Power+&+Politics+and+Technology

=Power & Politics and Technology=



**Introduction toc **

 * (Group Work)**

Power is the ability to influence the behaviors of others to acquire your goals. In the context of organizations, both individual employees and the organization itself exercise power to achieve personal and organizational objectives. To gain power, however, both entities must partake in organizational politics. Politics are the unofficial steps taken to gain leverage within an organization or an entire industry. By taking the right steps and making effective decisions, an employee or organization can gain power, influence, and the capacity to accomplish their aspirations. With the relatively recent addition of innovative technology, many employees and organizations can utilize the new advances as part of their pursuit of power. Technology, specifically social media and a company’s own equipment, enables individual employees to gain more knowledge and an organization to better market itself. Both of these advantageous effects of technology are aspects of power, but the use of technology can also bring many downfalls to and within an organization. Using technology, as part of a political strategy, is both an aid and a risk to employees and organizations alike as each strive to gain more power.

**Knowledge of Technology = More Power Within Organization**

 * (Kasey and Andrew)**

Each organizations may have a specific system or method of operations. Each employee has to, some level, become acquainted with the systems that an organization incorporates. Some employees become proficient in the system, knowing the ins and outs, shortcuts, and glitches. Knowing and executing the system efficiently allows the employee to gain expert power in the company (Bauer and Erdogan)[1]. Expert power is acquired by employees that have longer time to work within a company and are able to acquire knowledge of their organization. Expert power becomes apparent in organizations when an individual has time to gain thorough knowledge of the company's functions and methods. Each organization has different methods that require employees to learn and become efficient in order for the company to excel and grow.

Employees have the chance to grow and learn within a company. The longer an employee is within a company the more they are aware of the methods of the company and are very valuable. With an increase of expert power comes with an decrease of substituability. Substitutability, refers to how easy it is to replace an individual employee or part in order to keep processes flowing (Bauer and Erdogan). If an employee has a broad knowledge of the technology the company uses they are highly valuable and almost irreplaceable. An employee can use the fact that they are valuable to be recognized by upper management and move up in the chain of command. Technology provides room for employees to grow and help throughout the company. Knowledge of both the methods of the company and the technology it uses will help the company grow to make profit. With expert power comes the responsibility of using the knowledge acquired to help the company grow and excel instead of helping oneself for their needs. Knowledge and power are necessary to drive an individual to climb the chain of command and meet their own goals within the organization.

**Organizational Politics**

 * (Sarhad and Aivy)**

Organizational politics is the informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted objectives (Bauer and Erdogan). Technology is a major factor when it comes to an organization. It is something that is two-headed, having pros and cons to it. Political behaviors such as alliance-building, bargaining, and resolving conflicts within and between organizations can all be tied, but not limited, to technology. Technology provides a medium for many employees within an organization to participate in organizational politics. What many employees can not accomplish by ordinary means, they can accomplish by means of technological factors. At the root of organizational politics is the fact that employees must possess political skill and organizations must have scarcity of resources. Organizational politics arise when employees desire limited resources, like promotions and bonuses, from the company.

**The Bad and the Good**
There is not an organization that does not have to deal with politics. The degree of organizational politics varies from one organization to another, all organizations have some sort of political struggle that can rip it apart or help it succeed. Dealing with this struggle takes a keen awareness of the landscape in which the organizational politics operates. In fact, 93% of managers surveyed reported that workplace politics exist in their organization, and 70% felt that in order to be successful, a person has to engage in politics (Bauer & Erdogan, 2010)[1]. This indicates that most employees do participate in some sort of organizational politics. media type="youtube" key="ojJAI8GhiHs" width="382" height="315" align="right" Managers try to limit organizational politics among employees; too much politics is likely to cause trouble within the organization. Through technology and the convenience of anything at the palm of your hands these days has made it very difficult for managers to limit their employees politics.Through the video shown, it is explained how management can prevent politics within an organization, which can help meet objectives and reduce distractions. An employee that participates in these types of political behaviors is said to be engaging in self-serving behavior that goes against the objective of the organization. Video

Through it all, every employee's core objective is to gain power in an organization and to be able to make a name for themselves. As Consultant Michelann Quimby explains, political power is the ability to understand what others fear or desire and use that understanding to influence their behavior to ultimately gain individual power in an organization. What gives an employee the ability to exercise their political power is technology; the organization loses its power over the employee in a sense, where the state of mind of the employee is towards politics and not the organization. Due to technology an employee can be less productive. What employees cannot do within the means of the organization they will do using technology. Doing so they are engaging in self-serving behavior. When an employee exhibits self-serving behaviors they usually deviate from the chain of command to get approval for a special project, going through improper channels to obtain special favors, or lobbying high-level managers just before they make a promotion decision (Bauer & Erdogan, 2010)[1]. These types of actions undermine fairness in the organization, because not everyone engages in these activities to meet their own objectives. Those who follow proper procedures often feel jealous and resentful because they perceive unfair distributions of the organization's resources, including rewards and recognition.

What organizations and managers can do to help resolve much conflict in regards to organizational politics is be aware of the causes. The two causes lead to political behavior is Individual and Organizational Antecedents. Figure 12.10 explains the factors of both these causes. When it comes to these causes managers should know that it leads to engaging in organizational politics and they should help limit that and help its employees feel that it is not necessary to do so at all times. As mentioned in the article //[|Power and Organizational Politics]//, organizations need mechanisms whereby they reconcile conflicting interests. Hence, organizations, like governments, tend to "rule" by some sort of "system". This "system" is employed to create and maintain "order" among the organization's members. Managers must keep everything in order and help prevent to politics from arising. They must understand that what leads to political behavior and prevent it from occurring.


 * Figure 12.10**
 * Individual and Organizational Antecedents factors that lead to political behavior**[1]



Not all organizational politics are bad, however, and can actually prove to be quite positive. Politics does not just involve backstabbing, gossip, and self-interest. As explained by Consultant Michelann Quimby in [|Organizational Politics: Using Your Power for Good], politics also involve alliance-building, interdependence, and trust[2]. By understanding what others want and object, an employee can act both constructively and morally. An employee can use politics to influence others in a positive way without letting go of their goodwill principles. To do so, Quimby proposes that an employee must also have self-awareness to act politically moral. Self-awareness means for the employee to understand their own motivations and actions in relation to their values[2]. Knowing when personal desires or fears are conflicting with values gives an employee the circumstances of acting ethically. Ethical behavior, in regards to organizational politics, prompts collective action that ultimately results in both individual and group benefits. By participating in organizational politics like building interdependent relationships with fellow employees and admitting personal mistakes, an employee will gain more credibility and trust. They will be seen in a more positive light as others associate them with honesty and integrity. These responsible and pure actions are the other side of the coin in organizational politics.

media type="youtube" key="--Z9yOEH6oQ" height="315" width="420" align="left" Other positive office politics :

+ work cross-functionally = expands influence, raises visibility and reputation + ask superiors for advice and counseling = creates good relationship + fit into company's corporate culture = model behavior of successful people + do not gossip and be positive = seen as a forward-looking person + show appreciation publicly = people are more willing to help you + see bad behavior as possible insecurity = handle negative politicians in a more positive way

Branding = Political Tool
A major political skill in an employee's rise to power within an organization is personal branding. Branding is the science of marketing yourself by showing others who you are and what you are capable of. It requires an employee to understand what differentiates himself/herself from the rest and which skills he/she should possess to offer something special and valuable to the organization. An employee must then use this understanding to appropriately sell themselves within the organization through networking and other political tools.

To become successful at branding and gaining power, an employee needs to specialize, lead, and be distinctive and persistent. By specializing, or concentrating in specific areas that they can master, an employee can achieve the most fruition and become the best person in those areas within their organization. Their superior knowledge and skills will present them as someone who is unique and distinctive from others. This will give the employee a competitive edge within the organization because they are making a critical contribution to the company's progress. By being an important component to the company's advancement, the employee gains a considerable amount of power and flexibility within the organization. At a high position, however, an employee must also remember to take the opportunity to lead and mentor others. Teaching and advising fellow employees enables a person to form alliances and gain more respect within an organization. As suggested by Patricia Addesso in [|Using Organizational Politics to Your Advantage], forming alliances with and earning respect from fellow employees are both key tools for gaining power. Relationships built within an organization provide for a network of potential advantages. Most importantly, however, is the fact that no one can do everything alone. In addition, an employee should always remain persistent in maintaining their image. After developing a personal brand, an employee needs to stick to their mission and protect their good-standing reputation. By doing so, an employee will continue to stand as a significant figure within an organization as others perceive them as trustworthy and reliable. All of these techniques of branding empowers an individual employee with expertise, admiration, and professionalism.

Branding and Technology
One of the most important external factors to personal branding is the use of technology. Technology gives employees a channel to network, collaborate, and market themselves amongst other professionals. Social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn provide a platform for employees to communicate to others what their personal brand is in a more effective and efficient way. Employees can clearly and easily define their mission, strengths, values, and goals via such platforms. With their brand available for others to see, employees can connect with one another and engage in organizational politics. Employees can further expose their brand by blogging or even having their own website.

The Organization
Aside from the politics, entwined with technology, used by an individual employee to gain power within an organization, the organization itself can also utilize political mechanisms to gain a greater foothold in its respective industry. With the help of technology such as social media and the Internet, an organization can better market itself to the public. Like a politician, such as President Barack Obama, who uses Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to better interact with their audience and make citizens more aware of their goals and purpose, an organization can reap the same benefits by using the same politics and technology.



**Social Networks**

 * (Dillon and Harini)**

**Power of Social Networks**

 * Social networks can easily provide power to an organization. With today's wide use of Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, companies are able to gain a certain edge on their competition. They are able to more easily brand their image to the public. By having a Facebook page, companies will be able to promote their business on a network that is user friendly and widely used.
 * More and more companies have branched out into the social networking world. According to an article posted on Forbes.com by Knowledge@wharton (2008), //Unleashing the Power of Social Networks//, "Ernst & Young recruits many of the 3,500 college graduates it hires every year using a career group on Facebook, where it not only posts job information but answers individual questions from prospective employees " (Unleashing the Power of Social Networks, para. 3)
 * Businesses can easily track their brand as well as other brands with social networks. It makes it easy for a company to see how many people have viewed their page, and it also allows companies to see what costumers want by reading what has been blogged. Being able to interpret these networking and blogging sites could be the advantage to certain industries, and help them better understand the consumers true feelings on their products. However on the other hand negative press about a company's brand travels very fast on social networks.

**Politics of Social Networks**

 * Office politics play a pivotal role in how well a company runs efficiently. Constantly employees are having turf wars with one another instead of focusing on what is best for the company. Social networking has only increased the aggression of these battles, and has tested employee's political skills. Political skills being the way they can relate to others.
 * On the other hand, social networks have had positive effects as well. According to Meredith M. Skeels (2009), in her article //When Social Networks Cross Boundaries//, she states that Facebook helps with weak ties in a company by, "obtaining a greater understanding of people with whom one may rarely interact through a series of glimpses, brief updates about events, successes, and frustrations that may be unexceptional taken one at a time" (p. 5).
 * Social Networking can allow employees to know each other more. They will be able to connect out of the workplace. The only problem with social networking is that people will not have privacy outside of the workplace, this might cause politics among employees.

The video below is a live example of social network's affects in the work place. The comments, opinions, and language all play an important role in the connection of social network and the work place. The comment, or post, that are written can easily create politics in the work place. For example the woman in the video post a status about her co-work which has caused the lose of her job; on the other hand if an employee posts a comment about a boss, or higher official, it could cause unnecessary politics and problems. Therefore, concluding that social networks play a significant role in the work place's politics. ( explanation to video)

media type="youtube" key="5Ttx-ERwrh4" width="262" height="218"

**Tips for Managers**
We cannot just rid the world of technology, no matter what technology will always grow. There are various things that managers can do to help encourage their employees and help reduce politics.
 * Managers must accept that they cannot completely control technology in an organization, and that no matter what, employees they will have access to it.
 * Managers can place restricitons on company servers such as firewalls, disabling cookies, and putting password locks on wireless access. This will keep non-work related internet surfing to a minimum and put more focus on work that needs to be done.
 * Managers must also understand are the individual and organizational antecedents that lead to political behavior, especially ones concerning technology itself.
 * To prevent acts against one another and toward an organization, managers must prevent organizational politics within their workplace. Managers must also not allow employees to go over their heads to get tasks done; they must follow the chain of command. If managers do not show that there is a chain of command of how things operate then employees will use politics and technology to do most things and get ahead and obtain power.
 * Managers must take action and must rid a company of employees that are not willing to help the company, if they do not they will destroy the company itself. Mostly through usage of technology and the unproductive time spent in this usage.
 * Within an organization, employees usage of technology must be limited so they cannot use it for self interest such as Facebook and other social networking sites that will distract them from working.

Within any company, employees want to find the opportunity to gain power and move up in an organization and they will try at any means necessary at times to have upper management recognize them.

**Conclusion**
Politics, whether negative or positive, will always occur in an organization as individuals strive to gain power. With the recent advancements in technology, specifically social media, individual employees and organizations can experience both benefits and risks to their aspirations. Technology has given many employees the opportunity to particapate in politcal behavior and due to the rapid expansion of technology this will cause many organizations to deal with a rapid growth of political behavior wihin employees. As explained in [|Perspectives on Technology and Work Organization], technology was treated as a deterministic causal force with foreseen impact. Though as explained beforehand, technology has become more complex and its relationship to work which can be some very productive or something that can cause unproductivity due to politics. As the complexity of technology has evolved, the different usage for it has also. Employees within organizations are using technology for basically many matters, even going over management to do so. Technology has negatively affected organizations, where they have lost their power in a way due to the day by day expansion and complexity of technology. The aspects of technology that cause this loss of power is the convenience of technology. Employees have world wide information at the palm of their hands in their cell phones. Due to much information employees recieve thourgh technology, organizations will be affected just because time is not being executed wisely and technology can affect an employees work enivorment and decision making process. Technology is something that organizations should be weary about, they should understand how it works and understand what it can lead to. Technology can take an organization to the ground just by using its employees and having it lead to politics that will tear the company apart. Overall, employees try to gain power in an organizations through organizational politics and also technology which will lead to their self interest goals. Due to the rapid expansion of technology and the massive usage by people, technology will never go away, It will just keep growing.