Power, Politics, and Culture

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Power, Politics, and Culture

Introduction

Power and politics are considered important dynamics in modern-day business organizations. Power is the right or capacity to control people or things. On the other hand, politics refers to the actions, processes, and behaviors through which potential power is realized and utilized (Somoye, 2016). Power and politics may significantly impact an organization’s culture and productivity. This assignment presents a report for an American clothing, lingerie, and beauty retailer, whose organizational culture has been impacted by power and politics. Throughout the paper, the company will be referred to as Company X for confidentiality purposes. The report explains how the power and politics play might have impacted the organization’s culture. It also identifies sources of power and explains how management in Company X could have utilized these sources to improve the performance of Company X. Also, the report provides recommendations supporting how the study of politics and power may influence the behavior of a leader and improve the culture of Company X. Lastly, the report discusses the relevance and complexity of leadership behavior in dealing with the influence of politics and power on organizational culture.

Influence of Politics and Power on the Organization’s Culture

Politics and those in power heavily influence the culture of a company. Decision-making, functioning of various departments, employee productivity, and interactions between employees and their managers require a comprehensive understanding and implications of power and politics in an organization. Politics within an organization arises when people in power act in their interest without regard for other people in the firm. Power in an organization can be positive or negative. In Company X, negative power is used to get work done. The marketing manager at Company X developed a culture where the ultimate power was concentrated in their hands, despite the models and consumers being at the core of its success. Company X established a culture of control by leaving all the important decisions to the marketing manager despite the claims of sexual harassment by the company’s models. The models claimed that the marketing manager kissed them without their consent and forced them to sit on their laps.

The marketing manager also established a hostile organizational culture, which had an adverse effect on the Company. The marketing manager had served as the company’s brand image for many years, which allowed him to accumulate too much power. He abused his power by making derogatory remarks against transsexual and plus-size models. The manager was also responsible for the feminine and sexualized beauty ideals followed by Company X. Executives who attempted to steer the company away from its feminine and sexualized ideals were fired. Today, millions of American women associate Company X with femininity, yet the company has remained stagnant in the face of shifting consumer preferences. The brand of Company X is criticized for upholding a culture that promotes sexualized and unrealistic ideals of beauty. Company X’s organizational culture does not acknowledge models’ different body shapes, skin tones, body sizes, and gender identities. Thus, the company does not produce lingerie brands for the different body shapes and sizes. This has led to the company losing a significant customer segment. Between 2013 and 2018, Company X’s customers declined from 32% to 24% s the customers went for brands that recognized different body sizes and shapes.

The marketing manager at Company X was also against having plus-size and transgender models in the company’s model team due to his outdated definition of beauty. This made the brand image of Company X appear outdated in its consumers’ eyes for failing to change its attitudes towards beauty, inclusion, and diversity. Before the marketing manager resigned from the organization in 2019, he had wielded significant control over Company X’s brand image. While he was serving as the manager, many employees were against his coercive leadership and deaf culture of the ever-changing consumers’ taste of beauty. The power politics between the marketing manager and other employees earned Company X a bad reputation which led to a substantial decline in the company’s profitability.

Sources of Power

Company X’s market share and profitability have decreased significantly due to poor leadership and organizational culture in the last several years. One of the main causes of the company’s failure is the marketing manager’s decision to utilize coercive power to manage employees and make important decisions. Thus, the marketing manager should utilize referent power, expert power, and legitimate power to improve organizational performance.

Referent power is the leader’s ability to influence employees through admiration, respect, and identification (Sousa & van Dierendonck, 2017). The marketing manager at Company X can use referent power to benefit the marketing department and improve organizational performance. Usually, employees are drawn to charismatic leaders because of their capability to motivate and inspire them to work towards achieving the set organizational goals (McClean & Collins, 2019).

Charismatic leaders inspire and influence their subordinates to achieve organizational goals by creating a positive work atmosphere. Accordingly, the marketing manager at Company X should utilize referent authority to inspire people toward a greater level of performance, instill a profound feeling of trust, and happiness in the business, and motivate everyone in the company to do their best. Hanslik (2018) reveals that charismatic or referent leaders have refined communication skills and in-depth awareness of interpersonal interactions. Therefore, referent power indicates that the marketing manager at Company X will not strive too hard to persuade employees to listen and succeed with them. Also, people are energized and confident when they have access to referent power; hence, the use of referent power by the marketing manager will benefit the marketing department and contribute to the company’s improved performance.

Legitimate power refers to the authority that comes from being in a higher position (Hofmann et al., 2017). This high position accords the leader control over his or her subordinates. It serves as a formal way of ensuring that an individual is responsible for making decisions within an organization. Company X can utilize legitimate power to make decisions that promote employee dedication and commitment. This is because employees are more inclined to comply with demands and objectives established by their management when they recognize the validity of the manager’s position. Thus, the marketing manager in Company X should utilize legitimate power to set ambitious goals and encourage employees to work hard to achieve the set goals. Consequently, this may result in improved organizational performance.

Lastly, expert power is a form of power that arises from having extensive proficient knowledge of something (Walls & Berrone, 2017). Company X can utilize this type of power to improve its performance. Among the leading causes of Company X’s decline in profitability is its inability to keep up with changes in consumer perceptions of beauty, gender identities, and skin colors. The company’s marketing manager must be up to date on customer preferences and realistic in their view of what constitutes beauty. Competitors to Company X are embracing body diversity by producing products that fit a wide range of body shapes. This implies that Company X’s competitors are more informed about the changing consumer wants than Company X does. Thus, Company X must have expert power to thrive and succeed in its competitive business environment.

How the Study of Power and Politics Could Influence Leadership Behavior and Improve Organization’s Culture

Studying power and politics can significantly influence leadership behavior and improve organizational culture. To begin with, studying politics and power can assist an organization in understanding how power struggles can harm the working environment and convert it into a toxic and stressful one (Greer et al., 2017). This would shape the leaders’ behaviors to the positive as the leaders try to avoid the adverse effects of power struggles. Consequently, this will improve the organization’s culture as leaders strive to promote an ample working environment.

Also, through studying power and politics, Company X can understand when there is power abuse, especially when power and politics come into play. For instance, disrespecting abilities and boundaries was one of the signs of power abuse by the marketing manager at Company X. The marketing manager disrespected employees’ boundaries by sexually harassing them. Also, the manager made discriminatory remarks against the transgender and plus-size models. However, Company X allowed the marketing manager to create a hostile environment for employees by promoting sexual harassment and humiliating and demeaning employees. The study of power and abuse would have allowed the senior management to identify the marketing manager’s abuse of power and act accordingly. His acts would have also been used to set rules that promote positive organizational culture.

Additionally, studying power and politics can impact leadership behavior and improve the organizational culture by helping the organization to comprehend the different signs of power abuse within the organization and develop effective strategies for dealing with it. Also, the study of power and politics can help an organization determine when a leader develops a feeling of uncontrolled dominance. Superiority arises when a person in a position of authority succumbs to the ego’s temptations (Somoye, 2016).). Consequently, these leaders demoralize people below them by indicating that they have no control over them. However, a company may better handle incidences of superiority and foster a positive work atmosphere if it has a better knowledge of power and politics.

Importance and Complexity of Leadership Behavior

The term “leadership behavior” refers to the actions and behaviors exhibited by a leader or a manager while in a leadership position (Liao et al., 2020). One of the most important factors in motivating and guiding individuals to their full potential is the leader’s own conduct. Company X’s poor organizational performance and culture may be attributed to the marketing manager’s poor leadership behavior. Positive leadership behavior contributes significantly to making employees become more effective and increasing their ability to achieve the set goal (Kim et al., 2018). Effective leadership also contributes to improved productivity and retention of the best talents (Razak et al., 2018).

Positive leadership behavior is characterized by values such as honesty, tolerance, respect, democracy, and just (Cansoy, 2019). Other characteristics of positive leadership behavior include being approachable, paying closer attention to employees’ needs, and providing objective feedback to employees. The abuse of culture at Company X can be solved by embracing positive leadership behavior. The marketing manager at Company X is unapproachable and does not listen to their subordinates’ needs. Since positive leadership behavior is characterized by an approachable leader who prioritizes the needs of the employees, positive leadership behavior would help deal with the culture of abuse in the Company.

Leadership behavior significantly contributes to organizational structure and performance. According to Schwendimann et al. (2016), employees who consider their leaders or managers as caring and supportive, experienced increased job satisfaction levels. Also, leaders who embrace positive leadership behavior bring people together to work towards achieving organizational goals. Therefore, positive leadership behavior may increase the Company’s market share and profitability.

Conclusion

Overall, power and politics may significantly impact how well an organization performs and how its culture develops. Company X’s diminishing market share and profitability may be attributed to the company’s culture of power abuse. Company X’s managers should adopt positive leadership behavior so as to inspire their subordinates toward achieving organizational goals and objectives.

References

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Hofmann, E., Hartl, B., Gangl, K., Hartner-Tiefenthaler, M., & Kirchler, E. (2017). Authorities’ coercive and legitimate power: The impact on cognitions underlying cooperation. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00005Kim, M., Beehr, T. A., & Prewett, M. S. (2018). Employee responses to empowering leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 25(3), 257-276. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1548051817750538Liao, C., Lee, H. W., Johnson, R. E., & Lin, S. H. (2020). Serving you depletes me? A leader-centric examination of servant leadership behaviors. Journal of Management, 47(5), 1185-1218. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0149206320906883McClean, E., & Collins, C. J. (2019). Expanding the concept of fit in strategic human resource management: An examination of the relationship between human resource practices and charismatic leadership on organizational outcomes. Human Resource Management, 58(2), 187-202.

Razak, A., Sarpan, S., & Ramlan, R. (2018). Effect of leadership style, motivation, and work discipline on employee performance in PT. ABC Makassar. International Review of Management and Marketing, 8(6), 67.

Schwendimann, R., Dhaini, S., Ausserhofer, D., Engberg, S., & Zúñiga, F. (2016). Factors associated with high job satisfaction among care workers in Swiss nursing homes–a cross-sectional survey study. BMC nursing, 15(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-016-0160-8Somoye, K. G. (2016). The Effects of Power and Politics in Modern Organizations and its Impact on Workers’ Productivity. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6(11), 2222-6990. http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v6-i11/202442Somoye, K. G. (2016). The Effects of Power and Politics in Modern Organizations and its Impact on Workers’ Productivity. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6(11), 2222-6990. http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v6-i11/202442Sousa, M., & van Dierendonck, D. (2017). Servant leadership and the effect of the interaction between humility, action, and hierarchical power on follower engagement. Journal of Business Ethics, 141(1), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2725-yWalls, J. L., & Berrone, P. (2017). The power of one to make a difference: How informal and formal CEO power affect environmental sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics, 145(2), 293-308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2902-z