Organizational Culture And Politics
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Power, Culture, and Politics
Question 1: What power tactics can employees use to translate their power bases into specific actions and how does each one work?
There are nine tactics that an employee can use to translate their power bases into specific actions. The tactics are legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation, pressure, and coalitions.
The first tactic, legitimacy is when an employee relies on their position or stresses organizational policies. An example would be an employee in accounting and finance telling another employee to get an authorization for a travel reimbursement before releasing the funds to them.
Rational persuasion is when an employee uses logic and evidence that supports their argument. We often see this when employees try to persuade their superiors. Rational persuasion tends to be a tactic employed more by Western cultures than Eastern ones.
Inspirational appeals is when an employee develops an emotional commitment by appealing to the values, needs, hopes, and aspirations of another targeted individual. Consultation is when an employee increases the motivation and support of others by involving them in deciding how the plan or change will be done.
Exchange happens when employees reward a target with benefits or favors in exchange for following a request. This is often seen when people do things like cover shifts for one another.
When an employee asks for compliance based on friendship or loyalty they are making a personal appeal.
Ingratiation is when an employee uses flattery or praise or some other type of friendly behavior before making a request. This is very often happens when an employee asks another employee to do a task they do not want to do themselves or before telling a superior bad news.
When an employee turns to pressure they use warnings or repeated demands and...
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