1. Mete out resources
2. Shape Behavior through rewards and punishments
3. Advance on multiple fronts
4. Make the first move
5. Co-ot antagonists
6. Remove rivals-nicely if possible
7. Don't draw unnecessary fire
8. Use the personal touch
9.Persist
10. Make important relationships work-no matter what
11. Make the vision compelling.
Laura Esserman was used as an example, this was a women who had great intentions, ideas and responsibilities. Yet, she was unable to reach her goals, because she was powerless. Research has been done to support the view that when politics is predominate in a workplace it tends to decrease job satisfaction, morale and commitment and increase intentions to quit (Pfeffer, 2010). However, there is empirical research that proves the opposite, that seeking power, and being politically savvy may actually pay off. From your experiences, do you think that seeking power will pay off, or does power cause issues and lack of motivation in your work place? Should those in search of power look to "The Exercise of Power" or are their other ways to achieve power, and have the "ability to have things your way."
The first point was about gaining power, and led into the question do you even want power or do you shy away from power? I think this is a very important question to ask yourself. It is essential to know, do you want power, or does your company require power in order to do a job? Pfeffer, shares three common barriers, that I think we all should be aware of. One being "the belief that the world is just a place" this when an individual believes that if they do a good job and behave appropriately, everything will work out and when they see behavior to be "pushing the envelope," they believe they can learn nothing from it. I have personally seen people with these beliefs in the workplace. They rarely take risks, or try anything new. They simply do their jobs, yet gain nothing from it, and never moved up the professional ladder. The second barrier is "leadership literature,"meaning that many books and lectures are involving leaders exploiting their careers, but it does not show the power struggle. They speak of being modest and following their inner thoughts, making readers believe that is the road to success. The final barrier is "your delicate self-esteem."This implies that if people don't actively seek power, and never obtain it it won't be seen as a personal failure. Have you experience fellow employees, or even classmates who experience these barriers? Or have you personally been affected by a barrier? If so, how did you overcome it?HBR posted a blog by Pravin Nath titles "What Makes a CMO Powerful." I am personally interested in marketing and found this article very informative. This illustrates ways in which Chief Marketing Officer can gain power within an organzaition. Nath along with Vijay Mahajan research a sample of 167 firms over a five year period found that innovation, differentiation, branding strategy, diversification, functional experience in marketing and the chief executive officer and being an outsider are associated with the likelihood that a CMO will be present in a top management team and have power. This articles shows that perhaps "The exercise of power" is not the only way to gain power, and be placed on a top management team. This research was done to see if having a CMO is
beneficial to management teams. It is still in it's early stages and I am eager to see the findings that many academic fields are pursuing.
This session raises many questions for me personally. I find myself relating my personal work, and schooling experiences to the lessons and articles. It is interesting to me to see how some people can be so power hungry, even when their job does not require it, and yet so many people can be so relaxed, and just want to get through the day. I learned that there has to be a happy medium. There has to be a motivation and drive to gain power, even if it is uncomfortable, and you have to do it in a professional way while being as nice as possible. My final thought is that I do lean towards following the 11 steps in order to gain power. I feel that in order to progress in your career you must take risk, do things that may be uncomfortable, but once you have power, and the possibility to achieve your goals I could do my job better. What do you think?
Hi Madeline,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you bring the questions about power. I was also wondering if seeking power contributes to a successful motivation in the workplace, or a disaster. Power is like something that gives both positive and negative effects. From my experience, power gave both advantages and disadvantages. In terms of managing, my old company has applied hierarchy to manage the employees. Hierarchy could motivate employees follow the rules, do what they are assigned, and made the subordinates respected the higher-level employees. Age differences do not matter in my old workplace. However, while the employees were following their bosses, they were not happy. It wasn’t because they didn’t like the jobs, they didn’t like the managing system. The bosses used too much power with the subordinates, such as always intentionally keeping an eye on every employee. I asked my subordinates about their thoughts of the hierarchy system, they said they were okay with it, but the bosses should be more fair and unbiased. If the bosses like to praise someone, they will keep giving a praise to them, in contrast, if they don’t like anyone, they will be very strict to that person.