This research investigates the effects of power and politics on organizational commitment. The study develops two theoretical explanations for organizational commitment in which five independent variables are embodied: (I) a power-based theory of commitment (including subunit power, leadership power, leadership behavior variables); and, (2) theory of politics (including “arbitrary personnel practices”and the “political control”variables). Politics and power are discovered to have a significant effect on the organizational commitment of executives.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Astley, Graham W. & Sachdeva, Doramijit S. (1984). Structural sources of intraorganizational Power: A theoretical synthesis. Academy of Management Review, 1: 104-113.
2.
Calder, B.J. (1977). An attribution theory of leadership. In B.M. Staw & C.R. Salancik (Eds.), Newdirections in organizational behavior. Chicago: St. Clair Press.
3.
Crozier, Michael. (1964). The bureaucratic phenomenon. London: Travistock.
4.
Downs, Anthony. (1967). Inside bureaucracy. Boston: Little Brown.
5.
Frost, P.Y. & Hayes, D.C. (1979). An exploration in two cultures of a model in political behavior in organizations. In Organization functioning in u cross-cultural perspective. Kent, OH: Administrative Research Institute, Kent State University.
6.
“The Government’s Managers”. (1987). Report of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on the Senior Executive Service. Background Paper by Mark W. Huddleston. New York: Priority Press Publications.
7.
Harvey, E. & Mills, R. (1970). Patterns of organizational adaptation: A political perspective. Pp. 181-213 in M. Zald (Ed.), Powerin organizations. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
8.
Hickson, D. J., Hining, C. R.Lee, C. A.Schneck, R. E. & Pennings, J. M. (1974). Structural conditions of intraorganizational power. Administrative Science Quarterly,: 22-44.
9.
Hinkin, Timothy R. & Schriesheim, Chester A. (1988a). Power and influence: The view from below. Personnel, (May): 47-51.
10.
Hinkin, Timothy R. & Schriesheim, Chester A. (1988b). Development and application of new scales to measure the French and Raven (1959) bases of social power. Unpublished Instrument.
11.
Karl, Barry D. (1979). “Louis Brownlow.”Public Administration Review, 39: 511-516.
12.
Kelman, Steven. (1987). ‘Public Choice’ and the Public Spirit. The Public Interest, 87: 80-94.
13.
Kumar, P. & Ghadially, Rehana. (1989). Organizational politics and its effects on members of organizations. Human Relations, 42(4): 305-314.
14.
Lasson, Kenneth. (1978). Pp. 81-131 in Private lives of public servants. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
15.
Madison, Dan L., Allen, Robert W, Porter, Lyman W., Renwick, Patricia A. & Mayes, Bronston. (1980). Organizational politics: An exploration of managers’ perceptions. Human relations, 33(2): 79-100.
16.
McClelland, D. (1970). The two faces of Power. Journal Of International Affairs, 24(l): 29-47.
17.
Mintzberg, H. (1983). Power in and around organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
18.
Minzberg, H. (1984). Power and organizational life cycles. Academy of management review, 9: 207-224.
19.
Minzberg, H. (1985). Organizational as political arena. Journal of Management Studies, 22: 133-154.
20.
Morgan, Gareth. (1986). Images of organization. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
21.
Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14: 43-77.
22.
Perry, James L. & Wise, Lois Recascino. (1990). The Motivational Bases of Public Service. Public Administration Review, (May/June): 367-373.
23.
Pettgrew, A. M. (1973). Thepolitics of decision making. London: Tavistock.
24.
Pfeffer, Jeffrey. (1981). Power in organizations. Marshfield, MA: Pitman.
25.
Pfeffer, J. & Salancik, G. (1974). Organizational decision making as a political process: The case of the university budget. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19(2): 135-151.
26.
Pfiffner, James P. (1987). Political Appointees and Career Executives: The Democracy-Bureaucracy Nexus in the Third Century”. Public Administration Review: 57-65.
27.
Rawls, John. (1971). Thetheory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
28.
The Report and Recommendations of the National Commission on the Public Service, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, U.S. House of Representatives. (1989). Washington, DC: U..S. Government Printing Office.
29.
Romzek, Barbara S. (1985). The effects of public service recognition, job security and staff reductions on organizational involvement. Public Administration Review, (March/April): 282-291.
30.
Rourke, Francis. (1976). Variations in agency power. Bureaucracy, politics, and public policy, 2nd ed.Boston: Little, Brown.
31.
Salancik, Gerald R. & Pfeffer, Jeffrey. (1977). Who gets power-and how they hold onto it: A strategic contingency model of power. Organizational Dynamics, 5: 3-21,
32.
Senior Executive Service: Answers to Selected Salary-Rehued Questions-AO/GGD-87-36 FS. 1987. Washington, DC: The U.S. General Accounting Office.
33.
Senior Executives Service: Executives'Perspectives on Their Federal Service-GAO/GGD-88-109FS. 1988. Washington, DC: The U.S. General Accounting Office.
34.
Senior Executive Service: Reasons Why Career Members Left in Fiscal Year 1985-GAO/GGD-87-106FS. 1988. Washington, DC: The U.S. General Accounting Office.
35.
Simon, Herbert. (1976). Administrative behavior, 3rd ed.: New York: The Free Press.
36.
Stone, Clarence. (1980). The implementation of social programs. Journal of Social Issues, 36(4): 13-34.
37.
Survey of Former Senior Executive Service (SES) Members. (1988). U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, Office of Policy and Evaluation, Washington, DC.
38.
The 1984 Report on the Senior Executive Service. A report of the United States Merit Systems Protection Board, p. 14. Office of Merit Systems Review and Studies. Washington, DC.
39.
Thompson, James D. (1967). Organizations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill.
40.
Tushman, Michael L. & Romanelli, Elaine. (1983). Uncertainty, social location and influence in decision making: A goniometric analysis. Management Science, 29: 12-23.
41.
Wamsley, Gary L., Goodsell, Charles T., Rohr, John, Stivers, John, White, Orion F. & Wolf, James F. (1987). The Public Administration and the Governance Process: Refocusing the American Dialogue. Pp. 291-317 in Ralph Clark Chandler (Ed.), A centennial history of an American administrative state. New York: The Free Press.
42.
Wamsley, G. L. & Zald, M. N. (1973). The political economy of public organizations. Lexington, MA: Health.
43.
Wildavsky, A. (1964). The politics of the budgetary process. Boston: Little Brown.
44.
Woodward, Joan. (1965). Industrial organization: Theory and practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
45.
Working For America: A Federal Employee Survey, p. 28. (1990). A Report to the President and the Congress of the United States. United States Merit Systems Protection Board, Washington, DC.
46.
Yukl, Gary A. (1981). Leadership in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
