ECQ 5: Building Coalitions

The first key group of stakeholders are the employees. These include both managers and regular employees at all levels of the organization. The managers are in charge of overseeing certain departments within the corporation. Managers must also work to implement the company strategy and work towards accomplishing the company’s

'But how could chief executives really know whether their answers to such questions were correct? Katie ponders. She feels chiefexecutives are likely to have a vested

The political lens looks at an organization from the perspective of "how power and influence are distributed and wielded, how multiple stakeholders express their different preferences and get involved in or excluded from decisions, and how conflicts can be resolved" (Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen and Westney – M2-10) . It is an arena for competition and conflict among individuals, groups and other organizations whose interests and goals differ dramatically. The roots of conflict lie in different and competing interests and disagreements require political action, including negotiation, coalition building and the exercise of power and influence. The steps in using the political lens for an effective

First, before I forget, I have to state how power can be powerful. Power could be used for many acronyms. Power could stand for leadership, power could stand for a higher standard over another person, whether they like it or not. Certain people have power, whether they like it or not, whether they want it or not. In a group of people there has to be a leader, and a

In addition to power established because of organizational hierarchy or role, power is also established based on the level of influence or status one holds in an organization (Anichich, Fast, Halevy, Galinsky, 2016). “Status is the outcome of an evaluation of attributes that produce differences in respect and prominence” (Ketner et al, 2003 p. 266) They co-exists but are not co-dependent on each other. It’s possible to have status without power and power without status (Ketner et al, 2003). Whether one’s control comes through status or positional power, lauding control or significant influence over another inevitably leads to conflict.

In general ,the stakeholder approach may be more conducive to balancing a wide variety of corporate interests and thereby discouraging impropriety.Executives and boards should take the perceptions of both shareholders and stakeholders into account when formulating strategy and enunciate their stance in all organizational communications. Only within that kind of clearly delineated context, can managers be expected to make appropriate decisions. Indeed, some of the most successful businesses are those which have embraced stakeholder values for example Bodyshop. However, we see that generally, shareholder value

Understanding the Role of Power in Decision Making- Pfeffer explores the advantages and limitations of power. Pfeffer states that if power is a force, a store of potential influence through which events can be affected, politics involves those activities or behaviors through which power is developed and used in organizational settings. Power is a property of the system at rest; politics is the study of power in action (Shafritz, Ott,

Power is defined as the capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so B acts in accordance with A’s wishes (p.198). Being a collaborative organization, Stryker’s power resides in four key teams: accounting, human resources management, information technologies management, and a cross functional team known as the steering committee. Power resides within these teams because they control the things that the organization needs to function. The relationships that these teams have with the organization are based upon dependence, these departments can influence the distribution of resources in the organization. These teams exercise their power to help the organization generate a profit, respond to changes, to limit the number of errors,

Especially, it should be determined that how these stakeholders are influencing the objectives and development of an organization.

It is important for managers to understand the sources of power and influence as they must rely upon the cooperation of subordinates in order to be successful. Strong managers rely upon more than just authority they also use leadership skills and power to obtain the most productivity from their staff. According to French and Raven (1959) there are five sources of power. Referent power seems to be the most influential and the least affected by change. To quote Paul Argenti,

Basically the Executive Committee Meetings (ECMs) are not effective in achieving their intended purposes. This is not to say that they are a total failure and a waste of time since they have brought some unforeseen advantages in addition to partly achieving their objectives. I would like to point out the strengths and weaknesses of these ECMs.

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Although every organizational setting is unique, these researchers emphasize that the effects of these types of misjudgments can have especially severe outcomes for interpersonal interactions and relationships. Executives with significant deficits in their functioning can also experience diminished

The primary problem is each groups has their own interest and concerns. It appears that each team is struggling with the differences amongst the team. Ultimately, this will hold them back from progression. They all feel that the children are important, but not working together

* Political science in explaining how power struggles between groups within organisations can stem from variances in performance and agendas.