1) Power refers to the ability to influence others and is present in any relationship. It derives from both personal attributes like skills and reputation as well as professional attributes like controlling resources. 2) There are different types of power including legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent power which come from positions, ability to give rewards, ability to punish, expertise, and respect/liking respectively. 3) Organizational politics involves influencing the distribution of advantages through activities not formally required but that are used to achieve preferred outcomes when choices are disagreeable or uncertain. Common political strategies include forming alliances, selective use of information, and networking.

1. POWER, POLITICS, AND
AUTHORITY
CHAPTER-10
AUTHORS:
DR. KIRAN NERKAR
DR. VILAS CHOPDE

2.  Power is the ability of individuals or groups to induce or
influence the beliefs or actions of other people or groups.
Power can be present in any relationship.
 The personal and professional attributes of a manager that
makes him/her powerful are:
 Personal Attributes:
 Includes interpersonal and analytical skills, knowledge, and energy level
 Includes a strong professional reputation
 Includes an ability to have favorable relationships
 Professional Attributes:
 Includes a degree at which a manager controls tangible and intangible
resources
 Includes a sense of obligation towards the duty
 Includes the association of other employees with the manager
 Includes the perceived dependence of a manager
CONCEPT OF POWER
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3. •Refers to the power that is inherent in the position and authority of an individual within an organization.
Legitimate Power
•Refers to the power possessed by individual who has the authority to give rewards to others.
Reward Power
•Refers to the negative part of power in which a manager influences employees by punishment, such as
termination.
Coercive Power
•Refers to the power possessed by an individual because of his/her superior ability or expertise in one or
more areas.
Expert Power
•Refers to the power used by an individual who is liked and respected by others.
Referent Power
TYPES OF POWER
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4.  Those activities engaged in by people in order to acquire,
enhance and employ power and other resources to achieve
preferred outcomes in organizational setting characterized by
disagreement or uncertainty about choices. ---- Pfeffer
 Politics in an organization refers to those activities that are
not required as part of one’s formal role in the organization,
but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of
advantages and disadvantages within the organization. ----
Farrell and Peterson
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
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5.  Scarce Resources
 Indicate inadequacy of resources because of which goal attainment becomes difficult.
 Narrow Opportunities
 Indicate the insufficiency of promotional opportunities.
 Lack of Trust
 Indicates that in the fast moving competent world, people trust very less on each
other.
 Role Ambiguity
 Implies uncertainty about the job role in the minds of employees.
 Performance Evaluation
 Refers to the reward distribution depending on the performance.
 Stress to Perform Well
 Refers to the pressure of performing well all the time.
 Desire to Get Good Rewards
 Refers to the employees’ wish to get high rewards.
 Individual Factors
 Refer to the inherent nature of individuals due to which they get engaged in
politicking.
REASONS FOR POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
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6. Forming Alliances
Selective Use of Information
Escapism
Image Building
Networking
Compromise
Persuasion
POLITICAL STRATEGIES
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7. • Refers to defining job duties in a very concise and precise manner.
Defining Job Duties Clearly
• Implies that the top management should demonstrate ideal behavior, which it
expects its employees to exhibit.
Demonstrating Proper Behavior
• Indicates that the steps should be taken by top management to build better
understanding among employees.
Promoting Understanding
• Refers to optimum utilization of resources.
Allocating Resources Judicially
MEASURES FOR MANAGING POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR
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8.  Morale can be defined as attitudes of individuals as well as
groups towards their work environment and towards voluntary
co-operation to the full extent of their ability in the best
interest of the organization. ---- Keith Davis
 Morale is the combination or structure of employees’
attitudes towards the principal element in the situations in
which they work. ---- Dale Yoder
MORALE
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9. •Refers to the satisfaction gained by employees when they feel contended with
processes and procedures involved in a job and the responsibilities and rewards
offered to them.
Intrinsic Job Satisfaction
•Helps in maintaining cordial association with colleagues.
Good Relationship with Co-workers
•Helps in building mutual trust between employees and the supervisor.
Good Relationship with Supervisors
•Refers to recognizing the contributions of employees by giving them monetary or non-
monetary benefits.
Rewards Distribution
FUNDAMENTALS OF BUILDING GOOD
MORALE
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10.  Authority refers to a power or right of an individual to take
decisions by making efficient utilization of resources.
 Authority includes giving commands and orders to make the
tasks done.
 Generally, authority flows from top to bottom level in the
organizational hierarchy.
 In an organization, a manager can neither achieve the
organizational objectives alone nor can he/she instruct all the
employees of the organization.
 Delegation refers to a process of sub-dividing or sub-
allocating the authority to subordinates to achieve desirable
results.
 A manager should delegate authority to his/her subordinates
on the basis of their skills and competencies.
AUTHORITY AND ITS DELEGATION
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11.  Centralization of authority is the concentration of authority
into few hands to make decisions.
 The advantages of centralization of authority are:
 Speeds up decision making as few people are involved in it
 Helps in clearly defining the job-related responsibilities to individuals
 Facilitates a clear decision making, as it is not required to discuss
and depend on general consensus
 The disadvantages of centralization of authority are:
 Increases the dependency of employees on managers for every
decision
 Results in the delay of completion of tasks
 Results in decreased motivation of employees
 Obstructs the smooth functioning of operations
CENTRALIZATION OF AUTHORITY
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12.  Decentralization of authority is the delegation of authority by
managers to employees throughout the organization.
 The advantages of decentralization of authority are:
 Increases the morale and self-confidence of employees
 Results in increased job satisfaction and motivation of employees
 Facilitates effective and quick decision making
 Helps training employees and preparing successors
 The disadvantages of decentralization of authority are:
 Loses the top level control on the whole organization
 Results in lack of coordination and leadership from the top level
 Results in the inefficient integration of subunits within an
organization
DECENTRALIZATION OF AUTHORITY
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13.  Selection of tasks
 Involves deciding the tasks that should be assigned to subordinates.
 Selection of individuals
 Implies that managers should be able to recognize right individuals
to perform tasks.
 Trust of managers on employees
 Implies that managers should entrust his/her subordinates that they
are capable of carrying out the assigned task effectively.
 Freedom of subordinates
 Refers to the extent of liberty given to subordinates by their
managers to accomplish delegated tasks.
 Level of communication between managers and employees
 Implies that there should be an open communication between
managers and employees for the successful delegation of authority.
THE PREREQUISITES OF EFFECTIVE
DELEGATION
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14.  Job design involves aggregating the tasks, duties, and
responsibilities associated with a job into a single unit of
work, to achieve the organizational objectives.
 Job design is useful in reducing job dissatisfaction, making
the job specialized, and increasing productivity.
 The jobs that are not properly designed result in increased
rate of attrition, low productivity, and high overall cost of the
organization.
 Job design helps to create a match between job requirements
and available human resource attributes.
JOB DESIGN
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15. •Refers to moving an employee from one job to another.
Job rotation
•Refers to the method of broadening the scope of a job by adding more tasks and duties to
it.
Job enlargement
•Refers to a process in which the employees are given the opportunities to utilize their
abilities and participate in the planning, decision-making, and controlling processes of an
organization.
Job enrichment
•Refers to a process in which the tasks associated with a job are divided into small
components.
Job simplification
TECHNIQUES OF JOB DESIGN
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16.  Power is an indispensable management concept that
encompasses influences, mechanisms, and processes to ensure
that the individual actions are based on the set rules of an
organization.
 The process of mobilizing or exercising power is known as
politics.
 Organizational politics involves using power to create socially
acceptable ends, which helps in balancing individuals and
organizational interests.
 Authority refers to formal rights granted to managers to issue
orders to subordinates and get the tasks done.
 It is necessary for managers to understand the concepts of
power, politics and authority to manage the organization
efficiently.
RECAP
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