Power and Politics

Power and Politics

When one hears the word politics, many thoughts come to mind such as government, policy and affairs. This means that the field of politics has more than just one meaning. Politics can be defined as the process that people use to provide a framework to organize themselves, societies, and the world and by which they seek to achieve and maintain a distinctive social order and survival. However, at a greater level of thinking it is difficult to come up with a single definition that explains all of the areas that politics may cover. Politics is not something easily defined and in fact much variation exists within this definition from one country to another. Several factors that influence these variations in the definition of politics are the political branch that is dealt with culture and the political system used in the society.

Power, the influence one possesses over another, exists in five forms: legitimate, referent, expert, coercive, and reward.

English: Board of Directors

English: Mawarid Board of Directors

Little Chute Windmill

The type of power used in an organization affects the employees and the productivity of the organization. It is beneficial to determine which type of power exists in the organization. If the incorrect type of power is used in the business, the company may suffer from high employee turnover rates, low productivity, or some other similar negative outcome. Consequently, an organization seeking to improve its overall performance considers the type of power used in the organization and seeks to determine if the power base or bases in use are appropriate. The use of an assessment designed to identify these preferred methods of power assists organizations in the profiling of the power in use among individuals.

Interestingly, the form of power that seems to be the most worthy of the power bases in the business world is the expert power.