Power vs. Politics & Stress in Organizations

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1. Compare and contrast "power vs. politics" in organizations. How does one impact the other?

Power is "the potential to control the behavior of others", whereas "formal authority is the potential to exert such control through the legitimacy of a managerial position." (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005). In contrast, politics can be defined in terms of self-interest and the use of nonsanctioned means. Politics and power are interrelated. Depending on definition of politics, however, organizational politics influences the power of the organization to meet its goals either negatively through self-interest and non-sanctioned influence or more positively through moving towards organizational goals through the political influence of compromise and negotiation (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005).

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" (cited in Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005). Managers are seen as political when they seek their own goals or use means that are not currently authorized by the organization or that push legal limits. A second way of looking at politics is as a necessary function resulting from differences in the self-interests of individuals. In this sense, organizational politics is seen as the art of creative compromise among competing interests. Politics arises in organizations, where individuals join, work, and stay together because their self-interests are served. The organizational powerful people, in negotiation with others, establish the goals of the organization and the acceptable means of achieving them. Thus, organizational politics is "the use of power to develop socially acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective interests" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005). Thus, political skills are used in exerting power, which include: ...