POWER & POLITICS IN FMCG INDUSTRY

Presented By: Sudip Dutta PGDM 2010 - 2012 Term II

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

INTRODUCTION
 

Power is one of the most desired human wants. Power in business world, may be defined as :


The exercise of influence or control over anothers behavior. The tactics to obtain a desired goal, position or status in an organization.

Politics, in business world, may be defined as :



The organizational management & leadership practice of a company depends largely on power and politics.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY



To identify 2 senior managers in FMCG organization & to analyze the effect of Power & Politics on their :: 

Career progression. Achievement of goals of the organization.

METHODOLOGY


EMAMI LTD., a leading FMCG organization was approached by us. Mr. Nayan Bhattacharya, Sr. Officer (Mgmt. Services Division) & Mr. Hemanth Kothari (Asst. Manager Corporate Services) were interviewed based on certain questionnaires on:
 

How Power-oriented am I ? PowerWhats my preferred type of power ? How good am I at playing politics ? Whats my preferred conflict-handling style ? conflictWhats my negotiating style ? Is my workplace political ?

PROFILES OF THE INTERVIEWED



Mr. Nayan Bhattacharya Senior Officer Management Services Division ICWA, CA (Inter) Total Experience at Emami Ltd. October 2006 to present. Mr. Hemanth Kothari Assistant Manager Corporate Services PGDM (Finance), Globsyn Business School(06) Total Experience at Emami Ltd. April 2008 to present.
 

FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION



Based on the questionnaire titled HOW POWERPOWERORIENTED AM I ?; we found that the Machiavellianism (Mach) score is HIGH, signifying that they are :
 

Pragmatic Maintains emotional distance Believes that end can justify means.

People with high Mach manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less. They are more likely to shade the truth or act unethically in ambiguous situations where the outcome is important for them. more 6

FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION



Based on the questionnaire titled WHATS MY PREFERRED TYPE OF POWER?; we found that Legitimate and Expert power is dominant signifying that they :


Prefer to influence others based on their formal position and based on possessing knowledge or skill.

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FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION



Based on the questionnaire titled HOW GOOD AM I AT PLAYING POLITICS ?; we found that :


Their scores were HIGH signifying that they were having better political skills. They knew precisely what they were supposed to do in different social situations at work in a sincere, and engaging manner that disguises any ulterior, self-serving selfmotives.

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FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION



Based on the questionnaire titled WHATS MY PREFERRED CONFLICT-HANDLING STYLE ?; CONFLICTwe found that :


Their primary style of conflict-handling was AVOIDING, conflicti.e. the desire to withdraw or suppress the conflict. This clearly shows that they were very power-oriented. power-

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FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION



Based on the questionnaire titled WHATS MY NEGOTIATING STYLE ?; we found that :



They were experts in negotiation, i.e. they favor collaboration, rationality and direct communication style.

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FINDINGS & INTERPRETATION



Political behavior, defined as self-serving behavior selfnot formally sanctioned by the organization, exists to some extent in every organization. Based on the questionnaire titled IS MY WORKPLACE POLITICAL ?; we found that :
 

The workplace had moderate political activity. Highly political organizations are generally stressful for the employees, having high levels of absenteeism, and job dissatisfaction; which is not the case for EMAMI Ltd.

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CONCLUSION


We found that the managers at EMAMI Ltd. are having high Mach levels, applies legitimate & expert powers, and are good at playing politics; showing that they are very power-oriented powermanagers. Their conflict-handling styles are avoiding type which also is conflictvery prevalent amongst power-oriented managers. powerPowerPower-oriented people are generally good at negotiating which is evident in this case also. Although the managers have a considerable amount of power & control over their sub-ordinates, they dont use it in any subadverse way to create any major political conflicts in the workplace.
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RECOMMENDATIONS


Reward power can sometimes be used by the managers at Emami Ltd. to keep the employees motivated so that they can perform better. Collaborating and Compromising conflict-handling conflictstyles can be implemented for creating a healthy workwork-environment.

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LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT



The major limitations of this project are listed as under ::

Paucity of time Limited Sample Size, the entire c/s of the people in various organizations could have strengthened the research. Scope of research was limited only to the FMCG industry.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY


Literature Review


Powers, Michelle (June23, 2008). Power & Politics. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/826311/power_and_politics.h tml Texas Tech University (August 31, 1998). Power and Politics. Division of Outreach and Extended Studies. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hs/rhim520/htm_files/0012.htm

Questionnaires www.prenhall.com/sal - SELF-ASSESSMENT LIBRARY, SELF

Organizational Behavior S.P.Robbins

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THE END

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