UGBA105: Organizational Behavior

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UGBA105 Organizational Behavior
Walter A. Haas School of Business University of
California, Berkeley

• Professor Jim Lincoln
• Week 7
• Power, politics, networks in Organizations

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Power and PoliticsClass Agenda

• Review forms of power in organizations
• Consider how power and politics can be good and
  bad for organizations
• Discuss managing politics up and down
• Analyze power as the management of resource
  dependencies
• Examine political and networking strategies for
  advancing your goals and thwarting the opposition
• View and discuss video on Managing your boss

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Power and politics in organizations

• Power a dirty word?
• Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts
  absolutely
• What is it?
• The capacity to get people to do what they would
  not otherwise do
• And politics?
• The social relations of interest formation,
  power-seeking and wielding, and decision-making

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Power corrupts

• Power tends to corrupt and absolute power
  corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always
  bad men, even when they exercise influence and
  not authority still more when you superadd the
  tendency or the certainty of corruption by
  authority.
• John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton
  (18341902)
• Letter to Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887.
  Reprinted in Acton, Essays on Freedom and Power,
  ed. Gertrude Himmelfarb, pp. 33536 (1972).

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Leadership is power but not all power is
leadership

• Leadership
• Influencing others with charisma and vision
• Developing committed followership
• Other ways of getting exercising power
• Leveraging the formal organization
• Exercising authority
• Designing and implementing systems
• Trading on scarce skills or resources
• Maneuvering, manipulation

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Contrasts in presidential power

• Lyndon B. Johnson
• 36th President
• Term of office
• 11/22/1963 - 1/20/1969

• John F. Kennedy
• 35th President
• Term of office
• 1/20/1961 - 11/22/1963

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More powerful politicians
Boss Tweed
Sen. Everett Dirksen
Representative Tom DeLay
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Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

• (A) wise prince ought to adopt such a course
  that his citizens will always in every sort and
  kind of circumstance have need of him.., then he
  will always find them faithful."
• No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one
  concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for
  execution."
• He who is the cause of another becoming powerful
  is ruined
• "Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to
  hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make
  use of it or not according to necessity. "

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The purpose of power decision-making

• 1. The classical rational model
• Managers devise programs (standard operating
  procedures) so that decisions are made by the
  book
• Such routine or programmed decisions are
  delegated down the hierarchy exceptions are
  managed by higher-ups
• Higher level decisions are uncertain and require
  problem-solving search
• Modern decision tools can help
• 2. The political model
• Decision-making is unplanned and disorderly.
  It can occur without clear rules and behind the
  scenes. It is the outcome of conflicts in which
  one side prevails over others

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HPs messy (and very public) politics

• Boardroom DuelBehind H-P Chairman's Fall,Clash
  With a Powerful Director
• The Cautious Patricia DunnAnd Flashy Tom
  Perkins Were a Combustible Pair
• WSJ, G. Anders and A. MurrayOctober 9, 2006

Fiorina Board intrigue familiar. Fired chief
executive at HP describes 'veil of
dysfunction' B. Pimentel, SF Chronicle, Tuesday,
October 10, 2006
C. Fiorina Tough Choices A Memoir, 2006
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Managing power and politics

• Politics isnt pretty, but it is real, pervasive,
  manageable
• Myth of the apolitical business organization
• How to analyze and navigate the political
  terrain
• Map out the actors, interests, goals,
  resource/power bases, strategies, networks,
  coalitions, decision events
• How to manage power and politics
• Managing down (From the organizations
  perspective)
• Contain channel politics in productive ways
• Managing up (From the employees perspective)
• The myth of the good employee
• How to get power and use it
• How to be savvy a player on the winning side

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H. Ross Perot Founder and CEO, Electronic Data
Services and Presidential Candidate, 1992 and 1996

• If someone as blessed as I am is not willing to
  clean out the barn, who will?
• Business is not just doing deals business is
  having great products, doing great engineering,
  and providing tremendous service to customers.
• Perot ran for president of the United States in
  1992 as an independent candidate, winning 19
  percent of the voteone of the largest
  percentages ever for an independent candidate. He
  ran again in 1996 on the Reform Party ticket.

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Managers attitudes toward workplace politics
Agree
Workplace politics are common to most organizations 92.3
Successful executives must be good politicians 89.0
The higher you go in organizations, the more political the climate becomes 76.2
Powerful executives dont act politically 15.7
You have to be political to get ahead in organizations 69.8
Top management should try to get rid of organizational politics 48.6
Politics help organizations function effectively 42.1
Organizations free of politics are happier than those with politics 59.1
Politics in organizations are detrimental to efficiency 55.1
Ganz and Murray The Experience of Workplace
Politics Academy of Management Journal 23 (1980)
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The myth of the good employee

• Keep your nose clean and to the grindstone
• Concentrate on doing your own job well
• Dont venture outside your silo/cubicle
• Obey the rules
• Defer to your betters
• Assume your superiors know what theyre doing
• And do what they say
• Assume that the smartest, best, and
  hardest-working people inevitably win in the end

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Individual qualities that can serve you well as
an organizational politician

• Self-efficacy
• Extroversion/gregariousness/aggressiveness
• Communication skills
• Energy/drive
• Creativity
• Skepticism
• Tolerance for uncertainty and risk
• Introspection/emotional control
• Commitment/dedication
• To organization or faction
• Competence at your job
• Relish competition and winning

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Causes of organizational politics

• Resource scarcity
• Leadership too weak or too strong
• Informal organization
• Culture
• Weak overall
• Strong subcultures
• Shared and strong but values politics
• Networks
• Extensive but fragmented
• Formal organization
• Too weak
• Lack of authority and rules ill-defined roles
• Too strong
• Segmentation interdependence ? conflict
• Rigidities are politically exploited
• Crisis, turbulence (e.g., takeover)

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The bad side of organizational politics

• From the organizations perspective
• Processes
• Plotting, back-stabbing, rumour-mongering,
  vengeance-seeking, sabotage, corruption, secrecy,
  hoarding, zero-sum games
• Outcomes
• Goal subversion/suboptimization factionalism
  stalemate inertia, high cost in time
  resources, loss of transparency and
  accountability
• For the participants perspective
• Uncertainty, anxiety, frustration, stress,
  isolation, inability to focus on tasks, failure

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Bob Ebeling Manager of the Rocket
Ignition System at Morton-Thiokol

• We did our level best, but it wasnt good
  enough...The decision to recommend a launch was
  pre-ordained by others, by NASA leaning on our
  upper management. The deck was stacked.
• I was so sure that Challenger was doomed that I
  asked my daughter, Leslie, then 33, to my office
  to watch a super colossal disaster unfold on live
  TV...and then I prayed
• That he foresaw disaster and could not stop it
  has tortured him since.

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The good side of organizational politics

• Positive processes
• Conflict is open and positive-sum
• Rules of the game are established and abided by
• Consensus is maintained on core values
• Factions and coalitions have shifting memberships
• Positive outcomes
• People are motivated and empowered
• Better teamwork and collective action
• The organization is more flexible adaptive
• Fewer silos, entrenched interests
  unproductive routines

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Politics as empowerment Getting things done
with and through others

• The modern flat, lean, horizontal organization
• ? power politics
• Power is no longer packaged as authority roles
• People have a mandate to get power and use it
• Fewer bureaucratic impediments to political
  maneuvering
• Influence, brokering, networking, alliance
  formation

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Apples lack of formal structure ? networks and
politics

• Apple is highly relationship and network
  oriented. If you know the right people you can
  get things donethere are lots of inner circles.
  Management by coercion doesnt work here..
• There is a lot of politicslike everywhere-but
  lack of rules and policies may make it more
  important here. Most organizations have their
  smoke-filled rooms Apple does too. The
  difference is that here if you want into the
  argument, you can find your way in.
• --Apple HR manager

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How to manage power and politics down (from
the organizations perspective)

• Stay above the fray and be an observant fair
  referee
• Have good information on the issues, players,
  arenas, etc.
• Stay in contact with all the players
• Provide leadership and build a culture that
  encourages fair play and open competition
• Monitor how resources are being used as power
  bases
• Enforce the rules of the game
• Keep decision outcomes in line with
  organizational goals

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Power and politics as the management of resource
dependencies(Or how to trade on scarce
resources)

• Assumption power comes from leveraging resources
  in relationships to manage dependence
• As dependence on B for resource C is
• Directly proportionate to Bs need of C
  (criticality)
• Inversely proportionate to the number of
  alternative suppliers of C (scarcity)
• A has power over B if
• B is dependent on A
• A is not dependent on B

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Types of resources

• Authority
• Alvin Gouldner Patterns of Industrial
  Bureaucracy,
• Charisma, reputation, status
• Expertise information
• Ability to manage (absorb) uncertainty
• M. Crozier The Bureaucratic Phenomenon,
• Time effort
• R. Michels Political Parties A Sociological
  Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern
  Democracy
• Position in networks

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Network position as a resource Power flows to
centrally-placed actors
4
3
15
11
U
5
6
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David Mechanic "Sources of power of lower participants in complex organizations." Administrative Science Quarterly 7(1962)349 64.
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Political strategies

• Having a power base is not enough!
• The next step is devising political strategies to
  advance goals and overcome opposition
• Anticipate the oppositions moves (strategies
  tactics) and plan your response

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Political strategies

• Monopolistic strategies
• Claim your resources are critical
• Restrict supply
• Bureaucratic strategies
• Pursue or resist restructurings and formalization
• Selective use of objective criteria
• Manage the numbers
• Manage decision-making events
• Control whats on the agenda
• Control the order of consideration
• Control the decision alternatives

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Reorgs politics
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Networking strategies

• Network widely
• Work the halls
• Get good at small talk (learn the culture)
• Cultivate friendships
• Position yourself
• Be central be a bridge or broker
• Build coalitions
• Get others obligated to you
• Logroll You scratch my back and Ill scratch
  yours
• Prevent or break up their coalitions
• Exploit structural holes My enemys enemy is my
  friend
• Divide and conquer

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Networking strategy Be central be a broker!
4
3
15
11
U
5
6
12
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Networking strategy Forge weak ties!
1
5
4
8
U
6
3
7
9
12
10
11
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Networking strategy Exploit structural
holes(My enemys enemy is my friend)
-
B
B
-

A
A
-
C
-
C
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ConclusionsPower, politics, networking

• For the employee
• You can be competent, work hard, do your job,
  accomplish goals.
• AND STILL LOSE
• To people better at organizational politics than
  you
• For the organization
• Power, politics, and networks are not all bad and
  can be good
• But they have to be understood and managed

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Donna Dubinsky case

• Who were the allies and adversaries in this
  conflict? What were the reasons for the
  conflict? What resources did the parties bring
  to bear? What strategies were used? Who
  prevailed and why? Does the gender of the
  protagonists have any relevance here? Why or why
  not? How might the debate over the distribution
  system have been better managed? How did Apples
  culture, structure, and the leadership styles of
  the executive team shape the evolution of the
  conflict? Was incongruence or poor alignment
  among the various parts of Apples organization
  a cause of the conflict? Was it leveraged or
  exploited in any way by the players?

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• xxx

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Donna Dubinskys 10 lessons

1. Get your go-to-hell money together
2. Pick your boss well
3. Negotiate with two or more options
4. Treat people with respect
5. Dont dwell on sunk costs
6. Challenge convention
7. Dont fight every battle
8. Know your competitors
9. Think global
10. Dont overestimate others