Power And Politics

Power and Politics

Power and Politics

"I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod" (Winston Churchill). The employment of politics and power is an intrinsic part of any business or organization. Organizations are, after all, a group of individuals that have come together for a common purpose. To accomplish that purpose, these individuals need to rely upon, as well as support, each other. However, an organization also requires leadership, which is normally based in a hierarchy. For a hierarchy to function, it must have authority or power, over certain segments of the organizational body. Just because the power structure indicates a certain position has the authority to lead does not necessarily mean that it is competent to lead. The method in which power is utilized, and on occasion obtained, is called politics. The political process involves two or more individuals, with differing viewpoints, attempting to reconcile their different and reach a compromise.

What are Power and Politics

Power means different things to different people. There are some who view power in a bad way; meaning people holding power are overbearing or intrusive. On the other hand, people may view power as something good, as a way to get things done and keep people and things in-line. However people may view power, there will always be a necessity for it and people will always need it. Power is normally associated with presidents, CEO's and even sometimes parents can be viewed as powerful, and people in-charge usually happed to be the ones with all the power. In organizations, power is something that is needed and valued and helps to keep the company growing. The power holder of the company is most likely to be the president or CEO of the company and they will trickle down his/her power to management with them having power over the employees. "Power is defined as the ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things happen in the way you want them to" (R. Schermerhorn & G. Hunt & N. Osborn, 2005). Management has two types of power, which both play an important role in the way that they manage. The first type of power is position power, this type of power is given to you because of the position that you are in. When you are a manager, the role that you play is leading a group of people and getting them to do the things that you want them to do. The second type of power is personal power, the power that you have inside yourself, the power that you use when you are managing; outside from your position. These two types of power play a very important role in managing and leading, they are a must to run a well ran company. Normally, wherever there is power you can count on finding politics fairly close by.

Politics is also another word that can have a different definition to different people, some who are in favor of politics and some who will not even discuss it. Fact of the matter still remains that power and politics are what create and maintain companies all around the world. Politics are most widely known every four years when a great debate goes on for who the next president of the United States will be. Candidates will fill the TV with ad campaigns and compete with one another until they are blue in the face. Politics go on everyday, even though some people think it only happens when voting goes on, they are constantly occurring. Organizational politics are happening right now and are continuously helping out with the ways in which companies operate. "Organizational politics may be formally defined as the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through nonsanctioned influence means" (R. Schermerhorn & G. Hunt & N. Osborn, 2005). This type of politics usually occurs when partners in an organization are working together on a project, they both need to work together to produce the same outcome, but they may not have the same idea or opinion as the person that they are working with. Another type of politics are self-interest politics, when managers go their own way to do something at work and do things in a way that the company does not recommend. Politics play a very important role in how things get done on a daily basis they also help managers and leaders to make the best discussions for the company.

Using power to accomplish tasks

People use their position power or their personal power that they have in order to get tasks accomplished in the work environment. If the worker does not have any of the types of power the worker then needs to use politics to get a task or project completed. The production plant for Red Arrow Products, which manufactures liquid smoke, is a union plant. The management team consists of a plant manager, foremen, and a technical advisor. Being that the production plant at Red Arrow Product is a union plant. The plant manager and foremen have very limited reward and coercive power, so they need to rely on using legitimate power. Legitimate power is the extent to which a manager can use the "right of command" to control other people. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005). The technical advisor, works for another company that owns the patents of the technology that is used at Red Arrow Products, uses process power in order to get tasks accomplished. Process power is the control over methods of production and analysis. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005). The technical advisor works with the managers to ensure that production is done efficiently and effectively. A machine operator has no position power so, they need to rely on their personal power and politics in order to get what they need to accomplish.

Accomplishing Goals Using