chapter 9 power and politics. 2 copyright © 2006 by thomson delmar learning. all rights reserved....
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 9
Power and Politics
2Copyright © 2006 by Thomson Delmar Learning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Purpose and Overview
• Purpose– To learn about the importance, sources, and
uses of power and politics– Understand strategies and tactics for
increasing power– Understand conditions that contribute to
power abuse and their consequences
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Purpose and Overview
• Overview– The Importance of Power and Politics in
Health Services Organizations – Sources of Power – When Power Is Likely To Be Used – Issues on Which Power Is Likely To Be Used
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Purpose and Overview
• Overview– Power Strategies and Tactics: Games People
Play – Employee Responses to Use of Power – The Abuse of Power in Organizations – Power, Politics, and Organizational
Performance
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The Importance of Power and Politics
• Success requires: – Attention to the distribution of power– Attention to the circumstances under which
power is used– Knowledge of tactics and strategies
associated with the effective use of power
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The Importance of Power and Politics
• Influence
• Power
• Politics
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The Importance of Power and Politics
• Why Power and Politics? – To direct and control behavior of
organizational members to achieve organizational goals
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Rational Versus Political Perspectives on Management
• Rational Models
• Political Perspectives
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Rational Versus Political Perspectives on Management
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Rational Versus Political Perspectives on Management
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Sources of Power
• Authority linked to formal position
• Control over resources
• Control over decision-making processes and information
• Network centrality
• Nonsubstitutability
• Management of strategic contingencies
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Sources of Power
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Sources of Power
• Tactics for Increasing Power– Provide resources to other departments and
operating units– Create dependencies– Take responsibility for areas of high
uncertainty
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Sources of Power
• Tactics for Increasing Power– Satisfy strategic contingencies– Build coalitions– Expand networks– Control decision processes
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When Power Is Likely To Be Used
• For important decisions
• When performance is difficult to assess
• When there are uncertainties and disagreement
• Interdependence
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Issues on Which Power Is Likely To Be Used
• Four Domains – Structural change– Interdepartmental coordination– Management succession– Resource allocation and budgeting
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Power Strategies and Tactics: Games People Play
• Power may be converted into political influence
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Power Strategies and Tactics: Games People Play
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Power Strategies and Tactics: Games People Play
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Employee Responses to Use of Power
• Employees may react negatively to use of power– Decreased trust in the organization– Increased employee dissatisfaction– Increased conflict within the organization– Decreased morale and effort – Increased employee turnover
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Employee Responses to Use of Power
• Power use may undermine future operations and decision making
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The Abuse of Power in Organizations
• Necessary at times to achieve goals – Personal goals – Organizational goals
• Managers– Necessary to understand that power is
potentially abusive to employees
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The Abuse of Power in Organizations
• Conditions Facilitating the Abuse of Power – High information ambiguity – High ends mean ambiguities– Overly centralized decision making structure– Scarcity of rival coalitions both internal and
external to organization
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The Abuse of Power in Organizations
• Conditions Facilitating Abuse of Power– Low or one-sided interdependencies between
key organizational stakeholders– Culture of organizational complacency– Short time horizons
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Power, Politics, and Organizational Performance
• Can serve to facilitate implementation of important decisions
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Power, Politics, and Organizational Performance
• Approaches to Reducing Inefficiencies Due to Political Activity– Increase level of slack resources – Reduce differentiation and heterogeneity
among organizational members and units – Divide organizational rewards more evenly