Difference Between Power And Politics

Power and politics

Power is the potential or capacity of a person or group of persons to influence the actions of the other people or groups. The essence of power lies in the fact that one can regulate the behaviour of other person according to his/her wish. Power is needed to get the work done in the organizations. Power exists naturally in any group or organization and is an indispensable base for management and leadership. It makes others dependent for execution of work.

The concepts of leadership and power are closely related to each other. Leaders use power as a means to attain the goals of the group. In the process of achieving the goals of the groups, power serves as a means of facilitating their achievement. The difference between the

Importance

2. Scarcity

3. Non substitutability/Non replaceable

Power can be categorized into two types: Formal & Informal

Formal Power: Formal power depends on the position one individual holds in that organizational chart. Formal power is derived from either one’s ability to coerce or reward others. Formal power may be categorized into three types, which are as follows: Coercive Power, Reward Power and Legitimate Power.

Personal Power: This type of power resides in the individual and it is completely unassociated with the individual’s position. In this perspective, power comes from the individual’s unique characteristics and charisma. Personal power can be further divided into two subparts: Expert Power and Referent Power. Politics refers to the structure and process of the use of authority and power, to affect definition of goals, direction and other major parameters of the organization. Decisions are not made in a rational way, but rather through compromise, accommodation and bargaining.

There are primarily two distinct dimensions of politics. These

Applications of Power & Politics in HRM:

Organizational politics portrays itself in diverse forms; however in two functional human resource management activities i.e. recruitment and selection and training and development, nepotism and paternalism are the obvious forms of organizational politics in both the public and private sector.

The move towards human resource strategies as a competitive advantage tool saw many organizations ranking recruitment and selection as major levers in strategic change.

Learning

Learning is a sequential process that happens all through life. Learning involves change, the change that enhances the level of knowledge or wisdom. Such change causes a change in attitudes and values. As a result of new wisdom and values, there is a change in behaviour. Unless a change in behaviour is reflected, learning is not said to have taken place. Learning is thus a relatively permanent change in knowledge or observable behaviour that comes from practice or