Astrotech Case Summary

There were various sources of politics and power apparent in the AstroTech case. Legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, and charismatic are all sources of power that specifically involve an individual. Legitimate power played a role in this case because there were managers who felt like their position gave them power within the company, whereas coercive power was played by a couple of individuals who used a harsh leadership style to get results. Reward power was identified in this case by a promotion that was given to an individual to manage the newly acquired division, while expert power was revealed by an individual who knew more about quality control and specific regulations. A manager in this case displayed charismatic power by his willingness to help his subordinates get the work

Jim was promoted to a management position because of his previous good works with the company. The promotion gave Jim confirmation to believe he could adequately assist with the operation. The president over the division, George Phalen, also exhibited legitimate power because he wanted to someday manage at the top level of the organization. Coercive power was played out by George Phalen and Ben Short because of their harsh leadership styles. Both individuals expressed using their power with the Engineering Department to fire employees if results were not being produced. Dick Faraday possessed an expert source of power because he was quickly able to prove his expertise. He was involved in politics because he broke the "group communication agreement" to communicate with the boss independently instead of during staff meetings. Dick and George were very interested in gaining power so they also used politics to persuade staff that Jim was not managing well. This political power play led to upheaval with the staff, George ultimately losing his job, and Jim being advised to return to his prior