MGMT 5342: Organizational Power and Politics in Leadership

MGMT 5342: Organizational Power and Politics
Position Paper: Power and Politics in Leadership
Leadership represents a complex, dynamic phenomenon where one or more leaders engage with two to more followers in situations that continually evolve. By definition, leadership contains the ongoing interactions between a leader and followers as collectively they confront continually changing situations (Stogdill,1974, p. 7). To describe this complex phenomenon, numerous researchers developed varied definition of leadership. Bennis (1959) defined leadership as, “the process by which an agent induces a subordinate to behave in a desired manner” (p. 259). Merton (1957) defined leadership as, “an interpersonal relation in which others comply, because they want to, not because they have to” (p. 5). Kouzes and Posner defined leadership as “the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations” (p. 30); finally, Rost (1991) defined leadership as “an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes" (p. 7). 
The four definitions above contained bolded word phrases. These bolded words of 1) induces, 2) comply, 3) mobilizing, and 4) influence all imply the application of power within relationships. Furthermore, the definitions provided above, which are only a sprinkling of the more than 385 definitions for leadership, do not identify where in the organizational structure a leader resides. Why is this important? These definitions define leadership not from an organization structural perceptive, but from a relational perceptive. Thus, an individual can be a leader in an organization and not be part of the formal organizational structure. This view of leadership gives rise to the two types of organizational leaders: formal and informal leaders. 
A formal leader is one who occupies a position of authority within an organization’s structure. This structural position gives the leader position powers. Position power includes coercive power, reward power, and legitimate power (French & Raven, 1959). The formal may also display personal characteristics that give the leader personal power; personal power includes referent power and expert power (French & Raven, 1959). 
In contrast, the informal leader is one who works within an organization, but does not hold a formal position of authority. However, the informal leader, through personal interactions with team members, develops four of the five bases of power: coercive, reward, referent and expert. Additionally, because of the close proximity of the informal leader to team members, the influence of the informal leader can often overshadow the influence of the formal leader. In this dynamic relationship of formal and informal leaders emerges political behavior that directly impacts team-based organizational structures. 
The Vice President of Operations, Ms. Iam N. Charge, assembled a transition team for the purpose of developing a “change of operations” transition plan for Vision Corp, a technology business. Because of your knowledge of leadership and power, the Vice President appointed you as transition team leader. For the sake of this position paper, a team is defined as “a small number of employees with complementary skills, who are committed to common performance goals and working relationships for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” (LaFasto & Larson, 2001, p. 7). Read the scenario below:
Scenario
Congratulations on your appointment as transition Team Leader. While appointed team leader, your team was selected by the VP. Your team consists of seven people; their names, departments, and organizational positions are listed below:
Ms. Mary Martin: HRM Department- Employee relations.
Mr. Bill Temple: Finance Department-Financial Analyst 
Dr. Karen Kramer: R & D Department – Produces Research Design Specialist
Mr. Sam Shelton: Operations Department – Products Division C Supervisor
Mr. Trey Adams: Operations Department – Products Division A Supervisor
Ms. Darla Tinker: Marketing Department – Market Analyst
Ms. Brenda Mosser: Accounting Department – Accounts Specialist
As you can see, your team represents a cross section of the organization; this type of team is called a cross-functional team. Your team’s assignment, develop a transition plan to reconfigure Vision Corp into a leaner more efficient organizational structure. This means that about 57 of the 562 employees will lose their jobs. At your first team meeting you introduce yourself and ask others to introduce themselves. During the introductions, Sam angrily expressed his disappointment at management and how the decisions of management led Vision Corp to its current financial crisis. He stated: “Why should our fellow employees loss jobs because of the incompetence of management.”
You noted that Darla, Trey, and Mary agreed with Sam’s position. You then asked Bill, his stance on the team’s assignment mission. He states: “It is true that management has made some poor decisions, however, the union, local 2354, further contributed to the financial crisis by demanding and receiving higher pay and benefits of employees; money that Vision Corp did not have.” Bill’s comments further agitated Sam, as Sam also served as union shop steward in Products Division C. You note body language from Brenda that she agrees with Bill. Dr. Kramer has kept quite during the semi-emotional exchanges between Bill and Sam. You direct the same question to her. Dr. Kramer replies: “All that has been said thus far cannot be changed. Our task is to develop a transition plan, and the sooner we start, the sooner we will finish.” Sam then chimes in with a snide remark: “Thank you doctor know-it-all.”
You adjourn the meeting and return to your office. There behind a closed door you ponder your predicament, which includes your team’s assignments, the team members you received to accomplish this all important task, and the power struggle that ensued within the meeting. You reach for two books: Political Savvy and Organizational Power Politics; a solution must lie within these texts to address the three questions below:
Requirement 1. Analyze the brief narrative that took place in this meeting and from that analysis 1) identify your current situation, 2) identify your dependencies and the dependencies of others within this current situation, 3 identify your personal factors in this situation, and the personal factors of Bill, Sam, and Dr. Kramer, and 4) identify the formal and informal leaders within this initial meeting and their respective power bases of each leader. To conduct this analysis, use the Power Use Model, Table 5.1, page 51, in the text Organizational Power Politics.
Requirement 2. Develop an Organizational Politics Map Technique (OPMT) using the OPMT format and the information gathered from this initial meeting. Attach the OPMT to your paper as an appendix.
Requirement 3. Using the information developed from the Power Use Model and the OPMT, 1) select which political style (Deluca, 1999) and what power tactics (Fairholm, 2009) were used by ALL team members, 2) the target of power tactics, and 3) select which power tactics you, as Team Leader, would use on Sam, Bill, and Dr. Kramer. To respond to this requirement, see Political Style Grid, page 11, in the text Political Savvy, and table 6.1, page 59-61, and table 6.3, page 63, in the text Organizational Power Politics.
Write this position paper in double space, APA writing style format. Use the Position Paper Template provided within BlackBoard. With cover sheet, reference page, and attachment, the total page count will not be less-than seven pages and will not exceed ten pages.