Social Networking, Power & Politics

Power

Expert power - comes from the skills, knowledge, expertise of an individual that are desirable to others and the whole society

Information Power - the power from one's access to and control over important information

Reward Power - the power from an individual's ability to confer valued rewards and benifits

Coercive Power - power from an individual's ability to negatively influence others wellbeing

Legitimate Power - The power from an individual's formal title and/or position within an organization

Referent Power - from an individual or organisation's charisma and interpersonal skills and the person's ability to attract others and build loyalty (nationalism)

Interpersonal Influence strategies

Consistency - People need consistency between what they do and what they say, or between their past behavior and current behavior

Consensus - People tend to follow the crowd and do what similar others are doing

Authority - People tend to value information or advice from individuals with authority/power/expertise more

Scarcity - People tend to consider goods and services that are scare to be of higher value

Liking - We are more influenced by people who we like - similarity, compliment, cooperation

Reciprocity - We are genetically programmed to give back if we are given

Social Network

A social structure that consists of a group of social parties( individual or groups ), sets of dyadic ties, and other social exchange between parties

Common networking strategies - socializing, maintaining contacts, professional activities, community activities

Social Network Centrality - the extent to which one is central and valuable to the social network that she belongs to ,,,individuals with more network centality tend to have more social and more power,,,,individuals with more network centrality tend to perform better and more creativity

Employee empowerment - Increasing the freedom and the ability of employees to make decisions andcommitments

Closeness - the strength of ties one has with others

Betweenness - how much one is located between others

Degree centrality - the number of connections one has to others

Job content - Tasks and procedures necessary for carrying out a particular job

Job context - the setting in which the job is done,including organization's structure, culture and reward systems

Empowered employees tend to experience

Sense of meaning - employees feel that their work is important to them; them care about what they are going

Sense of competence - employees are confident about their ability to do their work well; they know they can perform

Sense of self-determination - employees are free to choose how to do their work; they are not micromanaged.

Sense of impact - employees believe they can have influence on their work unit; others listen to their ideas

Organizational politics

Political behaviors - Those that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization

Examples of political "rules"-get others to do the work for you,but always take the credit- pose as a friend, work as a spy- keep people dependent on you-do not commit to anyone

Specific political behaviors in business organizations - Managing impressions, attacking and blaming, controlling information, forming coalition, cultivating networks

When perceiving high organizational politics, employees would--experience decreased job satisfaction,,experience increased anxiety and stress,,, be more willing to leave the organization voluntarily,,, exhibit reduced performance