Answer to Question #168589 in Marketing for saleemaslam

Question

1. Self-analysis. 

What are your formal and personal bases of power? Create a written plan for increasing your power for all five bases. Discuss with your learning team for comments and then refine your plan.

2. How Political is your workplace

Complete the measure on page 292 of your text. ( Exhibit 8-5)

Discuss the results with your learning team and what your reaction is to your findings

Be prepared to share your results in the online class

Answer 1

Power is the ability to control resources to accomplish a task and avoid obstacles. There are many bases of power, and two of the most common are formal power and personal power. Formal power is based upon power conferred by the organization, while personal power is power based upon the leader's personal traits like integrity, honesty, problem solver, and visionary nature. The five bases of power include; coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent. In these bases, one can increase power in various ways. Coercive power is conveyed through fear of losing one’s job, being demoted, receiving a poor performance review, having prime projects taken away. Increasing this form of power, one has to be more authoritative and command his or her ideas. Reward power is conveyed through rewarding individuals for compliance with one’s wishes. It can be increased through giving bonuses, raises, a promotion, and extra time off from work. Legitimate power is conveyed from having a position of power in an organization, such as being the boss or a key member of a leadership team. It can be increased by making people in the organization recognizes the authority of the individual. Expert power comes from one’s experiences, skills, or knowledge and it can be increased by gaining more knowledge and expertise from a particular field. Referent power comes from being trusted and respected. One can gain referent power when others trust what we do and respect us for how we handle situations.

Workplace politics is the process and behavior in human interactions involving power and authority. It involves the use of power and social networking within a workplace to achieve changes that benefit the organization or individuals within it. Organizational politics are self-serving behaviors that employees use to increase the probability of obtaining positive outcomes in organizations. Influence by individuals may serve personal interests without regard to their effect on the organization itself. It helps employees access tangible and intangible assets and benefits like status and positive ones give pseudo-authority that influences the behavior of others. Most workplaces discuss the current affairs in the area or city or country.