Page 177 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Unit 8: Role of Attitude and Persuasion

anything with out them. If we look at this the other way by, a manager always wears a watch Notes
shows that they feel less powerful. Also, a full calendar is proof of power, along with a planner
displayed on the desks.
The third approach is call “Standing by,” what Korda proposes is that cell phones, and pagers,
along with other communicating devises, explains that if a high top person can inflict on your
time at any time of the day has power. In addition people that cause inconvenience to others;
such as doing simple tasks for them.

8.13.4 Sharing Power: Empowerment

Empowerment is a positive aspect within an organization that promotes shared power. In order
to grasp the complete essence of empowerment, there are four separate necessities that must be
met.

 Meaning suggests that one must have a sense of passion put into their work in order to feel
empowered.
 Competence is a component in the work place that keeps an employee confident with the
ability to do a job well done.
 Self-determination gives employees a certain trustworthiness to handle the job
independently.

 Impact is a contributing factor that enables the workers to believe that their job has a
meaningful purpose. Without these four dimensions present, one cannot feel empowered.
Leaders within an organization can play a strong role in encouraging employees to put
empowerment into practice. If leaders want to examine the possibility of an empowerment
based company they need to have confidence in employees. This action should take place in
order to set the bar at a high enough level. Employees should also be given the opportunities to
make decisions. Rules and policies that get in the way of self-management need to become more
lenient for a successful empowerment based organization. As well, leaders must set goals that
can make one feel inspired.
One particular example of an empowered company is run by David Zipper and Peter Murray.
Their organization began as a small painting business in run down areas of Philadelphia started
by the two former economics students in 1999. The idea of the company is to empower its
employees to the point where they own the company themselves. Since the renowned success of
Empowered Painters, Peter Murray was awarded the Eli Segal Entrepreneurship award, and
David Zipper received the Truman Scholarship. (Natsu, Furuichi, 2000)
Though the idea of empowerment can produce very successful results, the risks involved can be
devastating. It is always safe to keep in mind, when giving up responsibility, there is a very real
possibility of failure.

8.14 Political Behavior Leadership in Organizations

Political behavior and organizations doesn’t always have to be negative. However, most the
time it is looked upon as such. It has been said that organizations are arenas in which people
have competing interest. It is the manager’s responsibility to be effective in reconcile competing
interest. Political behavior refers to actions not officially sanctioned by an organization that are
taken to influence others in order to meet one person’s goals.
Many people at the organizations are able to recognize and spot political behavior by their
supervisor and at the top level of organizations. Many organizations encourage political activity
these include unclear goals, autocratic decision making, ambiguous lines of authority, scarce

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