Exam 13: Power and Politics

When the contract with one of their major suppliers was about to expire, the management of Pierre and Collins began seeking tenders from potential vendors. One of the top management executives, Todd Hughes, wanted the contract to go to a vendor he personally knew. In order to do so, he held separate discussions with two key members of the organization wherein he downplayed the potentials of the competing tenders and convinced them to support this offer. At the meeting to finalize a supplier, Todd and his supporters strongly supported the tender of the supplier they had chosen amongst themselves and convinced their CEO to hire this supplier despite the higher price quoted by him. Which of the following power tactics is being used here?

Dependence would be low when ________.

Will Cears works at Mesner Corp. as a middle-level manager. Will recognizes that his firm is plagued by organizational politics. Since he is not good at playing games, he frequently engages in defensive behaviors in order to protect himself and his interests. Will is frustrated because he believes that he has little control over his environment and his environment is uncomfortable to him. He has had some success at establishing a sense of control for himself by appearing to be cooperative and supportive to his colleagues. However, he continues to hold his reservations against politicking and does not engage in it. This is an example of ________ in order to avoid action, blame, or change.

Tina Simmons worked as a welder at a shipyard company where she was forced to encounter nude and partially nude pictures posted by her male co-workers in common areas. The men also referred to her using obscene nicknames and made offensive remarks concerning her body. When Tina complained, her supervisor took no corrective action despite having an active sexual harassment policy approved by the EEOC. Tina wished to file a discrimination suit but instead she chose to endure the harassment as she could not risk losing her job. Which of the following, if true, would have strengthened her resolve to file a discrimination suit?

Legitimate power is directly based on ________.

In the last one week, May and Phyllis have been putting in extra hours at work so that the project assigned to them is completed on time. Though the manager was due to assign two more people to this project, he had not done so and, instead, was emphasizing to employees the importance of adhering to the needs of the department in regard to workload. As a result, May and Phyllis, who had double their routine workload, complained to the division manager. May was promptly suspended from work for complaining about her immediate supervisor. This scenario describes ________ power.

Interviewers are rarely able to detect when an individual is engaging in impression management.

Which of the following is a self-focused impression management technique?

Which of the following is true with regard to leadership?

________ power represents the compliance that is achieved based on the ability to distribute positive benefits that others view as valuable.

Politicking is less likely to surface when an organization's resources are declining.

Which of the following statements is true?

The power tactic of using flattery and creating goodwill before making a request is known as ________.

Which of the following power tactics would be considered a soft tactic?

Studies from multiple countries around the world have similarly shown that higher levels of political skill are associated with lower levels of perceived job performance.

Dale Fisher is the manager of one branch of a retail chain. He often speaks with his customer service attendants about the value they bring to the company and encourages them to continue doing so. He knows that this approach of enhancing the worth of these executives and shaping their aspirations to do well is a more effective approach than using warnings and ultimatums. Dale is using the power tactic of an inspirational appeal here.

Which of the following statements is true regarding power?

Reactive and protective behaviors designed to avoid action, blame, or change are termed ________.

Discuss how power affects people and consider whether power is corruptive.

When the production manager at CalTrack was asked to provide reasons for the delay in the last batch of stock to be produced for the month, he clearly stated that this was the result of one of his front-level managers taking two days off and that the fault was not his. The manager is using buffing as a defensive behavior here.