Organizational Behaviour- Power
ORGAZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ESSAY BY P.MUNYAKARI
Questions
1) Discuss the strategies that may be used by people to develop power within an organization [25 marks]
2) Why is it important to understand how power is lost? [13]
3) How can power be productively used in an organization? [12]
1) In organizational behavior, power is the ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things happen the way you want Schermerhon, Hunt and Osborn (1982:85). The essence of power is control over the behavior of others. When one has power they influence the behavior of people, as such power is the bases of influence. The more the power one holds in an organization, the more they are able to influence other people and the behavior in the organization. As a result, people spend most of their time developing both moral and immoral strategies to gain more power and some of the strategies are as follows;
People may try to develop power by expanding their knowledge. This can be achieved by going to college or university, taking all the training and educational programs that their organizations provides, attending meetings of their profession association and reading their profession association`s publications (magazines and journals) to keep up with current trends in their field. This leads to the development of expert power in the organization. In order to gain more power, people may also try to keep up with the latest technology. They may volunteer to be the first to try or learn new things. They also try by all means to let people know about their expertise because according to Lussier and Achua (2010; 116), a person has no expert power unless others perceive that the person has an expertise and they come to that person for advice. As a result a person may need to display diplomas, degrees, licenses, publications and awards.
The strategy above seems to be the most common and effective strategy being used by many people nowadays to develop
Questions
1) Discuss the strategies that may be used by people to develop power within an organization [25 marks]
2) Why is it important to understand how power is lost? [13]
3) How can power be productively used in an organization? [12]
1) In organizational behavior, power is the ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things happen the way you want Schermerhon, Hunt and Osborn (1982:85). The essence of power is control over the behavior of others. When one has power they influence the behavior of people, as such power is the bases of influence. The more the power one holds in an organization, the more they are able to influence other people and the behavior in the organization. As a result, people spend most of their time developing both moral and immoral strategies to gain more power and some of the strategies are as follows;
People may try to develop power by expanding their knowledge. This can be achieved by going to college or university, taking all the training and educational programs that their organizations provides, attending meetings of their profession association and reading their profession association`s publications (magazines and journals) to keep up with current trends in their field. This leads to the development of expert power in the organization. In order to gain more power, people may also try to keep up with the latest technology. They may volunteer to be the first to try or learn new things. They also try by all means to let people know about their expertise because according to Lussier and Achua (2010; 116), a person has no expert power unless others perceive that the person has an expertise and they come to that person for advice. As a result a person may need to display diplomas, degrees, licenses, publications and awards.
The strategy above seems to be the most common and effective strategy being used by many people nowadays to develop
Bibliography: Buchanan D and Huczynski A, 1997. Organizational Behavior.an introductory text, third edition. Prentice Hall: Europe Moberg D.J, and Caldwell D.F, 1988. Interactive Cases in Organizational Behavior. HarperCollins Publishers Gibson J.L, Ivancevich J.M and Donnelly J. H 1994. Organizations. Behavior- Structure- Processes, eighth edition. Irwin Lussier R.N and Achua C.F, 2010. Leadership, Theory, Application and Skill Development, fourth edition. New York: Leap Publishing Services Lloyd B, 1996. The Paradox of Power and Learning .Management Development Review, [online] Available at < http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09622519610115705 > [Accessed on 29 November 2010]