One Person's Use Of Power And Politics example essay topic

Politics and Power: Examples from Today's Corporate World An effective organization focuses on strong leadership, power and political issues. These components are critical to creating an organization mindful of values, ethics, culture and innovation. Analyzing the use of power and politics are essential to understanding the behavior of individuals within organizations. There are two sides to power and politics.

In one respect power and politics imply the shady side of leadership. However, power and politics can be positive tools that managers use to accomplish tasks. This paper defines power and politics and examines how one can be used to influence the other in a positive way, thus resulting in gain, and in a negative, corruptive way, which ultimately leads to destruction of an organization. POWER Power has been described as the last dirty word. Money is easier than power for most people to talk about.

People who have power deny it; people who want power try not to appear to be seeking it, and those who are good at getting power are secretive about how they got it (Kanter, 1979). The essence of power is control. In organizational behavior power is defined as the ability of controlling the behavior of others. Power is the force one uses to get things done. Power and leadership should not be confused.

Leadership achieves goals and power is the means to facilitate their achievement. Power focuses on the tactics for gaining compliance while leadership focuses on style. Power is not without influence. One has influence when one has power.

Power and influence are key components when a person is trying to achieve organizational goals. Power is divided into two categories; position and personal (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2003). Power-based on a person's position has six bases: coercive, reward, legitimate, process, information and representative (Schermerhorn, et al., 2003). The coercive power base is defined as being dependent on fear. A person will react to this power out of fear of the negative results that might occur.

A manager has the power to suspend or terminate an employee this gives the manager coercive power over the employee. The opposite of coercive power is reward power. People comply with the wishes or directives of another because doing so produces positive benefits. In the organization context it can apply to promotions or favorable performance appraisals. In formal groups and organizations, the most frequent access to one or more of the power basis is one's structural position.

This is legitimate power. It represents the power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization. Process power is the control over methods of production and analysis. Many organizations need a process specialist to ensure production is accomplished effectively and efficiently. The source for information power is based on the access and control of information or the "right to know".

Not everyone is the organization will be privy to the inner workings of the company. Representative power is conferred on an individual when he or she has the formal right to speak as a representative of the organization. An individual's personal power is based on expert, rational persuasion, and reference bases. (Schermerhorn, et al., 2003).

Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill or knowledge. A physician has the expertise and hence the expert powers to convince a person to follow the advice he or she might give. Rational persuasion involves showing the desired outcome and how specific actions will achieve the outcome. Reference power base is identified with a person who has desirable resource or personal traits. Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to like that person. The analysis of power is to understanding the behavior of individuals within an organization.

Power has two sides; one is negative when power is used inappropriately such as in the Enron scandal. The other side of power occurs when it is used to develop, nurture and manage employees in a positive way to effectively manage an organization's success such as Microsoft. Microsoft Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has legitimate power as co-founder and chairman of Microsoft. His expert power is based on software development expertise. Gates also has referent power, because his employees look up to him and admire his incredible accomplishments. Bill Gates leadership style is his willingness to empower his researchers and project managers by arranging them in small groups.

New products can make it from conception to production much more quickly (Schermerhorn, et al., 2003). Microsoft's innovation is thought to be unstoppable, although the government did try to stop them in 1998 when it sued the software giant as a monopolist. Microsoft was accused of using coercive power practices when dealing with other companies. In the end Microsoft negotiated a settlement without admitting guilt, the company agreed to stop coercive practices.

Microsoft agreed to spend over a billion dollars on computers and software to be sent to deserving U.S. public schools. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation created in January 2000 is building upon the unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century to improve equity in global health and learning. The foundation works to expand access to technology through public libraries and focuses on improving global health through a global inoculation program. The foundation has invested more than $1 billion to date in Seattle, Microsoft's headquarters, through its four program areas; global health, education, public libraries and local giving, which emphasize housing and human services for vulnerable families. The Gates foundation has an endowment of approximately $28.8 billion.

Enron The collapse of Enron, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, led to thousands of employees losing their life savings in 401 (k) plans tied to the energy company's stock. Arthur Andersen, Enron's auditing firm, in on trial on charges of obstruction of justice for shredding Enron documents while on notice of a federal investigation. In Washington, Congress and the Justice Department are investigating what happened at the once high-flying Enron, whose officials have donated millions of dollars to Republicans and Democrats alike. Kenneth Lay, former Enron chairman and CEO has been charged with 11 counts of conspiracy and fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed parallel civil charges that accuse Lay of securities fraud. The biggest target of the Justice Department's aggressive campaign against corporate crime Lay is the 31st Enron related defendant facing charges in the government's vast Enron investigation. The indictment accuses Lay of scheming with seven Enron executives to deceive investors and the SEC about Enron's business woes, to manipulate earnings and to make false statements about Enron's real performance. In 2001 Lay was briefed by Enron employees about the firm's many problems, including $7 billion in losses, the indictment says.

Lay continued to paint a glowing portrait of Enron and ignored or avoided the true picture (Iwata, 2004). Lay continues to deny responsibility for the billions of dollars in losses for investors and former employees. POLITICS As Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn so aptly state, "any study of power and influence inevitably leads to the subject of 'politics' " (p 18). When experts speak of the subject of politics, they frequently divide it into two main areas: Machiavellian politics and creative compromise. These two very different subcategories of politics each have its own definitions and are "reflected in the ways executives describe their effects on managers and their organizations (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn 2003 p 19).

The first subgroup of organizational politics, Machiavellian politics, is the form of politics that, for many, casts a shadow over politics as a whole. It "conjures up thoughts of illicit deals, favors, and special personal relationships. Perhaps this image of shrewd, often dishonest, practices of obtaining one's way is reinforced by Machiavelli's classic fifteenth-century work The Prince" (Schermerhorn et al. 2003 p. 18). The text defines this form of politics as "the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through non sanctioned influence means".

Due to the nature of this category of politics, it is frequently difficult to tell when one is being political; how does one discern whether a person has his or her own self-interests or those of the corporation in mind? Looking on the brighter side, the second definition of politics "treats politics as a necessary function resulting from differences in the self-interests of individuals. Here, organizational politics is viewed as the art of creative compromise among competing interests". Individuals and organizations alike have their needs served as there is need to "develop compromises" and "avoid confrontation" as "their self-interests are served". In contrast to the first category of politics, this type of politics is "the use of power to develop socially acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective interests" (Schermerhorn et al. 2003 p. 19).

Spalding As far as sporting goods companies go, Spalding is one of the most respected. Spalding makes just about any kind of sporting good one can think of; from tennis rackets to billiard balls and cue sticks. But their claim to fame has to be basketballs. They make and sell more basketballs than any other company. So when Dan Touhey took over the reigns of Spalding's basketball division in 1997, the company was "doubtful about the prospects of creating a truly breakthrough product. Spalding was a respected brand name, but buyer indifference had been driving basketballs toward the dreaded status of a commodity" (Dann 2005 p. 36).

Touhey, who had previously been the project manager for Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine, pitched his new idea of an air pump built right into the basketball, the management did not get excited. "Creating a tiny mechanical device appeared to be well beyond the capabilities and resources of Spalding's R&D staff, who had been focused on more routine adaptations such as changing the ball's texture with different 'pebbling' patterns" (Dann 2005 p. 37). But Touhey got around the apprehension of the middle management by going right to the vice president of marketing. Together, they convinced the engineers to come up with a prototype which was a big hit with the executives. All this political maneuvering ended up benefiting the whole company as Spalding's share of the basketball market when from 32% just before the introduction of this new "Infusion" basketball to a whopping 64% just one year later. Rick's Auto Outlet Besides Enron and Arthur Anderson, the next best business to pick on when it comes to the abuse of politics is a used car dealer.

Ricky Funderburg, the owner of a used car lot in Monticello, Arkansas, has recently been brought up on a multitude of charges including 97 counts of theft of property, 25 counts of defrauding a secured creditor, and one count of operating a criminal enterprise in connection with the operation of his auto business. Apparently, Funderburg had ties to several employees of the Union Bank and Trust from whom he had business accounts with. He used his influence with them to continue to borrow money in the form of overdraft protection even when he was overdrawn over 2.4 million. The whistle was finally blown by a bank trustee after a review of the account. Williams, the trustee states, "At first, the overdraft amounts were in the $40,000-$50,000 range and only occurred two or three times a month. As time progressed, the dollar amount and frequency of the overdrafts increased remarkably" (Friedman 2005 p. 1).

Rick's Auto Outlet was finally pushed into involuntary bankruptcy on April 5, 2004 as five former customers sued for the $111,000 Funderburg owed them because he had sold their trade-in vehicles but did not pay off the existing liens. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER In the example of Microsoft, we see how Bill Gates used his expert power in a positive way to influence politics. Without admitting to any degree of guilt, Microsoft agreed to stop its "coercive practices" and provide public schools with computers and software. This move was quite ingenious when one thinks about it. Microsoft agrees to donate computers so that our youth learn, grow and develop on Microsoft's products. While the company is giving to those in need, it is also setting the stage for consumer loyalty well into the future.

Ricky Funderburg with Rick's Auto Outlet was not quite as intelligent in his use of power and politics. Mr. Funderburg was indicted on several felonies and will most likely be in debt to the last of his days. Rick's Auto Outlet is a perfect example of how one person's use of power and politics ultimately leads to destruction of an organization. Power and politics can be used to influence the success or failure of an organization. An effective organization selects strong leadership and takes precautious steps to control power and political issues. An organization that fully understands these issues creates a culture centered on values, ethics and innovation.

By analyzing power and politics we are able to understand how they influence individual behavior in organizations. We can also better understand how they are used with good intentions and how to avoid them in destructive situations.

Bibliography

Kantar, R. (1979).
Power failure in management circuits. Harvard Business Review, July-August, p. 65. Iwata, E. (2004, July 9).
Enron's Ken Lay: cuffed but confident. USA Today. University of Phoenix. (Ed). (2003).
Organizational Behavior, [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. John Wiley Publisher. Retrieved April 9, 2005 from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT/331-Organizational Behavior Website: web board / index.