This document discusses power and politics in organizations. It defines power as the ability to carry out one's will despite resistance through various types of power like coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert power. It also discusses the importance of power for coordinated activities and as the basis for authority. The document then covers group dynamics, defining it as the interaction of forces between group members. It identifies different types of groups and characteristics of formal and informal organizations. Finally, it defines politics as a universal phenomenon in organized societies and lists reasons for organizational politics like competition for power and ambiguity in organizations.

1. IV UNIT
POWER & POLITICS
By
Dr. K. Babu Rao

2. POWER
Power is the probability that one actor within the
relationship will be I a position to carry out his
own will despite resistance
Characteristics of Power:
1. Power is one o f the means to influence others
for getting results
2. Influence process occurs in a particular way
when it is attempted by the use of power
3. Power is use not only in getting certain results
achieved but it also includes negative decisions
or the action of non-decisions

3. Importance of power
1. Necessary for coordinated activities:
Power is required in the organization for the
effective performance of activates of the
people
2. Basis for authority and responsibly:
Power is commonly recognized as the basis
of authority and responsibility. In one way,
authority can be viewed as one of the
prerequisites of power

4. TYPES OF POWER
1. Coercive Power: Coercive power is defined as
the power which rests upon the application or
the threat of application of physical sanctions.
The physical sections, out of the exercise of
coercive power, may be in any form depending
upon the situation.
2. Reward Power: Reward power is opposition of
coercive influence. It is based on one’s control
and allocation of material resources and
rewards. The power is based on the old saying
that ‘Wealth is power’

5. 3. Legitimate power: legitimate power is based
on agreement and commonly held values
allowing one person to have power over
another person.
4. Referent Power: Referent power based on
identification. Identification is the process of
leering wherein a person copies the behavior
of other person whom he takes as an ideal.
5. Expert Power: Expert power is based on the
famous proverb “ knowledge is power”.
Experts power is that influence which one
wields as a result of one’s experience, special
skill or knowledge.

6. Group Dynamics
• The term group dynamics contains two terms:
group and dynamics. Group is basically two or
more people.
• Dynamics comes from Greek word meaning
“force”
• Group dynamics refers to the interaction of
forces between group members in a social
situation.

7. Features of the group
1. Two or more persons
2. Collective Identity
3. Interaction
4. Shared goal interest

8. Types of groups
1. Primary and secondary groups
2. Membership and reference groups
3. Command and task groups
4. In-groups and out-groups
5. Formal & Informal groups

9. Characteristic of formal organizations
1. Organization structure is designed by the top
management to fulfill certain requirements.
2. Organization structure is based on the principles
of division of labor and efficiency in operations.
3. Organizations concentrate more on the
performance of jobs
4. The authority and responsibility assigned to
each job have to be adhered to by the job
holders.
5. Coordination among members and their control
are well specified through process procedures
and rules.

10. Characteristic of informal organizations
1. Informal organization is a natural outcomes at
the work place
2. Informal organization is created on the bases of
some similarity among its members
3. Membership is an informal organization is
voluntary
4. Behavior of members of the informal
organization is coordinated and controlled by
the group norms and not by the norms of formal
organizations

11. POLITICS
Politics is universal phenomenon in organized
society. Political behavior is not limited to
those who hold public positions. We can
expect political behavior in every organization.
1. Politics is common in most organization
2. Managers must be good in politics to succeed
3. Politics is more important at higher levels
4. Politics can detract from organizational
efficiency.

12. Reasons for organizational politics
Every one place some kind of politics at some
point of time in the organization. The following
are the reasons for politics
1. Competition for power
2. Discretionary Authority
3. Ambiguity in organization
4. Subjective evolution of performance
5. Saturation in promotion
6. Joint Decision making