Analysis of Power and Politics in Organizational Behavior and HRM

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of power and politics within organizational settings, drawing on a critical literature review. It explores the influence of power dynamics on organizational behavior and human resource management (HRM), examining various types of power, including legitimate, coercive, reward, referent, and expert power. The report investigates the impact of power struggles, the abuse of power, and the role of HRM in addressing such issues. It highlights the importance of understanding power dynamics for effective leadership and organizational effectiveness, offering insights into how organizations can mitigate the negative consequences of power imbalances and promote a healthy work environment. The findings are supported by a review of relevant literature, including journal articles, and discusses the implications for organizational practices and employee well-being.

People organization and management
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Introduction
The task is going to cover power and politics, in an organization power and politics is the
capacity of a group or an individual to influence the behavior of other people in the organization
(Wilson, 2017). Every organization has its own rules and regulation that are supposed to govern
all operational activities of the organization and the staff members, and aspects such as politics
and power dictate the rules and regulations, types of power positions in an organization and their
requirements. The following topics are going to be discussed the influence of power and politics
in organizational behavior and human resource management, ways of handling abuse of power in
an organization and examples of power abuse and their descriptions.
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Literature review
Every organization practices power and politics where it is defined as the capacity of a group or
an individual has to influence the behavior of an organization. The ten journals help bring
different understanding about Power and politics. Leadership journal defined power as the
potential a person has to influence the behavior of an organization leading to a change of events.
According to a journal of organizational behavior, power is the capability of someone
influencing other people or activities which is accessed through important resources control.
Green etal (2016) states that power can have a positive influence in the organization or a
company which helps improve the productivity of a business or make it worse. There is also the
political influence of human resource management in the business. Also learned that in every
organization has its own rules and regulation that are supposed to govern all operational
activities of the organization and the staff members, and aspects such as politics and power
dictate the rules and regulations (Brewster etal. 2016). The types of power position in an
organization that is mostly determined by the level of knowledge, ways of abuse of power in a
business and how human resource management helps in solving power abuse (Bratton and Gold,
2017).
Methodology
The researcher used interviews to research on how leaders abuse power in the organization and
to identify how employees handle the issue of power abuse in the organization and the also used
questioners to identify the types of power positions, the political influence of human resource
management in the organization (Sherafat and Elahi, 2018).
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Findings
The research findings about the types of abuse of power were; aggression, superiority, unfair
disciplinary measures, "my way or the highway" behavior and disrespecting boundaries and
abilities they also found how employees handle abuse of power examples include; confronting
the person and documenting all evidence that could be used against the person abusing power.
The research findings on power positions in the company include reward, expert, referent,
legitimate and coercive which each positions depends on the level of knowledge and skills also
found the influence of human resource management in the organization politics which was to
help solve the abuse of power by taking necessary steps to ensure no employee is being exploited
and using the documented evidence presented before them by the employees (Collings, Wood
and Szamosi, 2018).
Power and politics
The influence of power and politics within an organization are similar to government structure of
traditional politics. The management in an organization is divided depending on the number of
departments that power is exerted in (Eva etal., 2018). When people want to acquire control for a
specific position which at times it is not a bad thing unless a person decides to play dirty to
acquire the position which sometimes might include hurting people. The different sources of
power in an organization competing for control, which is not a bad thing until the time someone
decides to compete dirty. The politics of the internal environment of the organization also can
practice politics since everyone will probably choose to one side of an issue over another despite
how neutral the other people attempt to remain (DuBrin and Geerinck, 2015
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Human resource management
The organization uses the strategic approach of human resource management which is used in
the effectiveness of the management of people in a company or an organization so that they help
the business to gain a competitive advantage against its competitors (Bennett, Beehr and Lepisto,
2016). The human resource management department has identified a significant rise in influence,
reputation, and power but it has not yet been evaluated from the view of organizational
management.
Human Resources department is a very vital part of the organization since it protects the
employees from exploitation, misconduct between member staff of a company. The human
resource also deals with cases of abuse of power for example when an employee submits all the
evidence that can be used by the organization human resource that can be used against the power
abuser they take necessary actions to deal with the person. They also acquire all the necessary
resources required to deal with the situation and all necessary steps which includes what cannot
be done and what can be done. When an employee submits a documented copies of whatever
he/she has been taking notes of and all available photographs as part of the evidence to the
human resource manager can be used to bring to the company's attention in case of any power
abuse. In scenarios where probably an intervention of an outside force like legal action or policy
is required, the human resource department will mostly play a part of the situation on behalf of
the organization or a company (Albrecht etal., 2015)
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Debates
In the organization, environment power converts into influence and authority and can have an
impact in different ways. People acquire power professionally in different ways, which is based
on factors like job occupation, the position they hold in the company they are employed and
finally the industry sector the company belongs to In most cases there are five different types of
power in an organization;
a. Legitimate
This type of power influence is the position he/she held in an organization or a company. In an
organization, legitimate power can only be exercised through a well legitimate means for
example if the individual earned their position in the business, and this case individuals with
legitimate power mostly can only exercise their power to employees under them in the business
hierarchy and not people above them.
b. Coercive
Coercive power is a type of power that can sometimes be generally be prone to abuse and harsh
due to associated abilities to it .individuals who exercise coercive power influence other
organization employees through sanctions, threats and punishments, this type of power is
exercised in the organization to ensure that the company's employees behaviors follow the rules
and regulations and are often used to deals with anyone who violates the company's policy. This
type of power carries out disciplinary actions which include terminating and firing a person from
the company or organization.
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c. Reward
This type of power is the opposite of coercive power because this type of power influences the
organization's employees with rewards like bonuses and promotion. The reward power main aim
is to motivate the employees to act and do something that will help contribute to a positive
influence on the employee's behavior. Their administrators and performance review helps to
know how and identify some levels of rewards power in a company or an organization
(Campbell and Price, 2016).
d. Referent
Individuals who belong in this type of power are most admired in an organization or a company.
Generally, leaders in an organization attain this power when they display a positive trust and
rapport between the employees and them through their actions. In most cases it is evident that a
person exercises the referent power by interview their employees; loyalty, positive praise and
other positive response are a good indicator.
e. Expert
In a business set up people who have expertise in most areas tend to be in charge of those who do
not have. This kind of power is gained through skills, knowledge, and experience regarding
various areas of interest and topics. An individual does not require to have expert status so that
he or she can acquire expert power, those that acquire more experience and knowledge attain
expert power over those people with less experience, skills, and knowledge. An employee at a
high position in an organization does not have to have an expert status to have expert power; the
individuals who acquire more knowledge of a particular job can acquire more expert power over
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those who acquire less. The people with expert knowledge is reflected in their credibility on how
they do their things and their reputation.
Theories
In every organization, there must be the leadership that governs all employees and business
ethical code and philosophy that every member of the stuff is supposed to adhere to. The style
and set up of an organization or a company leadership determines how the power is going to be
divided and what are the roles all employees are going to carry during the operational activity of
the business. The staff members in the organization have their own goals in the whole business
politics which are shaped by their viewpoints and behaviors that is more than the goals of the
entire organization. In an organization, politics tend to develop when a person starts to act on
their interest without considering other people in the company. Politics mostly develops when
power struggles and conflicts, typical individuals with conflicting aims will generally be the
people at odds. Most leaders and experts explain that politics in a business is more harmful than
the good impact it can create. Politics in an organization or a company lowers the productivity of
the company's employees because they cause destruction, ruin the morale and motivation,
increase the level of stress and interfere with the working environment of the organization or
company. The leaders and experts since they are the people that hold essential position and have
power in the business exert their authorities based on their interest in power which can result to
employees' abuse, which contributes highly to conflicts between opposing political sides.
Changes to leadership, laws, and regulations contribute to the change of organizational behavior
which can encourage the reduction of power in the office politics or even damage them if they
are not done in the right way.
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Key issues
Power struggle must seem reasonable, but they are not recommendable in an organization since
they are not an effective way of activities done in an organization working environment
(Einarsen, Aasland and Skogstad, 2016). The power struggle can harm an organization working
environment since it can turn it to a stressful and toxic place for people who are not even
involved. The time that is wasted when people concentrate more in politics it can be used better
in the environment productivity and can easily cause unnecessary escalate situations. When an
organization gets into situations like unnecessary escalate the politics in the business is drugged
into the situation, and people are forced to take sides. When an individual can stay out of power
struggle, they have an ability that could help them acquire skills that can attain him much power
in business. In case politics and power plays a more significant part in an organization or a
company there is a high chance that an employee will violate the rules and regulation of the
business. This can be any member stuff of the business who is a leader or an expert, despite the
position they hold in the company or the period they have .when the people in position or any
other employee abuses the company's power it causes a damaging impact on the business.
Depending on the individual in charge and how the abuse of power starts it may be not suddenly
evident that the people are violating their power. The following are some signs that warn
common violation of power in workplaces;
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a) Unfair Disciplinary Measures
In most scenarios in organizations or companies most people with the highest level of power tent
to violate other employees with less power by bullying them, for example like they violate by
making unfair disciplinary measures to people with lesser power for mistakes they, therefore,
implement punishments that do not fit with the mistakes made and also if the mistake was
actually made or just an accusation (Silva, 2016).
b) Superiority
When a person is offered a higher position in an organization or a company they tend to develop
a character that raises their ego which leads to the development of superiority. Superiority at
times develops when the people who have been upgraded to rub facts to people that they have
obtained the power that boosts their ego. This encourages them humiliating people who are
below them which leads to misuse of power since they will always request other people to do
what they want just because they can instruct them to do it. One of the most aspects of violating
the power is by making others feel inferior since they tell them no one can have power them
neither can they have opinions from them (Forret,Balachandra and Anand,2018).
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c) "My Way or the Highway" Behavior
Some people tend to acquire an authoritative personality if they are in power, in most cases the
personality comes out, and they are such harsh and strict power over people with lesser power.
They always get their way in bullying and ultimatums, and it probably leads to micromanaging
of other people under their power to ensure that nobody strays. In the organization or the
company, there is no freedom for other people apart from them, and even the smallest mistakes
will lead to severe punishments. At times these people pretend to be harsh to employees so that
they can be the only people in the company to acquire professional skills and good at handling
employees and also to prevent the advancement of development.
d) Disrespecting Boundaries and Abilities
This kind of power violation is the kind where it is tied with harassment or discrimination
depending on how the violation is being carried out when employees are disrespected and
violating their abilities and boundaries encourages the growth of a terrible and unfriendly
working environment(Newman etal.,2016).Often this abuse of power is done when the person is
the aim of acquiring something from the employee such as demean them or want to engage in
sexual harassment with the person or they want to humiliate a person. This kind of power abuse
can cause problems and significant issues within the business cause they can even extend from
business related to a personal relationship which can damage the morale with the business
environment (Forsythe, 2017).
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e) Aggression
In a business set up every kind of people are employed, people with different personalities,
knowledge, kills and the most important everyone has their temper the critical point is how right
a person can control their temper for the interest of themselves and others. Every person has
encountered a temper with someone else, and the occurrence was not regularly. Power violation
in a business is not always going to display itself as a result of authority, Physical and verbal
abuse occurs almost daily in a work environment. Physical abuse with violence can be a vital
way of people with people intimidating people with less power and can highly contribute to the
leading cause of death and injury of employees in their working places.
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