IM
  16. PERSONALITY:Classifying Personality Theories, Humanistic/Existential
  17. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT:Standardized, Basic Categories of Measures
  18. ATTITUDE:Emotional, Informational, Behavioural,Positive and Negative Affectivity
  19. JOB SATISFACTION:The work, Pay, Measurement of Job Satisfaction
  20. MOTIVATION:Extrinsic motive, Theories of work motivation, Safety needs
  21. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION:Instrumentality, Stacy Adams’S Equity theory
  22. MOTIVATION ACROSS CULTURES:Meaning of Work, Role of Religion
  23. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:Criticisms of ‘Traditional’ Psychology, Optimism
  24. HOPE:Personality, Our goals, Satisfaction with important domains, Negative affect
  25. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:EI IS Related To Emotions and Intelligence
  26. SELF EFFICACY:Motivation, Perseverance, Thoughts, Sources of Self-Efficacy
  27. COMMUNICATION:Historical Background, Informal-Formal, Interpersonal Communication
  28. COMMUNICATION (Part II):Downward Communication, Stereotyping Problems
  29. DECISION MAKING:History, Personal Rationality, Social Model, Conceptual
  30. PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES:Expertise, Thinking skills
  31. JOB STRESS:Distress and Eustress, Burnout, General Adaptation Syndrome
  32. INDIVIDUAL STRESSORS:Role Ambiguity/ Role Conflict, Personal Control
  33. EFFECTS OF STRESS:Physical Effects, Behavioural Effects, Individual Strategies
  34. POWER AND POLITICS:Coercive Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power
  35. POLITICS:Sources of Politics in Organizations, Final Word about Power
  36. GROUPS AND TEAMS:Why Groups Are Formed, Forming, Storming
  37. DYSFUNCTIONS OF GROUPS:Norm Violation, Group Think, Risky Shift
  38. JOB DESIGN:Job Rotation, Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, Skill Variety
  39. JOB DESIGN:Engagement, Disengagement, Social Information Processing, Motivation
  40. LEARNING:Motor Learning, Verbal Learning, Behaviouristic Theories, Acquisition
  41. OBMOD:Applications of OBMOD, Correcting Group Dysfunctions
  42. LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Managers versus Leaders, Defining Leadership
  43. MODERN THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Transformational Leaders
  44. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Globalization and Leadership
  45. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Planning, Staffing