The effects of politics and power on the organizational commitment of federal executives

Journal of Management, Spring, 1995 by Patricia A. Wilson

The use of politics and power is endemic to organizations. People come to work situations with many goals, not just one unified goal. These goals invoke conflict and competition among workers for the expenditure of scarce resources. This competition, in turn, effects the use of power and politics. Wildavsky (1964), Harvey and Mills (1970), Pettigrew (1973), Frost and Hayes (1979), and Pfeffer (1981) all associated political activity in organizations with the distribution of resources or other advantages. Pfeffer (1981), and Pfeffer and Salancik (1974) were especially interested in political behaviors associated with budgetary decisions.

Although several researchers recognize the presence of politics and the use of power in organizations, the approaches used to study this topic vary considerably. Crozier (1964), for example, was among the first to identify subunit power. He observed how the ability of plant maintenance engineers to control uncertainty (by being the only group that could repair broken-down machinery) was a source of power for them. Thompson (1967) also stressed "uncertainty coping" as a source of power. Salancik and Pfeffer (1977), and Tushman and Romanelli (1983) argued that those who are able to cope with uncertainty will adjust their social standing and increase their power in the organization. Woodward (1965), on the other hand, emphasized one's critical function in an organization as a source of power, while Hickson, Hining, Lee, Schneck and Pennings (1971), Salancik and Pfeffer (1977), Astley and Sachdeva (1984) identified several important variables including, resource control, hierarchical authority, non-substitutability, uncertainty coping, and centrality as sources of power and as connecting links to organizational politics.

Francis E. Rourke's (1976) identification of an agency's bases of power was very similar to the findings of Salancik and Pfeffer and Hickson et. al. Among the several bases of power he identified were: (1) the nature of an agency's expertise; (2) the nature of and size of an agency's constituencies; and, (3) the quality of an agency's leadership (leadership power). Rourke uses the concept of substitutability/non-substitutability to explain the nature of an agency's expertise, and his discussion of "a strong public constituency as a source of power in an agency" embodies the concept of resource control as a source of subunit power (pp. 228-234).

Pfeffer (1981) argued that organizational power is a function of the structure. Power inheres in one's structural position, which provides access to people, information, and financial resources (budgets). Those in power stay in power by reinforcing the existing structure of the organization.

All of the above studies and others, have failed to investigate the effects of politics and power on organizational commitment, especially the effects of these factors on the commitment of top executives in the public sector. This study will add to what is known about organizational effectiveness with the development of theories of politics and power as explanations for commitment levels of Senior Executive Service (SES) managers in the federal government.

Retention of quality workers, performance and/or productivity are among the important measures of organizational effectiveness. However, because of its effect on performance (productivity) and turnover, "commitment" is the organizational outcome examined in this research. To understand SES members' level/degree of commitment to public service it is important to first review reasons why SES members join, stay in, and decide to leave the federal government.

Reasons for Joining, Staying In and Leaving Public Sector Employment

Perry and Wise (1990) identified three motivational bases as reasons why one would want employment in the public: sector. Two of these, a norm-based reason and a rational motive, are especially pertinent to this study. Although they did not believe that all public employees are driven by these needs, they argued that "a desire to serve the public interest", "loyalty to duty and to the government as a whole", and "social equity" are normative orientations commonly used to explain why individuals choose public sector employment (p. 369). Downs (1967), Wamsley, Goodsell, Rohr, Stivers, White and Wolf (1987), Karl (1979), and Lasson (1978) also identified "a desire to serve the public interest" as a normative foundation for public employment. Serving the public interest involves those administrative and policy activities which provide the "greatest good for the greatest number of people".

There are also rational motives, which are "sometimes grounded in individual utility maximization", for desiring civil service employment (Perry & Wise, 1990, p. 368). Kelman (1987) and Rawls (1971) believed that a persons maybe be drawn to the public sector because such employment lets them participate in the process of policy formulation, and such involvement, in and of itself, can reinforce an individual's image of self importance. In summary, then, the "desire to serve the public interest" and the "desire to participate in the process of policy formulation" are believed to be reasons why SES members sought careers as civil servants.