Answer to Question 1
d
Answer to Question 2
The various political tactics that individuals and subunits use to obtain the power they need to achieve their goals and objectives are:
1. Becoming indispensable: One prime political tactic that an individual or subunit can use to increase power is to become indispensable to the organization. Indispensability can be achieved by an increase in nonsubstitutability or an increase in centrality.
2. Becoming nonsubstitutable: Nonsubstitutable managers and subunits need to be called in to solve specific problems as they arise, and their ability to come up with solutions increases their status and prestige.
3. Becoming central: Managers can make themselves indispensable if they focus their efforts on becoming more central in the decision-making process.
4. Associating with powerful managers: Another way to obtain power is by attaching oneself to powerful managers who are clearly on their way to the top. By supporting a powerful manager and making oneself indispensable to that person, it is possible to rise up the organizational ladder with that person.
5. Building and managing coalitions: Forming a coalition of managers around an issue that is important to them all is a political tactic managers can use to obtain the power needed to resolve a conflict in their favor.
6. Ability to manipulate decision-making: One of the most important political tactics manager can use to influence the politics of decision-making is to develop the personal ability to utilize power to manipulate decision-making.
7. Controlling the agenda: Managers and coalitions like to be on committees so they can control the agenda or business decisions of the committee. By controlling the agenda, they are able to control the issues and problems that important decision makers will consider.
8. Bringing in an outside expert: Self-interested managers and coalitions, knowing that their preferred solution will be perceived by other subunits as politically motivated, are eager to legitimize their position, and so they often bring in an outside expert who is considered neutral. Then the supposedly objective views of the expert are used to support the position of the coalition in power.