Essay Sample on Influence of Politics and Power

Power and politics are aspects of the formation of the government or an existing government. Leaders in the various agents and authorities of the government exercise power in various ways which influence the operations of the organization and its culture thus influencing its existence and progress. One of the ways is the formation of rules of regulations that govern the operations of the organization (Wrong, 1, p. 128). The government through its various arms carries out legislative roles and comes up with particular rules that might limit the operations of the organization. Rules which for instance safeguard the rights of the workers, labor laws will restrict the number of hours worked thus lowering productivity.

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Direct influence by a particular politician on a leader

Most organizations do not allow politicking or open expression of political orientation in their places of work. This is usually done to eliminate conflicts among workers who might have differences in their political orientation. However, a very influential political figure may decide to directly use an organization for his or her own political gain by manipulating the leaders in an organization (Banfield, 2, p. 150). However, politics and power can potentially impact the culture of the organization, either break it or make it. This usually occurs through threats, blackmailing or corruption where the owners or managers within the organization may be asked to influence the workers to support that leader. The organization is left with no otherwise but to give in to the pressure.

Moreover, the culture of an organization can be influenced by the imposing of heavy taxes and costly registration. Organization culture may aim at protecting the welfare of every worker by giving fair pay and comfortable hours of work. However, the government can impose a heavy tax to businesses and organizations thus creating a burden. This burden is propagated to the workers, who are subjected to strict and heavy tasks compounded with long working hours. This is aimed at increasing productivity to absorb heavy tax shock. This has an influence on the culture of the organization.

Sources of Power

The power in an organization can come from various sources. One of the sources is personal power (Wrong, 1, p. 128). This form of power is dependent on the strengths an individual has. The leaders of or an organization can observe exceptional traits from the workers which can be very important in maintaining the culture of the organization. The characteristics of a person such as charisma are extraordinary and very influential. A charismatic leader has the power to control a lot of people who follow him or her out of likeness. Secondly, expert power which exists as a capability has can be significant in controlling the behaviors of other people.

An individual possessing expert power has experience and knowledge or even judgment which are not exhibited by other persons. Expert power as a source of power is obtained through learning or observations. Even though leadership and power are not dependent on learning the knowledge of books, some individuals who are not born leaders can learn how to exercise power from through learning from books. Another source of power is the legitimate power that emanates from authority. An individual given authority in the form of a supervisor or a manager can exercise power by ensuring that the persons under his or her authority work and behave according to the required standards.

Reward power is the use of forms of appreciation in order to control people. It has been observed that individuals can change their behaviors or attitudes when they are awarded. A manager in an organization can use gifts and presents as a way to manipulate and exercise power over his or her subjects. Opposite to this form of power is coercive power where power is exercised by denying some forms of privileges or rewards. To some extent, the manager also administers punishment as a form of controlling people.

Leadership Behaviour and Culture

The study of power, politics, and leadership of an organization can be providing some insights on leadership behavior and consequently improve the organizational culture. It can be concluded that the leadership of an organization is important in safeguarding against the influence by power and politics. The leadership should make use of the potential power that exists within the workers. This can only be realized when the workers are given chances to participate. The leadership within the organization nevertheless, can caution the organization against the negative impacts of power and politics. The opportunities given to the workers enable them to unleash their abilities and capabilities in them. Leaders moreover should not despise the contributions of the members however small they are.

Politics and power can be counteracted by the maximum and strict following of the set customs and culture guidelines of the organization. Even though two or more organizations may be offering the same products or services, their cultures are usually different. Each organization always strives to establish its own unique culture. An organization can copy the strategies or ideas from another organization, but not the culture. The organization's culture is composed of what the organization believes in which includes the values, mission, mandate, and vision of the organization (Power, Influence, and Persuasion in Organizations, 4). These are actually tested by the external environment forces of the organization such as politics as power. The managers who make up the leadership of the organization should not allow such influence to alter the routines of work and traditions.

The leaders in an organization should also strive to maintain a good relationship with the workers. The employees to a greater extent contribute to the organization's culture by how they behave towards each other within an organization and how they treat the persons outside the organization such as the clients. The employees carry the image of the organization outside the organization. A happy employee, for instance, will take a good image of the organization outside there while a leadership that manipulates its workers frustrates or angers the workers who spoil the name of the organization and hence the organization's culture is negatively impacted.

Leadership Influence

Leadership in an organization is important in driving the goals and objectives of the organization ahead (Blau, 3, p. 178). A leader in an organization influences the various operation and sectors of the organization and hence have a greater influence on the success or failure of the organization. Practices such as accountability and responsibility exhibited by leaders can impact the organization's culture in a positive way. An accountable leadership ensures that procedures, rules are strictly followed for the purposes of meeting the set goals.

The leadership usually controls the employee's actions and keeps them to the path of achieving success for the organization. For instance, leadership should ensure that the workers are comfortable and hence a leader should be charismatic though at the same time ensure that the workers are not failing in their duties. Leaders mobilize individuals by compelling them to the achievement of the visions of the organization and inspiring them to follow the steps made by the leaders. More often, the leaders show the people of what is possible and lead them toward the materializing of the possibilities to the real (Banfield, 2, p. 150). This usually is done by energizing the efforts of the workers by rewarding and motivating through a better salary and a humane working conditions.

Leaders also practice leadership my modeling ways in which people think or carry out their actions. They change ways in which people look at situations through instructions or leading by example. Leaders should be mentors and teachers and should do most of their work by influencing and least through authority. Culture is defined by how an organization does things, the, and values of the organization which affects the psychological and social environment. Leaders should understand that people loyalty is about influence and is dependent on aspects such as respect, trust, well informed which are the features any leadership should exhibit in an organization, and also build the culture of the organization.

Conclusion

Power and politics can either positively or negatively contribute to the organization's culture. Organization culture is significant as it impacts other aspects of the organization such as success, development, customer and employee relations, trust among others. The leadership within the organization should mediate between the forces acting on the organization such as power and politics and in maintaining good organizational culture.

References

Dennis Wrong. 2017. Power: Its forms, bases and uses. Routledge. p. 128. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127125

Edward Banfield. 2017. Political influence. Routledge. p. 150. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315126678

Peter Blau. 2017. Exchange and power in social life. Routledge. p. 178. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203792643

Power, Influence and Persuasion in Organizations. 2019. Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/leadingpeople/influencing-others.htm