WEEK 4 DQ 7 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

WEEK 4 DQ 7 - Assignment Example Legitimate, coercive and reward as forms of formal power. Personal power deals more with what other individuals see and regard of someone they respect or like, thus giving someone the ability to influence. Expert, information and referent power have been classified as personal power. An example of an unethical use of power was when I was instructed by my superior to perform a task that was supposed to be his. In this case, my superior exercised his formal power, and was able to influence me to do the work for him. My superior unethically used legitimate power over me, emphasizing that I should be the one following the orders. Such scenarios I believe are common in many organizations where the people in authority tend to abuse the power accompanied in the positions they fill in. Political behaviors are actions with which an individual or a group of individuals make to be able to influence others in the organization to get the result they want. The three dimensions of political behavior are: upward influence, downward influence and peer influence. Upward influence refers to the capability of the people at the lower level of the organization to influence the decisions of the people with authority in the organization. Downward influence is the capacity of a superior to influence those under his or her department, such as general managers influencing department managers and their subordinates. Peer influence is the most common and this usually occurs with people who are in the same level of the organization. In laymans term, this may also be seen as peer pressure. However, this kind of influence may be destructive if there is no common goal among the people involved. Individual and organizational antecedents greatly influence political behavior. Political skill, investment in organization, internal locus control and expectations of