2 pages essay

Write about your own workplace experiences as they relate to power and politics. Think of one of the largest political battles you witnessed or were apart of during your career, and think carefully about how the concepts from the background materials apply to what you experienced.

Make sure you have a thorough grasp of the terminology from the uploaded materials including the main individual and organizational factors that lead to political behavior and the types of political behavior. Write a 2 page paper addressing the following issues:

1. Briefly describe a political battle that took place in your workplace. Explain who the main players were and what issues were at stake.

2. What individual and organizational factors led to this political battle? Refer to the background readings in your answer, and in particular pages 877-883 of Robbins (1997). 

3. What types of political behaviors did the participants in this political battle exhibit? Be specific and use the types of political behaviors discussed in pages 297-301 of Luthans et al. (2015).

4. Do you think any of the participants behaved unethically during this political battle? Use the ethical framework discussed on pages 896-898 of Robbins (1997) to guide your answer.

C
H

A
P

TE
R

POWER
AND POLITICS

1

1

CHAPTER OUTLINE

A Definition of Power
Contrasting Leadership and Power
Bases of Power
Dependency: The Key to Power
Identifying Where the Power Is
Power Tactics
Power in Groups: Coalitions
Sexual Harassment: Unequal Power in the

Workplace
Politics: Power in Action

You can get much farther
with a kind word and a gun
than you can with a kind
word alone.

— A. Capone

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Contrast leadership and power

Define the four bases of power

Clarify what creates dependency in
power relationships

List seven power tactics and their
contingencies

Explain how sexual harassment is about
the abuse of power

Describe the importance of a political
perspective

List those individual and organizational
factors that stimulate political behavior

Identify seven techniques for managing
the impression one makes on others

Explain how defensive behaviors can
protect an individual’s self-interest

List the three questions that can help
determine if a political action is ethical

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After studying this chapter, you should be able to

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

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A sexually harassing climate can make work intolerable. And when
employees want to keep their jobs, it puts those being harassed in a situation

of powerlessness. As studies of sexual harassment continu-
ally recognize, sexual harassment isn’t about sex. It’s about
the abuse of power. The recent situation at the Mitsubishi
Motor plant in Normal, Illinois tragically illustrates this point.1

Opened in 1987, female employees at the Mitsubishi
plant had been complaining about sexual misbehavior on the
factory floor since 1992, but those complaints were essen-
tially ignored by management. In December 1994, 29 female
employees had enough. They wanted to keep their jobs —
which with overtime and shift-premium pay could run as high
as $60,000 a year — but they also wanted the relentless sex
discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse by col-
leagues and supervisors to stop. They took their charges to
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). An
investigation confirmed the women’s charges. There was
clear evidence of “pervasive sexual harassment that man-
agement was well aware of” but did little to control. Some
examples included: obscene, crude sketches of genital
organs and sex acts, and names of female workers scratched
into unpainted car bodies moving along the assembly line.

Women were called sluts and whores and subjected to groping, forced sex
play, and male flashing. Explicit sexual graffiti were scrawled on rest-area and

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bathroom walls. One male line supervisor stated, “I don’t want any bitches on
my line. Women don’t belong in the plant.”

In May 1996, the EEOC filed suit against Mitsubishi. If the courts rule in
favor of the EEOC, Mitsubishi could be held liable for compensatory and puni-
tive damages in excess of $150 million. Additionally, the company has been
hit by a class-action suit on behalf of the 29 women.

Following the EEOC suit, you’d think that corporate management would
have moved quickly to correct the plant’s sexist environment and to appease
female employees. It didn’t. Quite the opposite. It chose to fight. It urged
employees to speak up in defense of the company — and their jobs — by set-
ting up a free phone bank with numbers of local news outlets and the names,
biographies, and phone numbers of elected representatives. It even organized
a demonstration to support the company outside the EEOC offices in Chicago
(see photo) and coerced employees by giving them the “choice”: They could
sign up for a free round trip to the Chicago protest rally on one of the 50
Mitsubishi-chartered buses, get a free box lunch, and win the approval of their
bosses. Or they could report to the idled plant, clearly identifying themselves
as disloyal.

While executives at company headquarters in Tokyo claim to have begun
actions to improve conditions at the Normal plant, a recent incident indicates
the hostile and abusive work environment continues. Opening her locker to
start her 5:30 a.m. shift, Terry Paz, one of the 29 complainants, found a hand-
written note reading, “Die, bitch, you’ll be sorry.” She left the plant fearing for
her life. ◆

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P
ower has been described as the last dirty word. It is easier for
most of us to talk about money than it is to talk about power.
People who have it deny it, people who want it try not to

appear to be seeking it, and those who are good at getting it are
secretive about how they got it.2 OB researchers have learned a lot
in recent years about how people gain and use power in organiza-
tions. In this chapter, we present you with their findings.

A major theme throughout this chapter is that power is a nat-
ural process in any group or organization. As such, you need to
know how it’s acquired and exercised if you’re going to
fully understand organizational behavior. While you may
have heard the phrase that “power corrupts, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely,” power is not always bad. As one
author has noted, most medicines can kill if taken in the
wrong amount and thousands die each year in automobile
accidents, but we don’t abandon chemicals or cars because
of the dangers associated with them. Rather, we consider danger an
incentive to get training and information that’ll help us to use these
forces productively.3 The same applies to power. It’s a reality of orga-
nizational life and it’s not going to go away. Moreover, by learning
how power works in organizations, you’ll be better able to use your
knowledge to help you be a more effective manager.

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◆ Power has been
described as the last dirty
word.

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A Definition of Power
Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of
B, so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes.4 This definition
implies a potential that need not be actualized to be effective and a
dependency relationship.

Power may exist but not be used. It is, therefore, a capacity or
potential. One can have power but not impose it.

Probably the most important aspect of power is that it is a
function of dependency. The greater B’s dependence on A, the
greater is A’s power in the relationship. Dependence, in turn, is
based on alternatives that B perceives and the importance that B
places on the alternative(s) that A controls. A person can have
power over you only if he or she controls something you desire. If
you want a college degree and have to pass a certain course to get
it, and your current instructor is the only faculty member in the
college who teaches that course, he or she has power over you.
Your alternatives are highly limited and you place a high degree of
importance on obtaining a passing grade. Similarly, if you’re
attending college on funds totally provided by your parents, you
probably recognize the power that they hold over you. You’re
dependent on them for financial support. But once you’re out of
school, have a job, and are making a solid income, your parents’
power is reduced significantly. Who among us, though, has not

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power
A capacity that A has to influ-
ence the behavior of B so that
B acts in accordance with A’s
wishes.

dependency
B’s relationship to A when A
possesses something that B
requires.

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known or heard of the rich relative who is able to control a large
number of family members merely through the implicit or explicit
threat of “writing them out of the will”?

Contrasting Leadership and Power
A careful comparison of our description of power with our descrip-
tion of leadership in the previous chapter reveals that the two con-
cepts are closely intertwined. Leaders use power as a means of
attaining group goals. Leaders achieve goals, and power is a means
of facilitating their achievement.

What differences are there between the two terms? One differ-
ence relates to goal compatibility. Power does not require goal com-
patibility, merely dependence. Leadership, on the other
hand, requires some congruence between the goals of the
leader and those being led. A second difference relates to the
direction of influence. Leadership focuses on the downward
influence on one’s subordinates. It minimizes the importance
of lateral and upward influence patterns. Power does not. Still
another difference deals with research emphasis. Leadership
research, for the most part, emphasizes style. It seeks answers to such
questions as: How supportive should a leader be? How much decision
making should be shared with subordinates? In contrast, the research
on power has tended to encompass a broader area and focus on tac-

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◆ Leaders achieve goals,
and power is a means of
facilitating their achievement.

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tics for gaining compliance. It has gone beyond the individual as
exerciser because power can be used by groups as well as by individ-
uals to control other individuals or groups.

Bases of Power
Where does power come from? What is it that gives an individual
or a group influence over others? The answer to these questions is
a five-category classification scheme identified by French and
Raven.5 They proposed that there were five bases or sources of
power: coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent (see
Exhibit 11-1).

Coercive Power
The coercive power base is defined by French and Raven as being
dependent on fear. One reacts to this power out of fear of the neg-
ative results that might occur if one failed to comply. It rests on the
application, or the threat of application, of physical sanctions such
as the infliction of pain, the generation of frustration through
restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic physi-
ological or safety needs.

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coercive power
Power that is based on fear.

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Of all the bases of power available to man, the power to hurt oth-
ers is possibly most often used, most often condemned, and most dif-
ficult to control . . . the state relies on its military and legal
resources to intimidate nations, or even its own citizens. Businesses
rely upon the control of economic resources. Schools and universities
rely upon their rights to deny students formal education, while the

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Does a person have one or more of the five bases of power? Affirmative responses to
the following questions can answer this question:
◆ The person can make things difficult for people, and you want to avoid getting

him or her angry. [coercive power]
◆ The person is able to give special benefits or rewards to people, and you find it

advantageous to trade favors with him or her. [reward power]
◆ The person has the right, considering his or her position and your job responsibili-

ties, to expect you to comply with legitimate requests. [legitimate power]
◆ The person has the experience and knowledge to earn your respect, and you de-

fer to his or her judgment in some matters. [expert power]
◆ You like the person and enjoy doing things for him or her. [referent power]

Source: G. Yukl and C.M. Falbe, “Importance of Different Power Sources in Downward and Lateral Relations,”
Journal of Applied Psychology, June 1991, p. 417. With permission.

Exhibit 11-1 Measuring Bases of Power

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church threatens individuals with loss of grace. At the personal level,
individuals exercise coercive power through a reliance upon physical
strength, verbal facility, or the ability to grant or withhold emotional
support from others. These bases provide the individual with the
means to physically harm, bully, humiliate, or deny love to others.6

At the organizational level, A has coercive power over B if A can
dismiss, suspend, or demote B, assuming that B values his or her
job. Similarly, if A can assign B work activities that B finds unpleas-
ant or treat B in a manner that B finds embarrassing, A possesses
coercive power over B.

Reward Power
The opposite of coercive power is reward power. People comply
with the wishes or directives of another because doing so produces
positive benefits; therefore, one who can distribute rewards that oth-
ers view as valuable will have power over those others. These rewards
can be anything that another person values. In an organizational
context, we think of money, favorable performance appraisals, pro-
motions, interesting work assignments, friendly colleagues, impor-
tant information, and preferred work shifts or sales territories.

Coercive power and reward power are actually counterparts of
each other. If you can remove something of positive value from
another or inflict something of negative value upon him or her, you

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reward power
Compliance achieved based
on the ability to distribute
rewards that others view as
valuable.

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have coercive power over that person. If you can give someone
something of positive value or remove something of negative value,
you have reward power over that person. Again, as with coercive
power, you don’t need to be a manager to be able to exert influence
through rewards. Rewards such as friendliness, acceptance, and
praise are available to everyone in an organization. To the degree
that an individual seeks such rewards, your ability to give or with-
hold them gives you power over that individual.

Legitimate Power
In formal groups and organizations, probably the most frequent
access to one or more of the power bases is one’s structural position.
This is called legitimate power. It represents the power a person
receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of
an organization.

Positions of authority include coercive and reward powers.
Legitimate power, however, is broader than the power to coerce and
reward. Specifically, it includes acceptance by members of an orga-
nization of the authority of a position. When school principals,
bank presidents, or army captains speak (assuming that their direc-
tives are viewed to be within the authority of their positions),
teachers, tellers, and first lieutenants listen and usually comply.

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legitimate power
The power a person receives
as a result of his or her
position in the formal hierar-
chy of an organization.

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Expert Power
Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special
skill, or knowledge. Expertise has become one of the most powerful
sources of influence as the world has become more technologically
oriented. As jobs become more specialized, we become increasingly
dependent on experts to achieve goals. So, while it is generally
acknowledged that physicians have expertise and hence expert
power — most of us follow the advice that our doctor gives us — you
should also recognize that computer specialists, tax accountants,
solar engineers, industrial psychologists, and other specialists are
able to wield power as a result of their expertise.

Referent Power
The last category of influence that French and Raven identified was
referent power. Its base is identification with a person who has
desirable resources or personal traits. If I admire and identify with
you, you can exercise power over me because I want to please you.

Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a
desire to be like that person. In a sense, then, it is a lot like
charisma. If you admire someone to the point of modeling your
behavior and attitudes after him or her, this person possesses refer-
ent power over you. Referent power explains why celebrities are
paid millions of dollars to endorse products in commercials.

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expert power
Influence based on special
skills or knowledge.

referent power
Influence based on posses-
sion by an individual of
desirable resources or per-
sonal traits.

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Marketing research shows that people like Bill Cosby, Elizabeth
Taylor, and Michael Jordan have the power to influence your choice
of photo processors, perfume, and athletic shoes. With a little prac-
tice, you and I could probably deliver as smooth a sales pitch as
these celebrities, but the buying public doesn’t identify with you
and me. In organizations, if you are articulate, domineering, physi-
cally imposing, or charismatic, you hold personal characteristics
that may be used to get others to do what you want.

Dependency: The Key to Power
Earlier in this chapter it was said that probably the most important
aspect of power is that it is a function of dependence. In this sec-
tion, we show how an understanding of dependency is central to
furthering your understanding of power itself.

The General Dependency Postulate
Let’s begin with a general postulate: The greater B’s dependency on
A, the greater the power A has over B. When you possess anything
that others require but that you alone control, you make them
dependent upon you and, therefore, you gain power over them.7
Dependency, then, is inversely proportional to the alternative
sources of supply. If something is plentiful, possession of it will

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not increase your power. If everyone is intelligent, intelligence
gives no special advantage. Similarly, among the superrich, money
is no longer power. But, as the old saying goes, “In the land of the
blind, the one-eyed man is king!” If you can create a monopoly by
controlling information, prestige, or anything that others crave,
they become dependent on you. Conversely, the more that you
can expand your options, the less power you place in the hands of
others. This explains, for example, why most organizations
develop multiple suppliers rather than give their business to only
one. It also explains why so many of us aspire to financial inde-
pendence. Financial independence reduces the power that others
can have over us.

Steven Appleton provides an example of the role that depen-
dency plays in a work group or organization.8 Appleton became
CEO of Boise-based chip maker Micron Technology in 1994 at age
34. After a number of run-ins with the company’s overbearing
board of directors, composed of six Idaho agribusiness tycoons,
Appleton was abruptly fired in January 1996. But the board quickly
realized that they needed Appleton back when their handpicked
successor quit after just a couple of days. To make matters worse,
more than 20 executives confronted the board and threatened to
resign if Appleton wasn’t reinstated. Meanwhile, Appleton wasn’t
sitting around fretting over his loss. He had taken off for Los
Angeles, had begun growing a goatee, and started planning a

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biplane trip to Australia. The board pleaded with Appleton to come
back. He did, but on his terms. His eight-day “retirement” came to
an end when the board agreed to his demands — including an end
to intrusions by the board, resignation of his primary board protag-
onist, and sweetened severance packages to protect managers who
had voiced their frustrations.

What Creates Dependency?
Dependency is increased when the resource you control is impor-
tant, scarce, and nonsubstitutable.9

IMPORTANCE If nobody wants what you’ve got, it’s not going to
create dependency. To create dependency, therefore, the thing(s)
you control must be perceived as being important. It’s been
found, for instance, that organizations actively seek to
avoid uncertainty.10 We should, therefore, expect that those
individuals or groups who can absorb an organization’s
uncertainty will be perceived as controlling an important
resource. For instance, a study of industrial organizations
found that the marketing departments in these firms were
consistently rated as the most powerful.11 It was concluded
by the researcher that the most critical uncertainty facing these
firms was selling their products. This might suggest that during a

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◆ Dependency is increased
when the resource you
control is important, scarce,
and nonsubstitutable.

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labor strike, the organization’s negotiating representatives have
increased power, or that engineers, as a group, would be more pow-
erful at Intel than at Procter & Gamble. These inferences appear to
be generally valid. Labor negotiators do become more powerful
within the personnel area and the organization as a whole during
periods of labor strife. An organization such as Intel, which is heav-
ily technologically oriented, is highly dependent on its engineers to
maintain its products’ technical advantages and quality. And, at
Intel, engineers are clearly a powerful group. At Procter & Gamble,
marketing is the name of the game, and marketers are the most
powerful occupational group. These examples support not only the
view that the ability to reduce uncertainty increases a group’s
importance and, hence, its power but also that what’s important is
situational. It varies between organizations and undoubtedly also
varies over time within any given organization.

SCARCITY As noted previously, if something is plentiful, pos-
session of it will not increase your power. A resource needs to be
perceived as scarce to create dependency.

This can help to explain how low-ranking members in an orga-
nization who have important knowledge not available to high-
ranking members gain power over the high-ranking members.
Possession of a scarce resource — in this case, important knowl-
edge — makes the high-ranking member dependent on the low-

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ranking member. This also helps to make sense out of behaviors of
low-ranking members that otherwise might seem illogical, such as
destroying the procedure manuals that describe how a job is done,
refusing to train people in their jobs or even to show others exactly
what they do, creating specialized language and terminology that
inhibit others from understanding their jobs, or operating in
secrecy so an activity will appear more complex and difficult than
it really is.

The scarcity – dependency relationship can further be seen in
the power of occupational categories. Individuals in occupations in
which the supply of personnel is low relative to demand can nego-
tiate compensation and benefit packages which are far more attrac-
tive than can those in occupations where there is an abundance of
candidates. College administrators have no problem today finding
English instructors. The market for corporate finance teachers, in
contrast, is extremely tight, with the demand high and the supply
limited. The result is that the bargaining power of finance faculty
allows them to negotiate higher salaries, lighter teaching loads,
and other benefits.

NONSUBSTITUTABILITY The more that a resource has no viable
substitutes, the more power that control over that resource pro-
vides. Higher education again provides an excellent example. In
universities where there are strong pressures for the faculty to pub-

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lish, we can say that a department head’s power over a faculty mem-
ber is inversely related to that member’s publication record. The
more recognition the faculty member receives through publication,
the more mobile he or she is. That is, since other universities want
faculty who are highly published and visible, there is an increased
demand for his or her services. Although the concept of tenure can
act to alter this relationship by restricting the department head’s
alternatives, those faculty members with little or no publications
have the least mobility and are subject to the greatest influence
from their superiors.

Identifying Where the Power Is
Mike Cisco got a summer job, between his junior and senior years
in college, working in the lab at Phoenix Lutheran Hospital. As a
chemistry major, Mike had never taken any courses in management
or organizational behavior, but he had seen pictures of organization
charts before. So on that first day at work, when the assistant in the
human resources department gave Mike his orientation and showed
him where the lab fit on the hospital’s organization chart, he felt
pretty good. The lab ranked pretty high up on the chart.

After about a week or so at the hospital, Mike noticed that the
lab’s manager didn’t seem to have near the clout that the managers
of marketing and finance had. And what puzzled Mike was that all

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W
atch out from below! Bosses aren’t
the only people in organizations
with power. Subordinates have

power too. They can effectively undermine your
effectiveness and credibility with subtle actions
like criticizing you to customers, peers, or bosses,
or by excluding you from important decisions.

A New York advertising executive was hired
to manage a major consumer-products account.
He was chosen over Ms. Drew, an internal can-
didate, who had developed the account’s brand
strategy. Naively, the new executive assumed
that Ms. Drew, who was now one of his employ-
ees, would support him during his first big
meeting with the client. He assumed incor-

rectly. At the meeting, he recommended against
creating an extension of the brand. To his
shock, Ms. Drew literally slumped in her chair,
undermining him openly. Her efforts to under-
mine him didn’t end there. She continued to
defy the executive and hurt his ability to per-
form by using her strong ties to the other
agency people that he needed. One creative
director, for instance, failed to attend a critical
meeting with one of the executive’s big cus-
tomers — and the agency lost the account.
Unable to gain credibility with his colleagues or
clients, the executive was soon shuttled to
another assignment. He quit a year later. And
Ms. Drew? She got a promotion!

OB in the News
The Power of Subordinates

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This incident illustrates that when a manager
takes a new job or assignment, he or she needs
to identify subversive subordinates early and
take steps to win them over. Individuals who
are particularly likely to become subversives
include subordinates that had unsuccessfully
sought the manager’s job and close allies to the
person that the new manager is replacing. Also
keep in mind that it may be easier for managers
to win over subversives than to fire them. These

Benedict Arnolds often have formed powerful
friendships with senior executives who will pro-
tect them in a “shoot-out.” Moreover, these ties
with senior executives can be used to convey
negative information about the way their man-
ager is performing his or her job.

Based on J.E. Rigdon, “Look Out Below for Deadly Hits on
Your Career,” The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1994, p. B1.

Take It to the Net

We invite you to visit the Robbins page on the Prentice Hall Web site at:

http://www.prenhall.com/robbinsorgbeh

for this chapter’s World Wide Web exercise.

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three managers ranked at the same level on the hospital’s organiza-
tion chart.

Mike’s first theory was that the marketing and finance man-
agers were more aggressive individuals, but that clearly wasn’t the
case. It was obvious to almost everyone at the hospital that Mike’s
manager was smarter, more articulate, and more forceful than the

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other two managers. So Mike was at a loss to figure out why the
marketing and finance managers seemed to be considered more
important than his manager.

Mike got his answer over lunch during the second week. Traci
Chou, a summer intern in the admissions office who was also work-
ing on her masters in business administration, clarified it for him.
“The organization chart is deceptive. It doesn’t tell you where the
power is around here,” Traci stated. “Ten years ago, the lab was
equal to or maybe more important than finance or marketing, but
not anymore. As competition has increased in the health care
industry, hospitals have had to learn how to cut costs, do more with
less, and develop new sources of revenue. This has resulted in
expanding the power of departments like finance and marketing
around here.”

How do you determine where the power is in an organization
at any given point in time? We can answer this question from both
the departmental and individual manager levels.

At the department level, answers to the following questions will
give you a good idea of how powerful that department is: What pro-
portion of the organization’s top-level managers came up through
the department? Is the department represented on important inter-
departmental teams and committees? How does the salary of the
senior manager in the department compare with others at his or her
level? Is the department located in the headquarters building?

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What’s the average size of offices for people working in the depart-
ment compared to offices in other departments? Has the depart-
ment grown in number of employees relative to other departments?
How does the promotion rate for people in the department com-
pare to other units? Has the department’s budget allocation been
increasing relative to other departments?12

At the level of the individual manager, there are certain sym-
bols you should be on the lookout for that suggest that a manager
has power.13 These include the ability to intercede favorably on
behalf of someone in trouble in the organization, to get approval

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Software engineers at Oracle Corporation are important and
powerful. Their technical expertise and inventiveness are
critical to Oracle’s future success, and the company provides
them with every resource to facilitate their work. Oracle, the
world’s second-largest software company, plans to become a
major player on the information superhighway and is counting
on its engineers to develop the software that will make the
communications and computer systems work together. The
team of engineers shown here built the successful Video
Server, a program that provides different digitized films to
different locations at different times.

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for expenditures beyond the budget, to get items on the agenda at
major meetings, and to get fast access to top decision makers in
the organization.

Power Tactics
This section is a logical extension of our previous discussions.
We’ve reviewed where power comes from. Now, we move to the
topic of power tactics to learn how employees translate their
power bases into specific actions. Recent research indicates that
there are standardized ways by which powerholders attempt to get
what they want.14

When 165 managers were asked to write essays describing an
incident in which they influenced their bosses, co-workers, or sub-
ordinates, a total of 370 power tactics grouped into 14 categories
were identified. These answers were condensed, rewritten into a 58-
item questionnaire, and given to over 750 employees. These respon-
dents were not only asked how they went about influencing others
at work but also for the possible reasons for influencing the target
person. The results, which are summarized here, give us consider-
able insight into power tactics — how managerial employees influ-
ence others and the conditions under which one tactic is chosen
over another.15

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power tactics
Ways in which individuals
translate power bases into
specific actions.

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The findings identified seven tactical dimensions or strategies:

◆ Reason: Use of facts and data to make a logical or rational presen-
tation of ideas

◆ Friendliness: Use of flattery, creation of goodwill, acting humble,
and being friendly prior to making a request

◆ Coalition: Getting the support of other people in the organization
to back up the request

◆ Bargaining: Use of negotiation through the exchange of benefits
or favors

◆ Assertiveness: Use of a direct and forceful approach such as
demanding compliance with requests, repeating reminders, order-
ing individuals to do what is asked, and pointing out that rules
require compliance

◆ Higher authority: Gaining the support of higher levels in the orga-
nization to back up requests

◆ Sanctions: Use of organizationally derived rewards and punish-
ments such as preventing or promising a salary increase, threaten-
ing to give an unsatisfactory performance evaluation, or withhold-
ing a promotion

The researchers found that employees do not rely on the seven
tactics equally. However, as shown in Exhibit 11-3, the most popu-
lar strategy was the use of reason, regardless of whether the influence
was directed upward or downward. Additionally, the researchers

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uncovered four contingency variables that affect the selection of a
power tactic: the manager’s relative power, the manager’s objectives
for wanting to influence, the manager’s expectation of the target
person’s willingness to comply, and the organization’s culture.

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When Managers When Managers
Influenced Influenced
Superiors* Subordinates

Most Popular Reason Reason
Coalition Assertiveness
Friendliness Friendliness
Bargaining Coalition
Assertiveness Bargaining
Higher authority Higher authority

Least Popular Sanctions

*The dimension of sanctions is omitted in the scale that measures upward influence

Source: Reprinted, by permission of the publisher, from “Patterns of Managerial Influence:Shotgun Managers,
Tacticians, and Bystanders,” by D. Kipnis et al. Organizational Dynamics, Winter 1984, p. 62. © 1984
Periodicals Division, American Management Association, New York. All rights reserved.

Exhibit 11-3 Usage of Power Tactics: From Most to Least Popular

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A manager’s relative power impacts the selection of tactics in
two ways. First, managers who control resources that are valued by
others, or who are perceived to be in positions of dominance, use a
greater variety of tactics than do those with less power. Second, man-
agers with power use assertiveness with greater frequency than do
those with less power. Initially, we can expect that most managers
will attempt to use simple requests and reason. Assertiveness is a
backup strategy, used when the target of influence refuses or appears
reluctant to comply with the request. Resistance leads to managers
using more directive strategies. Typically, they shift from using sim-
ple requests to insisting that their demands be met. But the manager
with relatively little power is more likely to stop trying to influence
others when he or she encounters resistance because he or she per-
ceives the costs associated with assertiveness as unacceptable.

Managers vary their power tactics in relation to their objectives.
When managers seek benefits from a superior, they tend to rely on
kind words and the promotion of pleasant relationships; that is,
they use friendliness. In comparison, managers attempting to per-
suade their superiors to accept new ideas usually rely on reason.
This matching of tactics to objectives also holds true for downward
influence. For example, managers use reason to sell ideas to subor-
dinates and friendliness to obtain favors.

The manager’s expectations of success guide his or her choice of
tactics. When past experience indicates a high probability of suc-

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cess, managers use simple requests to gain compliance. Where suc-
cess is less predictable, managers are more tempted to use assertive-
ness and sanctions to achieve their objectives.

Finally, we know that cultures within organizations differ
markedly — for example, some are warm, relaxed, and supportive;
others are formal and conservative. The organizational culture in
which a manager works, therefore, will have a significant bearing

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Ellen Wessel (right) is founder and
president of Moving Comfort, a
manufacturer of women’s athletic wear.
She has created a corporate culture
that encourages the use of kind words
and friendliness. The environment at
Moving Comfort is warm and relaxed
because Wessel is supportive in
empowering employees to make
decisions. She views employees as
goodwill ambassadors for her
company and attributes the company’s
rapid growth to giving employees the
freedom to make things happen.

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on defining which tactics are considered appropriate. Some cultures
encourage the use of friendliness, some encourage reason, and still
others rely on sanctions and assertiveness. So the organization itself
will influence which subset of power tactics is viewed as acceptable
for use by managers.

Power in Groups: Coalitions
Those “out of power” and seeking to be “in” will first try to increase
their power individually. Why share the spoils if one doesn’t have
to? But if this proves ineffective, the alternative is to form a coali-
tion. There is strength in numbers.

The natural way to gain influence is to become a powerholder.
Therefore, those who want power will attempt to build a personal
power base. But, in many instances, this may be difficult, risky,
costly, or impossible. In such cases, efforts will be made to form a
coalition of two or more “outs” who, by joining together, can com-
bine their resources to increase rewards for themselves.16

Historically, blue-collar workers in organizations who were
unsuccessful in bargaining on their own behalf with management
resorted to labor unions to bargain for them. In recent years, white-
collar employees and professionals have increasingly turned to
unions after finding it difficult to exert power individually to attain
higher wages and greater job security.

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What predictions can we make about coalition formation?17
First, coalitions in organizations often seek to maximize their size.
In political science theory, coalitions move the other way — they try
to minimize their size. They tend to be just large enough to exert
the power necessary to achieve their objectives. But legislatures are
different from organizations. Specifically, decision making in orga-
nizations does not end just with selection from among a set of alter-
natives. The decision must also be implemented. In organizations,
the implementation of and commitment to the decision is at least
as important as the decision itself. It’s necessary, therefore, for coali-
tions in organizations to seek a broad constituency to support the
coalition’s objectives. This means expanding the coalition to
encompass as many interests as possible. This coalition expansion
to facilitate consensus building, of course, is more likely to occur in
organizational cultures where cooperation, commitment, and
shared decision making are highly valued. In autocratic and hierar-
chically controlled organizations, this search for maximizing the
coalition’s size is less likely to be sought.

Another prediction about coalitions relates to the degree of
interdependence within the organization. More coalitions will
likely be created where there is a great deal of task and resource
interdependence. In contrast, there will be less interdependence
among subunits and less coalition formation activity where sub-
units are largely self-contained or resources are abundant.

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Finally, coalition formation will be influenced by the actual
tasks that workers do. The more routine the task of a group, the
greater the likelihood that coalitions will form. The more that the
work that people do is routine, the greater their substitutability for
each other and, thus, the greater their dependence. To offset this
dependence, they can be expected to resort to a coalition. We see,
therefore, that unions appeal more to low-skill and nonprofes-

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Individuals had little success in
attempting to influence local, state,
and federal legislation to protect the
rights of those suffering from AIDS.
However, coalitions like ACTUP have
successfully increased public
awareness and lobbied for greater
rights protection.

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sional workers than to skilled and professional types. Of course,
where the supply of skilled and professional employees is high rel-
ative to their demand or where organizations have standardized
traditionally nonroutine jobs, we would expect these incumbents
to find unionization attractive.

Sexual Harassment: Unequal Power
in the Workplace
The issue of sexual harassment got increasing attention by corpora-
tions and the media in the 1980s because of the growing ranks of
female employees, especially in nontraditional work environments.
But it was the congressional hearings in the fall of 1991 in which
law professor Anita Hill graphically accused Supreme Court nomi-
nee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment that challenged organi-
zations to reassess their harassment policies and practices.18

Legally, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome
advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature. A 1993 Supreme Court decision helped
to clarify this definition by adding that the key test for determin-
ing if sexual harassment has occurred is whether comments or
behavior in a work environment “would reasonably be perceived,
and is perceived, as hostile or abusive.”19 But there continues to be
disagreement as to what specifically constitutes sexual harassment.

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sexual harassment
Unwelcome advances,
requests for sexual favors,
and other verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature.

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Organizations have generally made considerable progress in the
last few years toward limiting overt forms of sexual harassment of
female employees (an obvious exception being the Mitsubishi
plant described at the opening of this chapter!). This includes
unwanted physical touching, recurring requests for dates when it
is made clear the woman isn’t interested, and coercive threats that
a woman will lose her job if she refuses a sexual proposition. The
problems today are likely to surface around more subtle forms of
sexual harassment — unwanted looks or comments, off-color jokes,
sexual artifacts like nude calendars in the workplace, or misinter-
pretations of where the line between “being friendly” ends and
“harassment” begins.

Most studies confirm that the concept of power is central to
understanding sexual harassment.20 This seems to be true whether
the harassment comes from a supervisor, a co-worker, or even a
subordinate.

The supervisor – employee dyad best characterizes an unequal
power relationship, where position power gives the supervisor the
capacity to reward and coerce. Supervisors give subordinates their
assignments, evaluate their performance, make recommendations
for salary adjustments and promotions, and even decide whether or
not an employee retains his or her job. These decisions give a super-
visor power. Since subordinates want favorable performance
reviews, salary increases, and the like, it’s clear supervisors control

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resources that most subordinates consider important and
scarce. It’s also worth noting that individuals who occupy
high-status roles (like management positions) sometimes
believe that sexually harassing female subordinates is
merely an extension of their right to make demands on
lower-status individuals. Because of power inequities, sex-
ual harassment by one’s boss typically creates the greatest
difficulty for those who are being harassed. If there are no
witnesses, it is her word against his. Are there others this
boss has harassed and, if so, will they come forward? Because of the
supervisor’s control over resources, many of those who are harassed
are afraid of speaking out for fear of retaliation by the supervisor.

Although co-workers don’t have position power, they can have
influence and use it to sexually harass peers. In fact, although co-
workers appear to engage in somewhat less severe forms of harass-
ment than do supervisors, co-workers are the most frequent perpe-
trators of sexual harassment in organizations. How do co-workers
exercise power? Most often it’s by providing or withholding infor-
mation, cooperation, and support. For example, the effective per-
formance of most jobs requires interaction and support from co-
workers. This is especially true nowadays as work is assigned to
teams. By threatening to withhold or delay providing information
that’s necessary for the successful achievement of your work goals,
co-workers can exert power over you.

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◆ Organizations have made
considerable progress in the
last few years toward limiting
overt forms of sexual
harassment of female
employees.

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Although it doesn’t get nearly the attention that harassment
by a supervisor does, women in positions of power can be sub-
jected to sexual harassment from males who occupy less powerful
positions within the organization. This is usually achieved by the
subordinate devaluing the woman through highlighting tradi-
tional gender stereotypes (such as helplessness, passivity, lack of
career commitment) that reflect negatively on the woman in
power. A subordinate may engage in such practices to attempt to
gain some power over the higher-ranking female or to minimize
power differentials.

The topic of sexual harassment is about power. It’s about an indi-
vidual controlling or threatening another individual. It’s wrong.
Moreover, it’s illegal. But you can understand how sexual harassment
surfaces in organizations if you analyze it in power terms.

Politics: Power in Action
When people get together in groups, power will be exerted. People
want to carve out a niche from which to exert influence, to earn
awards, and to advance their careers.21 When employees in organi-
zations convert their power into action, we describe them as being
engaged in politics. Those with good political skills have the ability
to use their bases of power effectively.22

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Definition
There has been no shortage of definitions for organizational poli-
tics. Essentially, however, they have focused on the use of power to
affect decision making in the organization or on behaviors by mem-
bers that are self-serving and organizationally nonsanctioned.23 For
our purposes, we shall define political behavior in organizations
as those activities that are not required as part of one’s formal role in the
organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution
of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.24

This definition encompasses key elements from what most peo-
ple mean when they talk about organizational politics. Political
behavior is outside one’s specified job requirements. The behavior
requires some attempt to use one’s power bases. Additionally, our
definition encompasses efforts to influence the goals, criteria, or
processes used for decision making when we state that politics is con-
cerned with “the distribution of advantages and disadvantages
within the organization.” Our definition is broad enough to include
such varied political behaviors as withholding key information
from decision makers, whistleblowing, spreading rumors, leaking
confidential information about organizational activities to the
media, exchanging favors with others in the organization for
mutual benefit, and lobbying on behalf of or against a particular
individual or decision alternative. Exhibit 11-4 provides a quick
measure to help you assess how political your workplace is.

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political behavior
Those activities that are not
required as part of one’s for-
mal role in the organization,
but that influence, or attempt
to influence, the distribution
of advantages and disadvan-
tages within the organization.

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How political is your workplace? Answer the 12 questions using the following scale:

SD = Strongly disagree
D = Disagree
U = Uncertain
A = Agree

SA = Strongly agree

1. Managers often use the selection system to hire only people who can
help them in their future. ______

2. The rules and policies concerning promotion and pay are fair; it is
how supervisors carry out the policies that is unfair and self-serving. ______

3. The performance ratings people receive from their supervisors reflect
more of the supervisors’ “own agenda” than the actual performance
of the employee. ______

4. Although a lot of what my supervisor does around here appears to
be directed at helping employees, it is actually intended to protect my
supervisor. ______

5. There are cliques or “in-groups” which hinder effectiveness around here. ______
6. My co-workers help themselves, not others. ______

Exhibit 11-4 A Quick Measure of How Political Your Workplace Is

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7. I have seen people deliberately distort information requested by others
for purposes of personal gain, either by withholding it or by selectively
reporting it. ______

8. If co-workers offer to lend some assistance, it is because they expect
to get something out of it. ______

9. Favoritism rather than merit determines who gets ahead around here. ______
10. You can usually get what you want around here if you know the right

person to ask. ______
11. Overall, the rules and policies concerning promotion and pay are

specific and well defined. ______
12. Pay and promotion policies are generally clearly communicated in this

organization. ______
This questionnaire taps the three salient dimensions that have been found to be

related to perceptions of politics: supervisor behavior; co-worker behavior; and orga-
nizational policies and practices. To calculate your score, for items 1 – 10, give your-
self 1 point for Strongly disagree; 2 points for Disagree; and so forth (through 5 points
for Strongly agree). For items 11 and 12, reverse the score (i.e., 1 point for Strongly
agree, etc.) Sum up the total: the higher the total score, the greater degree of per-
ceived organizational politics.

Source: G.R. Ferris, D.D. Frink, D.P.S. Bhawuk, J. Zhou, and D.C. Gilmore, “Reactions of Diverse Groups to
Politics in the Workplace,” Journal of Management, Vol. 22, No. 1, 1996, pp. 32 – 33.

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A final comment relates to what has been referred to as the
“legitimate – illegitimate” dimension in political behavior.25
Legitimate political behavior refers to normal everyday poli-
tics — complaining to your supervisor, bypassing the chain of com-
mand, forming coalitions, obstructing organizational policies or
decisions through inaction or excessive adherence to rules, and
developing contacts outside the organization through one’s profes-
sional activities. On the other hand, there are also illegitimate
political behaviors that violate the implied rules of the game.
Those who pursue such extreme activities are often described as
individuals who “play hardball.” Illegitimate activities include sab-
otage, whistleblowing, and symbolic protests such as wearing
unorthodox dress or protest buttons, and groups of employees
simultaneously calling in sick.

The vast majority of all organizational political actions are of
the legitimate variety. The reasons are pragmatic: The extreme ille-
gitimate forms of political behavior pose a very real risk of loss of
organizational membership or extreme sanctions against those who
use them and then fall short in having enough power to ensure that
they work.

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legitimate political
behavior
Normal everyday politics.

illegitimate political
behavior
Extreme political behavior
that violates the implied
rules of the game.

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The Reality of Politics
Politics is a fact of life in organizations. People who ignore this fact
of life do so at their own peril. But why, you may wonder, must pol-
itics exist? Isn’t it possible for an organization to be politics free? It’s
possible, but most unlikely.

Organizations are made up of individuals and groups with dif-
ferent values, goals, and interests.26 This sets up the potential for
conflict over resources. Departmental budgets, space allocations,
project responsibilities, and salary adjustments are just a few exam-
ples of the resources about whose allocation organizational mem-
bers will disagree.

Resources in organizations are also limited, which often turns
potential conflict into real conflict. If resources were abundant,
then all the various constituencies within the organization could
satisfy their goals. But because they are limited, not everyone’s
interests can be provided for. Furthermore, whether true or not,
gains by one individual or group are often perceived as being at the
expense of others within the organization. These forces create a
competition among members for the organization’s limited
resources.

Maybe the most important factor leading to politics within orga-
nizations is the realization that most of the “facts” that are used to
allocate the limited resources are open to interpretation. What, for
instance, is good performance? What’s an adequate improvement?

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What constitutes an unsatisfactory job? One person’s view
that an act is a “selfless effort to benefit the organization” is
seen by another as a “blatant attempt to further one’s inter-
est.”27 The manager of any major league baseball team
knows a .400 hitter is a high performer and a .125 hitter is a
poor performer. You don’t need to be a baseball genius to know you
should play your .400 hitter and send the .125 hitter back to the
minors. But what if you have to choose between players who hit
.280 and .290? Then other factors — less objective ones — come into
play: fielding expertise, attitude, potential, ability to perform in the
clutch, loyalty to the team, and so on. More managerial decisions
resemble choosing between a .280 and a .290 hitter than deciding
between a .125 hitter and a .400 hitter. It is in this large and ambigu-
ous middle ground of organizational life — where the facts don’t
speak for themselves — that politics flourish (see Exhibit 11-5).

Finally, because most decisions have to be made in a climate of
ambiguity — where facts are rarely fully objective, and thus are open
to interpretation — people within organizations will use whatever
influence they can to taint the facts to support their goals and inter-
ests. That, of course, creates the activities we call politicking.

So, to answer the earlier question of whether or not it is possi-
ble for an organization to be politics free, we can say: “Yes,” if all
members of that organization hold the same goals and interests, if
organizational resources are not scarce, and if performance out-

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◆ Politics is a fact of life in
organizations.

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A behavior that one person labels as “organizational politics” is very likely to be
characterized as an instance of “effective management” by another. The fact is not
that effective management is necessarily political, although in some cases it might be.
Rather, a person’s reference point determines what he or she classifies as organiza-
tional politics. Take a look at the following labels used to describe the same phenome-
non. These suggest that politics, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

“Political” label “Effective management” label

1. Blaming others 1. Fixing responsibility
2. “Kissing up” 2. Developing working relationships
3. Apple polishing 3. Demonstrating loyalty
4. Passing the buck 4. Delegating authority
5. Covering your rear 5. Documenting decisions
6. Creating conflict 6. Encouraging change and innovation
7. Forming coalitions 7. Facilitating teamwork
8. Whistleblowing 8. Improving efficiency
9. Scheming 9. Planning ahead

10. Overachieving 10. Competent and capable
11. Ambitious 11. Career minded
12. Opportunistic 12. Astute

Exhibit 11-5 Politics Is in the Eye of the Beholder

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comes are completely clear and objective. But that doesn’t describe
the organizational world that most of us live in!

Factors Contributing to Political Behavior
Not all groups or organizations are equally political. In some organi-
zations, for instance, politicking is overt and rampant, while in others,
politics plays a small role in influencing outcomes. Why is there this
variation? Recent research and observation have identified a number
of factors that appear to encourage political behavior. Some are indi-
vidual characteristics, derived from the unique qualities of the people
the organization employs; others are a result of the organization’s cul-
ture or internal environment. Exhibit 11-6 illustrates how both indi-
vidual and organizational factors can increase political behavior and
provide favorable outcomes (increased rewards and averted punish-
ments) for both individuals and groups in the organization.

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13. Cunning 13. Practical minded
14. Arrogant 14. Confident
15. Perfectionist 15. Attentive to detail

This exhibit is based on T.C. Krell, M.E. Mendenhall, and J. Sendry, “Doing Research in the Conceptual
Morass of Organizational Politics,” paper presented at the Western Academy of Management Conference,
Hollywood, CA, April 1987.

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Individual factors
• High self-monitors
• Internal locus of control
• High mach
• Organizational investment
• Perceived job alternatives
• Expectations of success

Organizational factors
• Reallocation of resources
• Promotion opportunities
• Low trust
• Role ambiguity
• Unclear performance
evaluation system
• Zero-sum reward practices
• Democratic decision making
• High performance pressures
• Self-serving senior managers

Political behavior

Low High

Favorable
outcomes
• Rewards
• Averted
punishments

Exhibit 11-6
Factors Influencing Political Behavior

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INDIVIDUAL FACTORS At the individual level, researchers have
identified certain personality traits, needs, and other factors that are
likely to be related to political behavior. In terms of traits, we find
that employees who are high self-monitors, possess an internal
locus of control, and have a high need for power are more likely to
engage in political behavior.28

The high self-monitor is more sensitive to social cues, exhibits
higher levels of social conformity, and is more likely to be skilled in
political behavior than the low self-monitor. Individuals with an
internal locus of control, because they believe they can control
their environment, are more prone to take a proactive stance and
attempt to manipulate situations in their favor. And, not surpris-
ingly, the Machiavellian personality — which is characterized by the
will to manipulate and the desire for power — is comfortable using
politics as a means to further his or her self-interest.

Additionally, an individual’s investment in the organization,
perceived alternatives, and expectations of success will influence the
degree to which he or she will pursue illegitimate means of political
action.29 The more that a person has invested in the organization in
terms of expectations of increased future benefits, the more a person
has to lose if forced out and the less likely he or she is to use illegit-
imate means. The more alternative job opportunities an individual
has — due to a favorable job market or the possession of scarce skills
or knowledge, a prominent reputation, or influential contacts out-

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side the organization — the more likely he or she is to risk illegiti-
mate political actions. Finally, if an individual has a low expectation
of success in using illegitimate means, it is unlikely that he or she
will attempt to do so. High expectations of success in the use of ille-
gitimate means are most likely to be the province of both experi-
enced and powerful individuals with polished political skills and
inexperienced and naive employees who misjudge their chances.

ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS Political activity is probably more a
function of the organization’s characteristics than of individual dif-
ference variables. Why? Because many organizations have a large
number of employees with the individual characteristics we listed,
yet the extent of political behavior varies widely.

While we acknowledge the role that individual differences can
play in fostering politicking, the evidence more strongly supports
that certain situations and cultures promote politics. More specifi-
cally, when an organization’s resources are declining, when the exist-
ing pattern of resources is changing, and when there is opportunity
for promotions, politics is more likely to surface.30 In addition, cul-
tures characterized by low trust, role ambiguity, unclear performance
evaluation systems, zero-sum reward allocation practices, democra-
tic decision making, high pressures for performance, and self-serving
senior managers will create breeding grounds for politicking.31

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When organizations downsize to improve efficiency, reductions
in resources have to be made. Threatened with the loss of resources,
people may engage in political actions to safeguard what they have.
But any changes, especially those that imply significant reallocation
of resources within the organization, are likely to stimulate conflict
and increase politicking.

Promotion decisions have consistently been found to be one of
the most political in organizations. The opportunity for promotions
or advancement encourages people to compete for a limited
resource and to try to positively influence the decision outcome.

The less trust there is within the organization, the higher the
level of political behavior and the more likely that the political
behavior will be of the illegitimate kind. So high trust should sup-
press the level of political behavior in general and inhibit illegiti-
mate actions in particular.

Role ambiguity means that the prescribed behaviors of the
employee are not clear. There are fewer limits, therefore, to the
scope and functions of the employee’s political actions. Since polit-
ical activities are defined as those not required as part of one’s for-
mal role, the greater the role ambiguity, the more one can engage
in political activity with little chance of it being visible.

The practice of performance evaluation is far from a perfected
science. The more that organizations use subjective criteria in the
appraisal, emphasize a single outcome measure, or allow significant

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time to pass between the time of an action and its appraisal, the
greater the likelihood that an employee can get away with politick-
ing. Subjective performance criteria create ambiguity. The use of a
single outcome measure encourages individuals to do whatever is
necessary to “look good” on that measure, but often at the expense
of performing well on other important parts of the job that are not
being appraised. The amount of time that elapses between an action
and its appraisal is also a relevant factor. The longer the time period,
the more unlikely that the employee will be held accountable for
his or her political behaviors.

The more that an organization’s culture emphasizes the zero-
sum or win-lose approach to reward allocations, the more employ-
ees will be motivated to engage in politicking. The zero-sum
approach treats the reward “pie” as fixed so that any gain one per-
son or group achieves has to come at the expense of another person
or group. If I win, you must lose! If $10,000 in annual raises is to be
distributed among five employees, then any employee who gets
more than $2,000 takes money away from one or more of the oth-
ers. Such a practice encourages making others look bad and increas-
ing the visibility of what you do.

In the last 25 years, there has been a general move in North
America and among most developed nations toward making organi-
zations less autocratic. Managers in these organizations are being
asked to behave more democratically. They’re told that they should

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allow subordinates to advise them on decisions and that they should
rely to a greater extent on group input into the decision process. Such
moves toward democracy, however, are not necessarily embraced by
all individual managers. Many managers sought their positions in
order to have legitimate power so as to be able to make unilateral deci-
sions. They fought hard and often paid high personal costs to achieve
their influential positions. Sharing their power with others runs
directly against their desires. The result is that managers — especially
those who began their careers in the 1950s and 1960s — may use the
required committees, conferences, and group meetings in a superficial
way, as arenas for maneuvering and manipulating.

The more pressure that employees feel to perform well, the
more likely they are to engage in politicking. When people are held
strictly accountable for outcomes, this puts great pressure on them
to “look good.” If a person perceives that his or her entire career is
riding on next quarter’s sales figures or next month’s plant produc-
tivity report, there is motivation to do whatever is necessary to
make sure the numbers come out favorably.

Finally, when employees see the people on top engaging in
political behavior, especially when they do so successfully and are
rewarded for it, a climate is created that supports politicking.
Politicking by top management, in a sense, gives permission to
those lower in the organization to play politics by implying that
such behavior is acceptable.

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Impression Management
We know that people have an ongoing interest in how others per-
ceive and evaluate them. For example, North Americans spend bil-
lions of dollars on diets, health club memberships, cosmetics, and
plastic surgery — all intended to make them more attractive to oth-
ers.32 Being perceived positively by others should have benefits for
people in organizations. It might, for instance, help them initially
to get the jobs they want in an organization and, once hired, to get
favorable evaluations, superior salary increases, and more rapid pro-
motions. In a political context, it might help sway the distribution
of advantages in their favor.

The process by which individuals attempt to control the
impression others form of them is called impression manage-
ment.34 It’s a subject that only quite recently has gained the atten-
tion of OB researchers.35

Is everyone concerned with impression management (IM)? No!
Who, then, might we predict to engage in IM? No surprise here! It’s
our old friend, the high self-monitor.36 Low self-monitors tend to
present images of themselves that are consistent with their person-
alities, regardless of the beneficial or detrimental effects for them.
In contrast, high self-monitors are good at reading situations and
molding their appearances and behavior to fit each situation.

Given that you want to control the impression others form of
you, what techniques could you use? Exhibit 11-7 summarizes

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impression management
The process by which indi-
viduals attempt to control
the impression others form
of them.

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F
orget, for a moment, the
ethics of politicking and any
negative impressions you

may have of people who engage in
organizational politics. If you
wanted to be more politically adept
in your organization, what could
you do? The following eight sugges-
tions are likely to improve your
political effectiveness.33

1. Frame arguments in terms of organi-
zational goals. Effective politicking
requires camouflaging your self-
interest. No matter that your
objective is self-serving; all the
arguments you marshal in support
of it must be framed in terms of
the benefits that will accrue to the
organization. People whose
actions appear to blatantly further

their own interests at the expense
of the organization’s are almost
universally denounced, are likely
to lose influence, and often suffer
the ultimate penalty of being
expelled from the organization.

2. Develop the right image. If you
know your organization’s culture,
you understand what the organi-
zation wants and values from its
employees — in terms of dress,
associates to cultivate and those
to avoid; whether to appear risk
taking or risk aversive, the pre-
ferred leadership style, the impor-
tance placed on getting along
well with others, and so forth.
Then you are equipped to project
the appropriate image. Because
the assessment of your perfor-
mance is not a fully objective

From Concepts to Skills

Politicking

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process, style as well as substance
must be attended to.

3. Gain control of organizational
resources. The control of organiza-
tional resources that are scarce
and important is a source of
power. Knowledge and expertise
are particularly effective resources
to control. They make you more
valuable to the organization and,
therefore, more likely to gain
security, advancement, and a
receptive audience for your ideas.

4. Make yourself appear indispensable.
Since we’re dealing with appear-
ances rather than objective facts,
you can enhance your power by
appearing to be indispensable.
That is, you don’t have to really
be indispensable as long as key
people in the organization believe
that you are. If the organization’s
prime decision makers believe
there is no ready substitute for
what you are giving the organiza-
tion, they are likely to go to great

lengths to ensure that your
desires are satisfied.

5. Be visible. Since performance evalu-
ation has a substantial subjective
component, it’s important that
your boss and those in power in
the organization be made aware of
your contribution. If you are fortu-
nate enough to have a job that
brings your accomplishments to
the attention of others, it may not
be necessary to take direct mea-
sures to increase your visibility. But
your job may require you to han-
dle activities that are low in visibil-
ity, or your specific contribution
may be indistinguishable because
you’re part of a team endeavor. In
such cases — without appearing to be
tooting your own horn or creating the
image of a braggart — you’ll want to
call attention to yourself by high-
lighting your successes in routine
reports, having satisfied customers
relay their appreciation to senior
executives in your organization,

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being seen at social functions,
being active in your professional
associations, developing powerful
allies who speak positively about
your accomplishments, and similar
tactics. Of course, the skilled politi-
cian actively and successfully lob-
bies to get those projects that will
increase his or her visibility.

6. Develop powerful allies. It helps to
have powerful people in your
camp. Cultivate contacts with
potentially influential people
above you, at your own level, and
in the lower ranks. They can pro-
vide you with important informa-
tion that may not be available
through normal channels.
Additionally, there will be times
when decisions will be made in
favor of those with the greatest
support. Having powerful allies can
provide you with a coalition of
support if and when you need it.

7. Avoid “tainted” members. In almost
every organization, there are

fringe members whose status is
questionable. Their performance
and/or loyalty is suspect. Keep
your distance from such individu-
als. Given the reality that effec-
tiveness has a large subjective
component, your own effective-
ness might be called into ques-
tion if you’re perceived as being
too closely associated with
tainted members.

8. Support your boss. Your immediate
future is in the hands of your cur-
rent boss. Since he or she evalu-
ates your performance, you will
typically want to do whatever is
necessary to have your boss on
your side. You should make every
effort to help your boss succeed,
make her look good, support her
if she is under siege, and spend
the time to find out what criteria
she will be using to assess your
effectiveness. Don’t undermine
your boss. And don’t speak nega-
tively of her to others.

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some of the more popular IM techniques and provides an exam-
ple of each.

Keep in mind that IM does not imply that the impressions peo-
ple convey are necessarily false (although, of course, they some-
times are).37 Excuses and acclaiming, for instance, may be offered
with sincerity. Referring to the examples used in Exhibit 11-7, you
can actually believe that ads contribute little to sales in your region
or that you are the key to the tripling of your division’s sales. But
misrepresentation can have a high cost. If the image claimed is
false, you may be discredited.38 If you “cry wolf” once too often, no
one is likely to believe you when the wolf really comes. So the
impression manager must be cautious not to be perceived as insin-
cere or manipulative.39

Are there situations where individuals are more likely to mis-
represent themselves or more likely to get away with it? Yes — situ-
ations that are characterized by high uncertainty or ambiguity.40
These situations provide relatively little information for challeng-
ing a fraudulent claim and reduce the risks associated with mis-
representation.

Only a limited number of studies have been undertaken to test
the effectiveness of IM techniques, and these have been essentially
limited to determining whether or not IM behavior is related to job
interview success. This makes a particularly relevant area of study
since applicants are clearly attempting to present positive images of

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Exhibit 11-7 Impression Management (IM) Techniques

Conformity
Agreeing with someone else’s opinion in order to gain his or her approval.
Example: A manager tells his boss, “You’re absolutely right on your reorganization
plan for the western regional office. I couldn’t agree with you more”.
Excuses
Explanations of a predicament-creating event aimed at minimizing the apparent
severity of the predicament.
Example: Sales manager to boss, “We failed to get the ad in the paper on time, but
no one responds to those ads anyway.”
Apologies
Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously seeking to get a
pardon for the action.
Example: Employee to boss, “I’m sorry I made a mistake on the report. Please
forgive me.”
Acclaiming
Explanation of favorable events to maximize the desirable implications for oneself.
Example: A salesperson informs a peer, “The sales in our division have nearly tripled
since I was hired.”
Flattery
Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make oneself appear
perceptive and likable.

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Example: New sales trainee to peer, “You handled that client’s complaint so tactfully!
I could never have handled that as well as you did.”
Favors
Doing something nice for someone to gain that person’s approval.
Example: Salesperson to prospective client, “I’ve got two tickets to the theater tonight
that I can’t use. Take them. Consider it a thank-you for taking the time to talk with me.”
Association
Enhancing or protecting one’s image by managing information about people and
things with which one is associated.
Example: A job applicant says to an interviewer, “What a coincidence. Your boss
and I were roommates in college.”
Source: Based on B.R. Schlenker, Impression Management (Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1980); W.L.
Gardner and M.J. Martinko, “Impression Management in Organizations,” Journal of Management, June
1988, p. 332; and R.B. Cialdini, “Indirect Tactics of Image Management: Beyond Basking,” in R.A.
Giacalone and P. Rosenfeld (eds.), Impression Management in the Organization (Hillsdale, N J: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 1989), pp. 45 – 71.

themselves and there are relatively objective outcome measures (writ-
ten assessments and typically a hire –don’t hire recommendation).

The evidence is that IM behavior works.41 In one study, for
instance, interviewers felt that those applicants for a position as a
customer service representative who used IM techniques performed
better in the interview, and they seemed somewhat more inclined

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to hire these people.42 Moreover, when the researchers considered
applicants’ credentials, they concluded that it was the IM tech-
niques alone that influenced the interviewers. That is, it didn’t
seem to matter if applicants were well or poorly qualified. If they
used IM techniques, they did better in the interview.

Another employment interview study looked at whether cer-
tain IM techniques work better than others.43 The researchers com-
pared applicants who used IM techniques that focused the
conversation on themselves (called a controlling style) to
applicants who used techniques that focused on the inter-
viewer (referred to as a submissive style). The researchers
hypothesized that applicants who used the controlling style
would be more effective because of the implicit expecta-
tions inherent in employment interviews. We tend to
expect job applicants to use self-enhancement, self-promo-
tion, and other active controlling techniques in an interview
because they reflect self-confidence and initiative. The researchers
predicted that these active controlling techniques would work bet-
ter for applicants than submissive tactics like conforming their
opinions to those of the interviewer and offering favors to the inter-
viewer. The results confirmed the researchers’ predictions. Those
applicants who used the controlling style were rated higher by
interviewers on factors such as motivation, enthusiasm, and even
technical skills — and they received more job offers. A more recent

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◆ Job applicants who used
impression management
techniques did better in
interviews.

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study confirmed the value of a controlling style over a submissive
one.44 Specifically, recent college graduates that used more self-pro-
motion tactics got higher evaluations by interviewers and more fol-
low-up job site visits, even after adjusting for grade point average,
gender, and job type.

Defensive Behaviors
Organizational politics includes protection of self-interest as well as
promotion. Individuals often engage in reactive and protective
“defensive” behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change.45 This sec-
tion discusses common varieties of defensive behaviors, classi-
fied by their objective.

AVOIDING ACTION Sometimes the best political strategy is to
avoid action. That is, the best action is no action! However, role
expectations typically dictate that one at least give the impression
of doing something. Here are six popular ways to avoid action:

1. Overconforming. You strictly interpret your responsibility by say-
ing things like, “The rules clearly state . . . ” or “This is the
way we’ve always done it.” Rigid adherence to rules, policies,
and precedents avoids the need to consider the nuances of a
particular case.

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defensive behaviors
Reactive and protective
behaviors to avoid action,
blame, or change.

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2. Passing the buck. You transfer responsibility for the execution of
a task or decision to someone else.

3. Playing dumb. This is a form of strategic helplessness. You avoid
an unwanted task by falsely pleading ignorance or inability.

4. Depersonalization. You treat other people as objects or numbers,
distancing yourself from problems and avoiding having to con-
sider the idiosyncrasies of particular people or the impact of
events on them. Hospital physicians often refer to patients by
their room number or disease in order to avoid becoming too
personally involved with them.

5. Stretching and smoothing. Stretching refers to prolonging a task so
that you appear to be occupied — for example, you turn a two-
week task into a four-month job. Smoothing refers to covering
up fluctuations in effort or output. Both these practices are
designed to make you appear continually busy and productive.

6. Stalling. This “foot-dragging” tactic requires you to appear more
or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing privately.

AVOIDING BLAME What can you do to avoid blame for actual
or anticipated negative outcomes? You can try one of the follow-
ing six tactics:

1. Buffing. This is a nice way to refer to “covering your rear.” It
describes the practice of rigorously documenting activity to pro-
ject an image of competence and thoroughness. “I can’t provide

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that information unless I get a formal written requisition from
you,” is an example.

2. Playing safe. This encompasses tactics designed to evade situa-
tions that may reflect unfavorably on you. It includes taking on
only projects with a high probability of success, having risky
decisions approved by superiors, qualifying expressions of judg-
ment, and taking neutral positions in conflicts.

3. Justifying. This tactic includes developing explanations that
lessen your responsibility for a negative outcome and/or apolo-
gizing to demonstrate remorse.

4. Scapegoating. This is the classic effort to place the blame for a
negative outcome on external factors that are not entirely
blameworthy. “I would have had the paper in on time but my
computer went down — and I lost everything — the day before
the deadline.”

5. Misrepresenting. This tactic involves the manipulation of infor-
mation by distortion, embellishment, deception, selective pre-
sentation, or obfuscation.

6. Escalation of commitment. One way to vindicate an initially poor
decision and a failing course of action is to escalate support for
the decision. By further increasing the commitment of resources
to a previous course of action, you indicate that the previous
decision was not wrong. When you “throw good money after
bad,” you demonstrate confidence in past actions and consis-
tency over time.

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AVOIDING CHANGE Finally, there are two forms of defensiveness
frequently used by people who feel personally threatened by
change:

1. Resisting change. This is a catch-all name for a variety of behav-
iors, including some forms of overconforming, stalling, playing
safe, and misrepresenting.

2. Protecting turf. This is defending your territory from encroach-
ment by others. As one purchasing executive commented, “Tell
the people in production that it’s our job to talk with vendors,
not theirs.”

EFFECTS OF DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR In the short run, extensive use
of defensiveness may well promote an individual’s self-interest. But
in the long run, it more often than not becomes a liability. This is
because defensive behavior frequently becomes chronic or even
pathological over time. People who constantly rely on defensive-
ness find that, eventually, it is the only way they know how to
behave. At that point, they lose the trust and support of their peers,
bosses, subordinates, and clients. In moderation, however, defen-
sive behavior can be an effective device for surviving and flourish-
ing in an organization because it is often deliberately or unwittingly
encouraged by management.

In terms of the organization, defensive behavior tends to reduce
effectiveness. In the short run, defensiveness delays decisions,

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increases interpersonal and intergroup tensions, reduces risk taking,
makes attributions and evaluations unreliable, and restricts change
efforts. In the long term, defensiveness leads to organizational rigid-
ity and stagnation, detachment from the organization’s environ-
ment, an organizational culture that is highly politicized, and low
employee morale.

The Ethics of Behaving Politically
We conclude our discussion of politics by providing some ethical
guidelines for political behavior. While there are no clear-cut ways
to differentiate ethical from unethical politicking, there are some
questions you should consider.

Exhibit 11-8 illustrates a decision tree to guide ethical actions.46
The first question you need to answer addresses self-interest versus
organizational goals. Ethical actions are consistent with the organi-
zation’s goals. Spreading untrue rumors about the safety of a new
product introduced by your company, in order to make that prod-
uct’s design team look bad, is unethical. However, there may be
nothing unethical if a department head exchanges favors with her
division’s purchasing manager in order to get a critical contract
processed quickly.

The second question concerns the rights of other parties. If the
department head described in the previous paragraph went down to

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Question 2
Does the

political action
respect the
rights of the
individuals
affected?

Question 3
Is the political
activity fair

and equitable?

Ye
s

Unethical

Unethical

No

Unethical

Ethical

No
No
Ye
s
Ye
s

Question 1
Is the political action

motivated by self-
serving interests to
the exclusion of the

organization’s goals?

Exhibit 11-8
Is a Political Action Ethical?

the mail room during her lunch hour and read through the mail
directed to the purchasing manager — with the intent of “getting
something on him” so he’ll expedite your contract — she would be
acting unethically. She would have violated the purchasing man-
ager’s right to privacy.

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The final question that needs to be addressed relates to whether
or not the political activity conforms to standards of equity and jus-
tice. The department head that inflates the performance evaluation
of a favored employee and deflates the evaluation of a disfavored
employee — then uses these evaluations to justify giving the former
a big raise and nothing to the latter — has treated the disfavored
employee unfairly.

Unfortunately, the answers to the questions in Exhibit 11-8
are often argued in ways to make unethical practices seem ethical.
Powerful people, for example, can become very good at explain-
ing self-serving behaviors in terms of the organization’s best inter-
ests. Similarly,they can persuasively argue that unfair actions are
really fair and just. Our point is that immoral people can justify
almost any behavior. Those who are powerful, articulate, and per-
suasive are most vulnerable because they are likely to be able to
get away with unethical practices successfully. When faced with
an ethical dilemma regarding organizational politics, try to
answer the questions in Exhibit 11-8 truthfully. And if you have a
strong power base, recognize the ability of power to corrupt.
Remember, it’s a lot easier for the powerless to act ethically, if for
no other reason than they typically have very little political dis-
cretion to exploit.

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Summary and Implications for Managers
If you want to get things done in a group or organization, it helps
to have power. As a manager who wants to maximize your power,
you will want to increase others’ dependence on you. You can, for
instance, increase your power in relation to your boss by develop-
ing knowledge or a skill that he needs and for which he perceives
no ready substitute. But power is a two-way street. You will not be
alone in attempting to build your power bases. Others, particularly
subordinates, will be seeking to make you dependent on them. The
result is a continual battle. While you seek to maximize others’
dependence on you, you will be seeking to minimize your depen-
dence on others. And, of course, others you work with will be try-
ing to do the same.

Few employees relish being powerless in their job and organi-
zation. It’s been argued, for instance, that when people in organi-
zations are difficult, argumentative, and temperamental it may be
because they are in positions of powerlessness, where the perfor-
mance expectations placed on them exceed their resources and
capabilities.47

There is evidence that people respond differently to the various
power bases.48 Expert and referent power are derived from an indi-
vidual’s personal qualities. In contrast, coercion, reward, and legiti-
mate power are essentially organizationally derived. Since people

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are more likely to enthusiastically accept and commit to an indi-
vidual whom they admire or whose knowledge they respect (rather
than someone who relies on his or her position to reward or coerce
them), the effective use of expert and referent power should lead to
higher employee performance, commitment, and satisfaction.
Evidence indicates, for instance, that employees working under
managers who use coercive power are unlikely to be committed to
the organization and more likely to resist the managers’ influence
attempts.49 In contrast, expert power has been found to be the most
strongly and consistently related to effective employee perfor-
mance.50 For example, in a study of five organizations, knowledge
was the most effective base for getting others to perform as
desired.51 Competence appears to offer wide appeal, and its use as a
power base results in high performance by group members. The
message here for managers seems to be: Develop and use your
expert power base!

The power of your boss may also play a role in determining
your job satisfaction. “One of the reasons many of us like to work
for and with people who are powerful is that they are generally
more pleasant — not because it is their native disposition, but
because the reputation and reality of being powerful permits them
more discretion and more ability to delegate to others.”52

The effective manager accepts the political nature of organiza-
tions. By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can bet-

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ter predict the actions of others and use this information to formu-
late political strategies that will gain advantages for you and your
work unit.

We can only speculate at this time on whether or not organiza-
tional politics is positively related to actual performance. However,
there seems to be ample evidence that good political skills are pos-
itively related to high performance evaluations and, hence, to
salary increases and promotions. We can comment more confi-
dently on the relationship between politics and employee satisfac-
tion. The more political that employees perceive an organization to
be, the lower their satisfaction.53 However, this conclusion needs to
be moderated to reflect the employees’ level in the organization.54
Lower-ranking employees, who lack the power base and the means
of influence needed to benefit from the political game, perceive
organizational politics as a source of frustration and indicate lower
satisfaction. But higher-ranking employees, who are in a better posi-
tion to handle political behavior and benefit from it, don’t tend to
exhibit this negative attitude.

A final thought on organizational politics: Regardless of level in
the organization, some people are just significantly more “politi-
cally astute” than are others. While there is little evidence to sup-
port or negate the following conclusion, it seems reasonable that
the politically naive or inept are likely to exhibit lower job satisfac-
tion than their politically astute counterparts. The politically naive

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and inept tend to feel continually powerless to influence those deci-
sions that most affect them. They look at actions around them and
are perplexed at why they are regularly “shafted” by colleagues,
bosses, and “the system.”

For Review

1. What is power? How do you get it?
2. Contrast power tactics with power bases. What are some of the

key contingency variables that determine which tactic a power-
holder is likely to use?

3. Which of the five power bases lie with the individual? Which
are derived from the organization?

4. State the general dependency postulate. What does it mean?
5. What creates dependency? Give an applied example.
6. What is a coalition? When is it likely to develop?
7. How are power and politics related?
8. Define political behavior. Why is politics a fact of life in organi-

zations?
9. What factors contribute to political activity?

10. Define sexual harassment. Who is most likely to harass a female
employee: her boss, co-worker, or subordinate?

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For Discussion

1. Based on the information presented in this chapter, what would
you do as a new college graduate entering a new job to maxi-
mize your power and accelerate your career progress?

2. “More powerful managers are good for an organization. It is the
powerless, not the powerful, who are the ineffective managers.”
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Discuss.

3. You’re a sales representative for an international software com-
pany. After four excellent years, sales in your territory are off 30
percent this year. Describe three defensive responses you might
use to reduce the potential negative consequences of this
decline in sales.

4. “Sexual harassment should not be tolerated at the workplace.”
“Workplace romances are a natural occurrence in organizations.”
Are both of these statements true? Can they be reconciled?

5. Which impression management techniques have you used?
What ethical implications are there, if any, in using impression
management?

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It’s a Political Jungle Out
There!

N
ick is a talented television camera
operator. He has worked on a number
of popular television shows, includ-

ing Designing Women, Murphy Brown, and
NYPD Blue, over a ten-year period. But he’s
had trouble keeping those jobs. While most
other camera operators and production
employees are rehired from one season to
the next, Nick seems to never be called back
for a second year. It isn’t that Nick isn’t com-
petent. Quite the contrary. His technical
knowledge and formal education are typi-
cally more impressive than the directors he
works for. Nick’s problem is that he fre-
quently disagrees with the camera angles
that directors want him to set up and he has
no qualms about expressing his displeasure
to those directors. He also feels some need to
offer unsolicited suggestions to directors and
producers on how camera placements and
shots can be improved.

Roy is also a camera operator. Like Nick,
Roy sees directors and producers regularly
making decisions that he doesn’t agree

with. But Roy holds his tongue and does
what he’s told. He recently finished his
sixth straight year as the lead camera oper-
ator on one of television’s most successful
situation comedies.

Roy gets it. Nick doesn’t. Nick has failed to
recognize the reality that organizations are
political systems. And while Roy is secure in
his job, Nick’s career continues to suffer
because of his political naiveté.

It would be nice if all organizations or for-
mal groups within organizations could be
described as supportive, harmonious, objec-
tive, trusting, collaborative, or cooperative.
A nonpolitical perspective can lead one to
believe that employees will always behave in
ways consistent with the interests of the
organization, and that competence and high
performance will always be rewarded. In
contrast, a political view can explain much
of what may seem to be irrational behavior
in organizations. It can help to explain, for
instance, why employees withhold informa-
tion, restrict output, attempt to “build
empires,” publicize their successes, hide
their failures, distort performance figures to
make themselves look better, and engage in

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similar activities that appear to be at odds
with the organization’s desire for effective-
ness and efficiency.

For those who want tangible evidence that
“it’s a political jungle out there” in the real
world, let’s look at two studies. The first ana-
lyzed what it takes to get promoted fast in
organizations. The second addressed the per-
formance appraisal process.

As previously described in Chapter 1,
Luthans and his associates* studied more
than 450 managers. They found that these
managers engaged in four managerial activi-
ties: traditional management (decision mak-
ing, planning, and controlling), communi-
cation (exchanging routine information and
processing paperwork), human resource
management (motivating, disciplining,
managing conflict, staffing, and training),
and networking (socializing, politicking, and
interacting with outsiders). Those managers
who got promoted fastest spent 48 percent
of their time networking. The average man-
agers spent most of their efforts on tradi-

tional management and communication
activities and only 19 percent of their time
networking. We suggest that this provides
strong evidence of the importance that
social and political skills play in getting
ahead in organizations.

Longenecker and his associates** held in-
depth interviews with 60 upper-level execu-
tives to find out what went into perfor-
mance ratings. What they found was that
executives frankly admitted to deliberately
manipulating formal appraisals for political
purposes. Accuracy was not a primary con-
cern of these executives. Rather, they manip-
ulated the appraisal results in an intentional
and systematic manner to get the outcomes
they wanted.

*F. Luthans, R.M. Hodgetts, and S.A. Rosenkrantz, Real
Managers (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1988).

**C.O. Longenecker, D.A. Gioia, and H.P. Sims, Jr.,
“Behind the Mask: The Politics of Employee Appraisal,”
Academy of Management Executive, August 1987, pp.
183 – 94.

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Corporate Politics: What You
See Is What You Get!

O
rganizational behavior currently
appears to be undergoing a period of
fascination with workplace politics.

Proponents argue that politics is inevitable in
organizations — that power struggles, alliance
formations, strategic maneuverings, and cut-
throat actions are as endemic to organiza-
tional life as work schedules and meetings.
But is organizational politics inevitable?
Maybe not. The existence of politics may be a
perceptual interpretation.*

A recent study suggests that politics are
more myth and interpretation than reality.**
In this study of 180 experienced managers,
92 men and 88 women completed question-
naires. They analyzed a series of decisions
and indicated the degree to which they
thought the decisions were influenced by
politics. They also completed a measure that
assessed political inevitability. This included
items such as “Politics is a normal part of any
decision-making process” and “Politics can
have as many helpful outcomes for the orga-
nizations as harmful ones.” Additionally, the

questionnaire asked respondents their beliefs
about power and control in the world at
large. Finally, respondents provided data on
their income, job responsibilities, and years
of managerial experience.

The study found that beliefs about politics
affected how respondents perceived organi-
zational events. Those managers who held
strong beliefs in the inevitability of politics
tended to see their own organization and the
decision situations in the questionnaire in
highly political terms. Moreover, there was
evidence suggesting that these beliefs
encompass not only beliefs about politics
but also about power and control in the
world at large. Managers who viewed the
world as posing difficult and complex prob-
lems and ruled by luck also tended to per-
ceive events as highly politicized. That is,
they perceived organizations as part of a dis-
orderly and unpredictable world where poli-
tics is inevitable.

Interestingly, not all managers saw organi-
zations as political jungles. It was typically
the inexperienced managers, with lower
incomes and more limited responsibilities,
who held this view. The researchers con-

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cluded that because junior managers often
lack clear understandings of how organiza-
tions really work, they tend to interpret
events as irrational. It’s through their
attempts to make sense of their situations
that these junior managers may come to
make political attributions.

This study attempted to determine
whether the corporate political jungle is
myth, reality, or a matter of interpretation.
The popular press often presents the political
jungle as the dominant corporate reality
where gamesmanship and manipulation are
key to survival. However, the findings of this
study suggest that a manager’s political real-
ity is somewhat mythical in nature, partially
constructed through his or her beliefs about
politics’ inevitability and about power and
control in the world. More specifically, it’s
the inexperienced managers — those who are
likely to hold the fewest and least accurate
interpretations of organizational events —
who perceive the extent of organizational
politics to be greatest.

So if there is a corporate political jungle, it
appears to be mostly in the eyes of the
young and inexperienced. Because they tend
to have less understanding of organizational
processes and less power to influence out-
comes, they are more likely to see organiza-
tions through a political lens. More experi-
enced and higher-ranking managers, on the
other hand, are more likely to see the corpo-
rate political jungle as a myth.

*See, for instance, C.P. Parker, R.L. Dipboye, and S.L.
Jackson, “Perceptions of Organizational Politics: An
Investigation of Antecedents and Consequences,” Jour-
nal of Management, Vol. 21, No. 5, 1995, pp. 891 – 912;
and G.R. Ferris, D.D. Frink, M.C. Galang, J. Zhou, K.M.
Kacmar, and J.L. Howard, “Perceptions of Organiza-
tional Politics: Prediction, Stress-Related Implications,
and Outcomes,” Human Relations, February 1996, pp.
233 – 66.

**Cited in C. Kirchmeyer, “The Corporate Political Jun-
gle: Myth, Reality, or a Matter of Interpretation,” in C.
Harris and C.C. Lundberg (eds.), Proceedings of the 29th
Annual Eastern Academy of Management (Baltimore,
1992), pp. 161 – 64.

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Learning About Yourself Exercise

How Political Are You?

To determine your political tendencies, please answer the follow-
ing questions. Check the answer that best represents your behavior
or belief, even if that particular behavior or belief is not present all
the time.

True False

1. You should make others feel important through an
open appreciation of their ideas and work. ______ ______

2. Because people tend to judge you when they first
meet you, always try to make a good first
impression. ______ ______

3. Try to let others do most of the talking, be
sympathetic to their problems, and resist telling
people that they are totally wrong. ______ ______

4. Praise the good traits of the people you meet and
always give people an opportunity to save face if
they are wrong or make a mistake. ______ ______

5. Spreading false rumors, planting misleading
information, and backstabbing are necessary, if
somewhat unpleasant, methods to deal with your
enemies. ______ ______

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True False
6. Sometimes it is necessary to make promises that you

know you will not or cannot keep. ______ ______
7. It is important to get along with everybody, even

with those who are generally recognized as
windbags, abrasive, or constant complainers. ______ ______

8. It is vital to do favors for others so that you can
call in these IOUs at times when they will do you
the most good. ______ ______

9. Be willing to compromise, particularly on issues
that are minor to you, but major to others. ______ ______

10.On controversial issues, it is important to delay or
avoid your involvement if possible. ______ ______

Turn to page 1483 for scoring directions and key.

Source: J.F. Byrnes, “The Political Behavior Inventory.” With permission.

Damned If You Do; Damned If You Don’t

Fran Gilson has spent 15 years with the Thompson Grocery
Company.* Starting out as a part-time cashier while attending col-
lege, Fran has risen up through the ranks of this 50-store grocery
store chain. Today, at the age of 34, she is a regional manager, over-
seeing seven stores and earning nearly $80,000 a year. Fran also

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thinks she’s ready to take on more responsibility. About five weeks
ago, she was contacted by an executive-search recruiter inquiring
about her interest in the position of vice president and regional
manager for a national drugstore chain. She would be responsible
for more than 100 stores in five states. She agreed to meet with the
recruiter. This led to two meetings with top executives at the drug-
store chain. The recruiter called Fran two days ago to tell her she
was one of the two finalists for the job.

The only person at Thompson who knows Fran is looking at
this other job is her good friend and colleague, Ken Hamilton. Ken
is director of finance for the grocery chain. “It’s a dream job,” Fran
told Ken. “It’s a lot more responsibility and it’s a good company to
work for. The regional office is just 20 miles from here so I would-
n’t have to move. And the pay is first rate. With the performance
bonus, I could make nearly $200,000 a year. But best of all, the job
provides terrific visibility. I’d be their only female vice president.
The job would allow me to be a more visible role model for young
women and give me a bigger voice in opening up doors for women
and ethnic minorities in retailing management.”

Since Fran considered Ken a close friend and wanted to keep the
fact that she was looking at another job secret, she asked Ken last
week if she could use his name as a reference. Said Ken, “Of course.
I’ll give you a great recommendation. We’d hate to lose you here, but
you’ve got a lot of talent. They’d be lucky to get someone with your

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experience and energy.” Fran passed Ken’s name on to the executive
recruiter as her only reference at Thompson. She made it very clear
to the recruiter that Ken was the only person at Thompson who
knew she was considering another job. Thompson’s top manage-
ment is old-fashioned and places a high value on loyalty. If anyone
heard she was talking to another company, it might seriously jeop-
ardize her chances for promotion. But she trusted Ken completely.
It’s against this backdrop that this morning’s incident became more
than just a question of sexual harrassment. It became a full-blown
ethical and political dilemma for Fran.

Jennifer Chung has been a financial analyst in Ken’s depart-
ment for five months. Fran met Jennifer through Ken. The three
have chatted together on a number of occasions in the coffee room.
Fran’s impression of Jennifer is quite positive. In many ways,
Jennifer strikes Fran as a lot like she was ten years ago. This morn-
ing, Fran came to work around 6:30 a.m. as she usually does. It
allows her to get a lot accomplished before “the troops” roll in at 8
a.m. At about 6:45, Jennifer came into Fran’s office. It was immedi-
ately evident that something was wrong. Jennifer was very nervous
and uncomfortable, which was most unlike her. She asked Fran if
they could talk. Fran sat her down and listened to her story.

What Fran heard was hard to believe, but she had no reason to
think Jennifer was lying. Jennifer said that Ken began making off-color
comments to her when they were alone within a month after Jennifer

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joined Thompson. From there it got progressively worse. Ken would
leer at her. He put his arm over her shoulder when they were review-
ing reports. He patted her rear. Every time one of these occurrences
happened, Jennifer would ask him to stop and not do it again, but it
fell on deaf ears. Yesterday, Ken reminded Jennifer that her six-month
probationary review was coming up. “He told me that if I didn’t sleep
with him that I couldn’t expect a very favorable evaluation.” She told
Fran that all she could do was go to the ladies’ room and cry.

Jennifer said that she had come to Fran because she didn’t know
what to do or whom to turn to. “I came to you, Fran, because you’re
a friend of Ken’s and the highest ranking woman here. Will you help
me?” Fran had never heard anything like this about Ken before.
About all she knew regarding his personal life was that he was in his
late 30s, single, and involved in a long-term relationship.

Questions

1. Analyze Fran’s situation in a purely legalistic sense. You might

want to talk to friends or relatives who are in management or
the legal profession for advice in this analysis.

2. Analyze Fran’s dilemma in political terms.
3. Analyze Fran’s situation in an ethical sense. What is the ethi-

cally right thing for her to do? Is that also the politically right
thing to do?

4. If you were Fran, what would you do?
*The identity of this organization and the people described are disguised for obvious reasons.

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Power, Sexual Harassment, and the CIA

By the time “Janet” finished her training with the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency in Virginia, she looked like the perfect spy.
Outgoing and affable, she slipped easily into foreign cultures — a
legacy from having grown up overseas. In college, in Tokyo, Janet
became fluent in Japanese. Now, skilled in picking locks and servic-
ing film drops, the 26-year-old spy eagerly awaited her first assign-
ment abroad. But the old boys of the CIA were not eager to have
Janet among their ranks. Women spies have never been fully
accepted in the hard-drinking, macho world of the agency’s clan-
destine service, known as the Directorate of Operations, or DO.
Janet quit the agency in 1988 out of frustration.

Today, the women of the CIA refuse to quit. Angered by a
male-dominated climate and inequality in promotions and assign-
ments, the CIA’s female spies are demanding changes. Such
reform is one of the many challenges facing newly appointed CIA
director John Deutch.

To many, the issue goes beyond money and fairness. The
agency’s old-boy mentality wastes some of its most talented people,
many CIA women say, while it hampers the basic mission of the
CIA. “They really protect their own,” says Lynne Larkin, a seven-
year veteran who recently resigned over a job discrimination issue.
The old-boy network, Larkin says, contributes to an atmosphere in

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which people feel they can break the rules without repercussion.
“They have this idea that they’re not really held accountable,” says
Larkin. “Abuse not only continues but tends to get worse.”

For Janet, the discrimination was blatant. Her first assignment
in Tokyo became the joke of the CIA station. She was assigned as a
“port caller,” an officer who recruits sailors, usually off of Third
World ships, to photograph Chinese ports and North Korean vessels
when they sail into “denied areas” — places U.S. spies cannot gain
access to. Usually, the port caller job is reserved for swaggering
jocks, not a 5-foot-6-inch, 125-pound female officer. For Janet, the
station chief slapped on a special restriction: She was forbidden to
go into bars or to drink while recruiting sailors. The job was a recipe
for failure. “He clearly felt that if I was given a hard enough time,
maybe they wouldn’t send in another woman for a while,” she says.
Janet wouldn’t be outsmarted, however. With some ingenuity, she
devised a scheme to phone a ship’s radio operator when a new ves-
sel docked. Then, pretending to work for a publishing company, she
invited the sailors ashore. Face to face, Janet persuaded them to take
photos for pay. Within a year, Janet became the station’s top
recruiter. But her bosses didn’t appreciate her efforts. After failing to
win another overseas posting, Janet claimed that the station chief
had altered her performance report, in violation of CIA policy.
Today, some 300 women have threatened a class-action suit against
the CIA, citing similar discriminatory practices.

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Sexual harassment has been an even bigger problem at the CIA.
Nearly 50 percent of all white women have reported being sexually
harassed. Like a throwback to the 1950s, a fixation with nude pho-
tographs and crude sexual jokes is common among some male case
officers. Women complain of a hostile work environment rife with
insensitive or derogatory comments, jokes, signs, and posters.

Women who try to fight the old boys through official channels
often encounter a fierce backlash. There is a strong perception
within the DO that those who complained received no help or,
worse, jeopardized their careers. “Jennifer,” who had an otherwise
stellar career in the DO, found her promotion path blocked after
she officially complained that a male boss, at a staff meeting, had
referred to “minorities, women and other two-headed animals.” “If
you complain, you are seen as betraying the system,” she says.

Questions

1. Describe the hostile environment for women in the CIA.
2. How does this case demonstrate that sexual harassment is

closely intertwined with power?
3. If you were John Deutch, what actions would you take to deal

with the problems of discrimination and sexual harassment at
the CIA?

Source: Based on “Women of the CIA Come Forward,” ABC News Nightline; aired June 7, 1995.

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