Power and Professional Influence

Catalog description

This course considers the way political processes and power structures influence decisions and choices made within and by organizations. It analyzes the sources, distribution and use of influence in relation to resource allocation, organizational change and performance, management succession, procedural justice, policy formulation, and social movements within organizations. It develops skills in diagnosing and using power and politics in organizational settings. A basic assumption underlying the course is that managers need well-developed skills in acquiring and exercising power to be effective. The course is designed to: (1) improve students' capacity to diagnose organizational issues in terms of their political dimensions, and (2) enhance their effectiveness in their jobs and careers as a result of that improved capacity.