The Empowered Manager
Peter Block authored the book, The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work, to inform his readers of the politics that occur in organizations today. In his book, he writes about two different types of politics: the negative, or bureaucratic, and the positive, or entrepreneurial. He outlines each of the types of politics as a cycle of actions, or behaviors, to point out the differences of the two types. After discussing the differences between the two types of politics, he tries to persuade his readers to take a proactive role in trying to institute positive politics in the workplace. In addition to him persuading readers to make the change to positive politics, he provides the tools and techniques to accomplish this.
The Negative Politics
The first type of politics Block writes about is the negative politics. He relates negative politics to a bureaucratic cycle, which is a series of parts.
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Entrepreneurial Portrait of Taneli Tikka Original ...
English: Peter Block at the Inspired Leadership Co...They are the patriarchal contract, myopic self-interest, manipulative tactics, and dependency (Block, 1991). Many people feel that they need to follow the bureaucratic cycle to become successful, as it is this type of politics that is found in today's conventional corporations. The book states that by following the bureaucratic cycle, we believe that our success resides in someone else's hands. He persuades the reader into becoming more autonomous and proactive in instituting positive politics in the workplace.
The Positive Politics
By becoming more proactive and autonomous, we are trying to move closer to the entrepreneurial cycle. Autonomous is defined as self-governing (Merriam-Webster, 1997). Within the entrepreneurial cycle, he defines the series of parts as the entrepreneurial contract, enlightened self-interest, authentic tactics, and autonomy (Block, 1991). To institute the entrepreneurial cycles is to align the business unit with the organization's goals and visions. While trying to achieve this,