COS105 Organisation Behaviour

MODULE IV: Inter-personal and Group Processes:

Authority, Power and Politics – The concept of Authority, Responsibility and Accountability; Kinds of
Authority, Limits of Authority, Power- Sources of Power, Bases of Power, Tactics to Gain Power,
Machiavellianism; Politics - Organisational Politics, Handling Organisational Politics
Organisational Climate & Culture – Factors influencing Climate and Culture, Improving Organisational
Climate, Characteristics & Functions of Culture, Socialisation, Surface Elements of OC, Indian Culture,
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, OCTAPACE Culture, Traditional Cultures and Modern Management
Control – Concept, Nature, Need and Significance, Limitations, Process of Controlling, Kinds of Control,
Control by Exception, Control of Human Element

Pushpa Prajapati
Assistant Professor
Authority
Authority and Responsibility
RESPONSIBILITY
 Responsibility arises from superior-subordinate relationship.
 It means the work or duties assigned to a person by virtue of his position
in the organization.
 Refers to mental and physical activities.
 Derived from work or duties assigned to a person.

AUTHORITY
 Authority is the right to give orders and power to exact obedience.
 Right to take decision and get them executed from the subordinates.
 There is no need of persuasion, suggestion or conviction.
 Authority is a derivative of responsibility.
Authority, Responsibility and Accountability
ACCOUNTABILITY (Who is answerable?)
 A derivative of Authority.
 Accountability is the obligation to carry out responsibility and exercise
authority in terms of performance standards established by the superior.
 If a subordinate has been granted authority to complete a work, he/she
becomes responsible to complete it as well.
 The subordinate undertakes the obligation to complete the assignment by
fair use of authority and is accountable for the discharge of responsibility
assigned.
Kinds of Authority
According to Louis A.Allen:
1. Authority of Knowledge
2. Authority of Position
3. Legal Authority

According to Weber:
1. Rational-Legal Authority
2. Traditional Authority
3. Charismatic Authority
Limits of Authority
 Physical limitations – Law, Climate, geographical factors (E.g., To order
someone to make silver from aluminum is meaningless.)
 Economic Constraints: E.g., asking a sales executive to sell products at a
higher price in a competitive market/ asking purchase team to procure
raw materials for a year though the company is short of capital and
storage space.
 Social Constraints: Task assigned to subordinates should conform to
group’s fundamental social beliefs, values, customs and ethics.
 Legal Constraints: Acts enacted by Central and State Governments (E.g.,
asking the workers not to join trade unions)
 Biological Limitations: Asking a subordinate to do work of which he/she is
not capable.(E.g., Lifting extremely heavy materials)
 Internal Constraints: Policies and rules laid down by top management.
Power
Power
 The capacity to exert influence on others.
 When power and authority for a given person or position are roughly
equated, we have a condition we may call legitimate power.
 Based on Dependency Relationship
 The more Mr. Ashish is dependent on Mr. Mohan, greater is the power of
Mr. Mohan.
 Greater the organization is dependent on a limited number of people,
greater the power of the individuals.
 A person who is indispensable enjoys more power than others.
Sources or bases of Power – By Raven
 Reward Power: Extent to which one has control over rewards that are
valued by others.
 Coercive Power: Influencer’s ability to punish the influence for not
carrying out orders. Fear of punishment make the subordinate to
execute the instructions of the boss.
 Legitimate Power: Formal rights one receives as a result of holding a
position (positional power) where authority is inherent.
 Expert Power: The influencer has some relevant expertise or special
knowledge that others do not have (personal power).
 Referent Power: Influence's desire to identify with or imitate the
behavior of the influencer. It develops out of admiration for the
influencer.
Power - Generalisations
 There is no evidence of power unless it is exercised.
 Power is stronger than influence.
 The effect of power is reduced when exercised outside its limit.
 The stronger the power base, the greater is the power.
 Legitimate Power – Strongest
 Coercive Power - Weakest
 A person difficult to be replaced has more power than others.
 A subordinate with more knowledge than the superior has more personal power.
Tactics to Gain Power
 Creating and managing uncertainties – the power seeker may
manipulate, filter or withhold information in his possession and
create the fiction of uncertainty
 Norm of Reciprocity – Social exchange with the obligation to repay
their social debts to each other.
 Identification with power centres
 Impression Management – maintaining self-image by affecting others
assessment of him/her (nonverbal cues, using flattery, doing favour)
 Pressure building – Indispensable people, Trade Unions
 Competition
 Coalition – Two or more persons or groups combine for common goals.
 Cooptation – Combine or involve
Politics
Organisational Politics
 “Politics refers to the structure and process of the use of authority
and power to affect definition of goals, direction the other major
parameters of the organization. Decisions are not made in a rational
way but rather through compromise, accommodation and
bargaining.” – Tushman

 Politics in an organization refers to those activities that are not

required as part of one’s formal role in the organisation, but that
influence or attempt to influence the distribution of advantages and
disadvantages within the organisation.” – Farell and Peterson
Causes of Political Behaviour
 Lust for Power
 Competition or Command over Resources
 Protection of Self-Interests
 Discretionary Authority (Holding a powerful position to
exert politics)
 Unequal Distribution of Authority
 Saturation of Career (promotion)
 Need for Inter-department Coordination
 Joint decision-making
Dysfunctional Aspects of Politics
 Self-interest obstructs organizational effectiveness
(Nepotism)
 Power politics weaken morale and demotivate
employees.
 Managers involved in politics may seek personal growth
but not employee trust and commitment.
 May generate organizational conflicts.
 A person seeking major portion of organizational power
may promote self-interest, exploit others and displace
organizational goals.
Handling Organisational Politics
 Clearly defined jobs
 Proper managerial behavior
 Effective Communication
 Fair evaluation system (Objective performance evaluation)
 Judicial distribution of resources
Orgaisational Climate and Culture
Climate
 Defines the personality of the organisation.
 Impressions people have of the organizational internal environment
within which they work.
 “A set of characteristics that describe an organisation and that
a) Distinguish one organisation from another
b) Are relatively enduring over a period of time, and
c) Influence the behavior of people in the organisation.”
- Forehand and Gilmer
Culture
 Culture is the set of important understandings that
members of a community share in common.
 Patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting.
 “Organisational culture is the set of assumptions,
beliefs, values and norms that are shared by an
organisation’s members.”
Factors influencing Climate and Culture
 Organisational Context (Goals, policies, functions)
 Organisation Structure
 Leadership Process
 Physical Environment (Working conditions, office
decor and office size and space)
 Organisational Values and Norms
Improving Organisational Climate

 Open Communication
 Concern for people
 Participative decision-making
 Change in policies
 Technological changes
Characteristics & Functions of Culture
Characteristics: Functions:
 Individual Autonomy  Internal Integration
 Structure  External Adaptation
 Support
 Identity
 Performance-reward
 Conflict tolerance
 Risk tolerance
Socialisation
 Socialisation is the process of adaptation by which employees are
able to understand the basic values, norms and customs for becoming
the accepted members of organisation and assuming organisational
roles.
 Stages of Socialisation:

Metamorphosis Stage
Pre-arrival Stage Encounter Stage Or
Transformation Stage

Productivity
Commitment
Turnover
Surface Elements of Organisation Culture (or)
Methods of Socialisation in an Organisation

 Ceremonies
 Rites
 Rituals
 Stories
 Myths
 Heroes
 Symbols
 Language
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
 A framework used to understand the differences
in culture across countries.
 Five key dimensions include:
1. Power distance
2. Uncertainty avoidance
3. Individualism-collectivism
4. Masculinity-femininity
5. Short vs. long-term orientation
6. Restraint vs. indulgence (added by future
researchers)
OCTAPACE Culture
 Coined by T.V.Rao
 Denote the characteristics of HRD Climate
1. Openness
2. Confrontation
3. Trust
4. Autonomy
5. Proaction
6. Authenticity
7. Collaboration
8. Experimentation
Traditional Cultures and Modern Management
(India)

 Joint Family
 Caste System
 Ritualism
 Social Class
 Attitude towards wealth
Control – Concept, Nature, Need and
Significance, Limitations, Process of
Controlling, Kinds of Control, Control by
Exception, Control of Human Element
Control

Control is the process of checking actual

performance against the agreed standards or
plans with a view of ensuring adequate
progress and satisfactory performance. – E.F.L
Breach
Nature of Control
 Pervasive Function
 Review of Past Events
 Forward Looking
 Action-oriented
 Continuous Process
 Dynamic process

Planning Performance Control

Need and Significance of Control

 Coordination
 Corrective Action
 Decision-making
 Better Planning
 Decentralisation of Authority
 Effective Supervision
Limitations of Control

 Cannot control external factors

 Control is an expensive process in terms of time and effort.
 Standards of performance should be defined in quantitative
terms
 Excessive control may stifle the initiative of subordinates
and dampen their spirit
 Resistance to control fearing loss of freedom
 Ineffective if accountability is not fixed.
 Process of Control

Feedback
Meets Standard
Comparing
Actual
Establishment Actual Performance
of Standards Performance with
Does not Meets
Standards
Standard

Feedback
Corrective
Feedback Action
Kinds of Control
Flow of Information
FEEDFORWARD CONCURRENT
Corrective Action
CONTROLS CONTROLS

INPUTS PROCESSING OUTPUTS

FEEDBACK
CONTROLS
 Kinds of Control

i. Historical or Feedback Control or Post-action Control (Corrective)

 Standard Performance – Actual Performance = Deviations/Gaps -> Corrective Action
 Applied where feedforward control is not possible
ii. Concurrent or Real-time or Steering Control
 E.g., Control charts in a factory (GANTT Chart, PERT, CPM)
iii. Predictive or Feedforward Control (Preventive)
 Evaluation of inputs
 Before a particular sequence of operations is completed.
 Based on timely and accurate information about environmental changes.
 Determine and monitor the critical inputs.
 Control by Exception

i. ‘Management by Exception’ developed by Frederick W.Taylor

ii. Only significant deviations(exceptions) from standards of performance should
be brought to the management’s attention.
iii. E.g., Quality Control Standard set by manager -> 5 defects per 100 units of
production are permissible. So, according to this principle only when the
deviation increases beyond 5 defects per 100 units of production, the deviation
be reported to the manager.
iv. ‘Control what is required and not all.’ An attempt to control everthing may
end up in controlling nothing.
v. Save time, effort and talent that can be deployed for other critical work.
vi. This facilitates in installing an effective control system.
vii. Facilitates delegation of authority.
 Control of Human Element

i. Significant factor in designing control system.

ii. Subordinates often resist control which are likely to restrict their freedom and
obstruct the achievement of their personal goals.
iii. However, controls are necessary to regulate the behavior of organizational
members and to increase organisational effective.
iv. In the absence of controls, individuals will end up pursuing their personal goals
at the cost of organizational goals.
v. Mechanistic controls – when work is of repetitive nature.
vi. Organic Controls – when work is highly varied and creative
vii. Self-controls – when job performance cant’s be measured precisely and strict
supervision is not feasible
 Control of Human Element

Conclusions given by Tannenbaum to control human elements:

 Control has both rational and symbolic implications – what an individual must
do and not to do.
 Most people prefer to exercise control over themselves and their surrounding
 When one can exercise some control, one is more likely to identify with and
support the organisation’s objectives.
 Persons who are unable to exercise control tend to be less satisfied with
their work and to be apathetic and alienated.
 Those who exercise control more willingly accept controls over themselves.