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those who are in power positions in your organization?
• Information that is relevant and valued by members of the
organization is
another important source of power in organizations. Information that
is privileged or not commonly shared or known is of particular
importance. As a
human resource professional, are you tied in to all of the important
channels
of communications - both formal and informal?
• Resources represent another important source of power in
organizations. These
generally include budgets, people, facilities, and other resources
which are
shared. How much control or influence over organization resources
do you
have?
• Personal power is generally attributed to someone who has charisma
or
credibility, or a track record. It is the way in which you are perceived
by
others. What kind of an image do you have in your organization?
Most managers know where the power is in their organizations and
who
the "power players" are. They spend a great deal of time
protecting or trying to
expand their power base. That's what politics is all about - i.e., it's
behavior that
is intended to maintain or increase one's power base and/or to change
the
distribution of power in an organization. Some managers have a very
high need
for power. They need to be in control, they need to have control over
people
and resources, and they like to manipulate others. The power players
are generally
very good at it. As I indicated earlier, much of the work we do as
human resource