From merely knowing the literal meaning of -( Power & Politics), to be able to face it, navigate it and maneuver it, in a career of more than a decade, I have definitely come a long way.On the hindsight, it did not take me long to infer that human Resources professionals or people managers ,inadvertently are implicated into the play, but what defines them is their ability to outshine, by using power and politics for the good of the organization vis a vis for their own personal good. 

Generally speaking, the genesis of power & politics is established on two critical factors, interdependence and scarcity in any kind of environment. However my scope is limited to an organization at large. 

So, what is power or how is it manifested in an organization? Power is defined as “the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.” Hence it is implied that there is a potential for power if someone or something is dependent on another. To elucidate it further, a manager is responsible for his team members growth, learning, compensation or to put it briefly, professional career. So the Organization bestows the power on the manager and similarly there are other functions which are conferred the power by the virtue of their role or position and termed as legitimate power. Albeit the power can have varied base and its inflicted accordingly by any individual in their capacity.  

The base for the power can be measured in six different ways and are as :

1. Information (Power) : When an individual has garnered data or information which is in demand, extends an implied power. Now this data or information could be the result of holding a confidential portfolio or project. Example could be team working on Acquisitions.
2. Reward (Power)  : This kind of power is with the individuals or departments who have the right to extend special benefits or rewards. What makes them powerful, is that lot of the individuals find it advantageous to trade favors with them or take one. Good example could be, HR or benefits departments.
3. Coercive (Power) : When an individual has the capacity to make it difficult for you to survive in an organization, is the coercive power. We all tend to give in to such kinds. Good example could be the seasoned head with big stakes
4. Legitimate (Power) : As discussed above, the base of this kind of power is position or designation. It is usually an established fact, that subordinates comply by their managers as a norm.
5. Expert (Power) : When the power is showcased by exceptional knowledge and experience and is the savior of the project on number of occasions. Usually termed as a Goto person in time of adversity.
6. Referent (Power) : This is the kind of power, when you fancy someone, for their knowledge, intellect or as a person, and would go out of the way to please them. People usually take initiatives to work with the ones they revere. 

Now, with all the basis of power outlined, the most commonly exerted is the, power to hurt others, Coercive Power. It is the most widely used and highly condemned though. In like manner, at the organization level, coercive power is very evident. It can be in the form of dismissal, suspension or demotion of an individual or subtly assign work activities that are way  below the person’s defined role. If not it, then assign project, destined to fail with no or minimal help.

Post understanding the types of power, it is imperative to evaluate the effectiveness of each of them, for us to be conscious of our choices.As observed, people usually responds in one of the three ways when each kind of basis of power is exerted by an individual. The three responses are Resistance, Compliance and Commitment. 

With resistance, the individual tries to oppose the request by outright refusal, stalling it or get into an indefinite argument that helps in avoidance. Compliance, calls for reluctantly agreeing to the request halfheartedly. Lastly, with Commitment, the individual is excited about the request and goes out of the way to abide by it.

The interesting and noteworthy aspect here is to identify, if the basis of power impacts the performance of an individual. At the onset, it does impact and differ in their influence on performance.

Coercive power, more often than not leads to resistance from employees with decreased satisfaction and enhanced mistrust. Whereas Reward power, leads to compliance with sporadic commitment. On the other hand,Legitimate Power results in compliance but not in increased commitment, meaning, individuals will perform as to be able to meet the bare expectations. However, Referent and Expert powers are most likely to result in getting commitment from the individuals.Studies have showed that deadline pressures increase team members reliance on individuals with Expert and Information power. 

Surprisingly, Coercive, Reward and Legitimate are the least effective bases of power to improve commitment among employees, yet largely used by  the managers, eventually impacting the culture of the organization. 

Evidently, organization should focus on encouraging the managers to practice more of Referent, Expert and Informational bases of power assisting in inculcating the culture of high performance and strong commitment. 

Watch out for my next blog on “Tactics to increase power and navigating politics”