Exam 13: Conflict, Power, and Politics

Goal incompatibility can be a kind of "built-in" conflict between departments--especially marketing and manufacturing--that are faithfully attempting to accomplish their own missions.

Explain what is meant by strategic contingencies that influence horizontal power among departments, and provide examples.

Working in the offices of the state legislature was an aspiring young man who provided clerical research services for legislators on a wide range of issues. He always provided easy-to-read summary sheets on current issues at the top of their in-baskets, and always tried to make every party so that they would know him personally. When he realized that water distribution was a key issue in the state, he became an expert on water distribution. Finally it got to the point that whenever bills came up that dealt with water distribution, he provided information to the legislators that was exclusive because they did not look elsewhere for detail. Analyze this young man's use of power, utilizing principles from our textbook.

The following statement is a correct usage of the terms "power" and "authority:" Some secretaries are likely to have a great deal of power in the organization even though they have little authority.

The allocation of power to middle managers and staff is dangerous because it hinders those employees from being productive.

Strategic contingencies are succession plans that are made within the corporation.

The greatest cause of intergroup conflict in organizations is probably:

Negotiation occurs when parties in conflict directly engage one another and try to work out their differences.

Which of the following is not one of strategic contingencies that influence horizontal power among departments?

For lower level employees, network centrality:

People have authority in an organization because of:

If a manager decides to control decision premises, he will:

Contrast three tactics for enhancing collaboration with three tactics for increasing power.

What are similarities and differences between power and politics in organizations?

When faced with uncertainty, some departments end up losing power, and others end up gaining power. What makes the difference? What are the actions and techniques of those departments that end up gaining power?

From reading the chapter on power and politics, what political tactics for increasing power did you glean that you would be willing to use?

Dependency power is derived from:

Assume that you are called to mediate a conflict between the players and the management of Major League Baseball. The players wanted different salary caps and were turned down. Now they are about to go out on strike and neither side is talking to the other. What might you do to try to resolve this conflict so that baseball will not reach the same fate it did on September 15, 1995 when the 1994 major-league season and the World Series were called off for the first time in 89 years?

____ is power sharing, the delegation of power or authority to subordinates in an organization.

Intergroup conflict requires three ingredients: group identification, observable group differences, and commitment.