Power - how is it applied in the workplace?

Résumé du document

Handy in 1990 described power as a puzzle. It was written as power is a complex and odd concept, since it sounds like a negative word and few people want to admit to having it and yet we can all see it around us and we want to be part of the powerful not the powerless. To begin with, one can utilize the definition laid down by Pfeffer (1992). He describes power as the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do. The link between power, influence, control and authority is explicitly visible in this definition. The latter also shows the idea of manipulation that is contained within it. The four levels of power will be discussed later in this report. The focus will also be on the individualistic approach, the structural and cultural approach and finally the power of relationships. The questions answered will be on ?What are the main theories of power and are they relevant in the context of the workplace?' In this essay we will first define the concept of power in an in depth manner. This will be followed by the three main theories and a comparison will be undertaken. Further, the organisational power and an overview of the surrounding concepts such as control and authority will be reflected upon. Finally, the relationship of power in organizations which is the result of conflicts and their resolutions will be studied.

Extraits

[...] The contingencies approach highlighted by Hickson in 1973 gives five ways to keep power such as the necessity to create a dependency, centrality of activities, non-substitutability, uncertainty reduction and resources (lectures notes,2006,5). In this theory, there is a distinction between legitimate (organisational) and personal (informal) power. It is obvious according to Beggs; quoted in Mullins (2006), that these two types of power, although separate, can interact. The second category is the radical approach or the elite power; based on the works of Steven Lukes (1974). He determined 3 ‘faces' or dimensions of power. [...]

[...] The high want control and feel resistance to change and the low want autonomy and feel they are being manipulated. Kipnis cited by Linstead (2004) stated that powerful persons tended to accumulate further power, prestige, feel superior, exploit and manipulate the less powerful. Whereas the less powerful often incorporate in their self image the low opinion that more powerful have of them, they tend to be apathic, react by provocation and militant action. Swingle (1976) described how the top of an organisation maintain its power by tying up complaints or proposals from subordinates in red tape and bureaucracy, by setting up complicated participation procedures to create the illusion that subordinates really do have influence and by trying to eliminate people who do not see this way. [...]

[...] Foucault considered that power existed within society as a whole. It also existed in the language that is used and so created the knowledge accepted by a particular society as reflected in its social practices, it uses discourses to create the rules which in turn creates and classifies the knowledge available in particular ways, showing that power and knowledge are strongly linked (Linstead,2004,63). In order to understand better the differences between the traditional approach and the Foucault's approach, one can build this table. [...]

[...] But power is essential to organisations as it is the underlying concept of the decision making process and brings a framework necessary to carry out tasks. We studied in this essay, the three main theories of power (the pluralistic and radical approaches and Foucault's theory) and the strategies that people can use in order to increase their power such as scapegoating, networking and so on. We saw too that if someone wants to affect events, he has to possess at least one of the three main sources of power which are the one based on resources, position (status) and knowledge. [...]

[...] Huczynski et al Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Edition, FT Prentice Hall Knights, D. and Willmott, H Management Lives: Power and Identity in Work Organizations, Sage Publications, London Linstead, S Management and Organization: A critical Text, Palgrave Macmillan Lukes S Power:A Radical View, MacMillan London Martin J Organizational Behaviour, Second Edition, Thomson Learning Mastenbrock, W. F. G Conflict Management and Organization Development, Wiley Morgan G Images of Organnization, Sage Publications, Beverley Hills Mullins L. J Essentials of Organizational Behaviour, FT Prentice Hall Pfeffer, J Managing with Power:Politics and Influence in Organizations, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA Pfeffer, J Power in organizations,Pitman Reed M The Sociology of Organizations: Themes, Perspectives and Prospects, Harvester Wheatsheaf Robbins, S. [...]