Power refers to an individual's ability to influence others, while politics involves using power to achieve tasks and protect interests. Authority is the formal right of managers to issue orders. It is important for managers to understand power, politics, and authority to efficiently manage organizations and balance individual and organizational goals. Job design and delegation of authority are also crucial for optimal performance.

1. COURSE CODE:: MP101
Course ::Management theory
and Practice
Unit -6::POWER, POLITICS, AND AUTHORITY

2. OBJECTIVES
 Discuss the concept of power
 Explain the concept of organizational politics
 Describe the significance of morale
 Elaborate on the concept of authority
 Detail upon the need of job design

3. INTRODUCTION
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. In other words, power refers to an ability of an individual to influence others to get the tasks done.
The process of mobilizing or exercising power is known as politics. Both power and politics are inevitable factors that directly affect different
organizational practices. Power involves employing stored influences through which events, actions, and behaviors of individuals are directed.
On the other hand, politics involves using power to get the tasks done and protect the vested interests of individuals in an organization. It is
necessary for managers to understand the concepts of power and politics to manage the organization efficiently. Authority is regarded as a corner
stone of an organization. It refers to formal rights granted to managers to issue orders to subordinates and get the tasks done. Authority can also
be defined as an ability of an individual to ensure the compliance of instructions given by the superior in an organization. Sometimes, the terms
authority and power are used interchangeably; however, these two terms are different. Authority is formal in nature and is legally enforced, whereas
power is informal and depends on the individual understanding.

4. CONCEPT OF POWER
 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.
 Following are the personal and professional attributes of a manager that makes him/her
powerful:
 Personal Attributes:
 Includes interpersonal and analytical skills, knowledge, and energy level
 Includes a strong professional reputation
 Includes an ability to have favourable 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

5. TYPES OF POWER
 The types of power, which are explained in the following points:
 Legitimate Power: Refers to the power that is inherent in the position and
authority of an individual within an organization.
 Reward Power: Refers to the power possessed by individual who has the
authority to give rewards to others.
 Coercive Power: Refers to the negative part of power in which a manager
influences employees by punishment, such as termination.
 Expert Power: Refers to the power possessed by an individual because of
his/her superior ability or expertise in one or more areas.
 Referent Power: Refers to the power used by an individual who is liked
and respected by others.

6. DEFINE ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
 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

7. REASONS FOR POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
 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.

8. POLITICAL STRATEGIES
 Forming Alliances: Indicates that the individuals make association with those people who themselves are
either powerful or are at least close to those who enjoy powerful position in the organization.
 Selective Use of Information: Implies that individuals who want to indulge in politicking try to withhold
information that is important or give limited information because of their selfish motives.
 Escapism: Indicates that individuals who have mastered the art of politicking know how to escape in cases
where they are held responsible for anything wrong.
 Image Building: Indicates that the people who indulge in politicking would try to build their positive image in
front of others, as it is must for them to be successful.
 Networking: Indicates that the individuals try to maintain good interpersonal relationship with others and
especially with those who are at influential positions.
 Compromise: Indicates that the people who indulge in politicking may forgo their values and beliefs for
attaining an influential position in the organization.
 Persuasion: Refers to the persuasive power of individuals through which they influence and convince
others for attaining their own higher goals, which they conceal from everybody.

9. MANAGING POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
 Following points explain the measures that help in
managing political behavior:
 Defining Job Duties Clearly: Refers to defining job duties in a
very concise and precise manner.
 Demonstrating Proper Behavior: Implies that the top
management should demonstrate ideal behavior, which it
expects its employees to exhibit.
 Promoting Understanding: Indicates that the steps should be
taken by top management to build better understanding among
employees.
 Allocating Resources Judicially: Refers to optimum utilization of
resources.

10. MORALE
 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

11. FUNDAMENTALS OF BUILDING GOOD
MORALE
 The four important fundamentals that help in forming good morale
are explained as follows:
 Intrinsic Job Satisfaction: 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.
 Good Relationship with Co-workers: Helps in maintaining cordial
association with colleagues.
 Good Relationship with Supervisors: Helps in building mutual trust
between employees and the supervisor.
 Rewards Distribution: Refers to recognizing the contributions of
employees by giving them monetary or non-monetary benefits.

12. AUTHORITY AND ITS DELEGATION
 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.

13. JOB DESIGN
 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.
 However, the jobs that are not properly designed result in increased rate
of attrition, low productivity, and high overall cost of the organization.
 Thus, job design helps to create a match between job requirements and
available human resource attributes.

14. TECHNIQUES OF JOB DESIGN
 Generally, four basic techniques are used by organizations for designing and
redesigning the jobs:
o Job rotation: Refers to moving an employee from one job to another.
o Job enlargement: Refers to the method of broadening the scope of a job
by adding more tasks and duties to it.
o Job enrichment: 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.
o Job simplification: Refers to a process in which the tasks associated with
a job are divided into small components.

15. SUMMARY
 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.
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