3.4 Power, authority and accountability

Definition of Power
Power is the ability to exert influence on other people.
Sources/ bases of power
1. Legitimate power: It is power created and conveyed by the organization.
2. Reward power: The power to grant and withhold various types of rewards. These rewards may include pay increases, promotion, praise, recognition, etc.
3. Coercive power: The power to force compliance through psychological, emotional or physical threat.
4. Expert/ information power: Power based on knowledge and expertise.
5. Referent/ charismatic power: Power based on subordinates’ identification with the leader.

Ways to gain power
1. Working extraordinary: Doing things in an extraordinary manner contributes to power. For example, negotiating a new project/contract, developing new product etc.
2. Coalition: By forming a coalition, the members are able to increase their power over groups not in their coalition.
3. Competition: Due to the scarcity of the resources in the organization, various groups compete with each other to have a greater share of such resources. For this, they try to influence the criteria used as the basis of resource distribution in the form of funds, space, support staff etc.
4. Cooptation: Under the scheme of cooptation a group gives some of its important positions of members of the other groups or includes them in its policy making committee. Hence the criticism and threats from those other groups are blunted.
5. Cultivating the right people: A person can gain power over another person by the use of flattery, creation of goodwill, acting humble and being friendly prior to making a request.

Organizational politics
It refers to the influencing tactics and the activities that are undertaken to retain personal control in the workplace.
Reasons for organizational politics
1. Power Struggles: Some employees will indulge in office politics to get ahead and prove their worth.
2. Inability to Adjust to Change: Change is an inevitable part of every business. However, some of us are better than others at adjusting and adapting to change and when there are winners and losers involved, then resentments can boil over into workplace politics.
3. Lack of Clarity: Often misunderstanding and a lack of clarity generate organizational politics.
Jealousies: Perceptions of favoritism, schmoozing, underappreciation, and power imbalances make for a toxic cocktail.
4. Lack of Trust: lack of trust is a powerful driving force for organizational politics.
5. Reward Systems: Some workers may indulge in organizational politics to ensure they get the reward rather than a colleague.
6. Manipulations: If someone wants to mislead his superior then he will try to manipulate the information and pass the wrong one with the help of organizational politics
7. Personal relationships: It is often seen that supporting someone you have a good relationship will drag you down the wrong path and at the end of the day it becomes a reason for organizational politics

Strategies for managing organizational politics
– Reduce Uncertainty in the workplace: Reducing uncertainty in the workplace will help you meet this problem head-on.
– Promote collaborative working: Tackle problems of mistrust, petty jealousies, and departmental silos with collaborative working.
– Be a good role model: As a manager, try not to indulge in workplace politics yourself. Instead, display a positive attitude, avoid office gossip, and never criticize employees’ work in front of others.
– Be transparent: Clarity and openness will go a long way to diffusing the misconceptions that fuel office politics.
– Don’t have favorites: Every manager wants to ensure top-performing workers are recognized. However, this should not be done at the expense of others as it will only spur resentment.
– Team work: Promoting team work at the workplace strengthens the bond amongst the employees.
– Communication: Effective communication reduces the chances of politics at the workplace.
– Job satisfaction: Responsibilities must be delegated as per the interests, specialization and educational qualification of the employees.

Effects of organizational politics
1. Decrease in overall productivity: Politics lowers the output of an individual and eventually affects the productivity of the organization.
2. Low levels of concentration: Individuals find it difficult to concentrate on their work.
3. Increases stress: The failure to trust each other is a severe drawback as you do not have someone with whom you can share your deepest secrets and feel safe doing so.
4. De-motivates the employees: It is a fact that organizational politics will ultimately de-motivate employees.
5. Wrong information: Employees indulged in politics manipulate information and it is never passed on in its desired form.
6. Negative work environment: It is a fact the organizational politics tend to make the office environment harmful and this has a direct impact on the efficiency levels of the employees.

Authority
Authority is the right way of commanding subordinates, issuing orders, and getting the team to comply with them.
Types of authority

1. Line authority: Line authority is the direct authority which a superior exercise over his subordinates to carry out orders and instructions.
2. Staff authority: Staff authority refers to the right to advice on improving the effectiveness for line employees in performing their duties.
3. Functional authority: It is the right that is delegated to an individual or a department to control specified processes, practices, policies or other matters about activities undertaken by persons in other departments.

Differences between power and authority

1. Power is defined as the ability or potential of an individual to influence others and control their actions. Authority is the legal and formal right to give orders and commands, and take decisions.
2. Power is a personal trait, i.e., an acquired ability, whereas authority is a formal right, that vest in the hands of high officials or management personnel.
3. The major source of power is knowledge and expertise. On the other hand, position and office determine the authority of a person.
4. Power flows in any direction, i.e., it can be upward, downward, crosswise or diagonal, lateral. As opposed to authority, that flows only in one direction, i.e., downward (from superior to subordinate).
5. The power lies in person, in essence, a person acquires it, but authority lies in the designation, i.e., whoever get the designation, get the authority attached to it. Authority is legitimate whereas the power is not.