Power and Organization - Essay Example

Power & Organization Power refers to the potential or actual ability to influence others in a desired direction. As an exchange relationship, power occurs in transactions between an agent and a target. The agent is the person using the power, and the target is the recipient of the attempt to use power. Different individuals and groups within and outside the organization can exert power Owners, suppliers clients, competitors, employee unions the general public and directors of the organization may exert power that affects the organization. Thus we may define power as the ability of a person (or group A) to induce another person (or group B) to behave in a way that the former desires. “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do” (Dahl 1961 p. 202-203). Dahl chose to analyze decision-making on key issues only, and, furthermore, did not state objective criteria for the selection of such “key issues” (Dahl 1961). He held that he was able to identify subjective interests in the form of dominant policy preferences made visible by patterns of political participation in concrete key issue decision-making. Peter Bachrach & Morton S. Baratz (1962; 1963; 1970) fervently criticized this one-dimensional approach, asking whether a sound concept of power could be predicated on the assumption that it was totally embodied and fully reflected in “concrete decisions”. Power is a term, which is defined in different ways by different theorist because power can be used as a means of influence in different ways. Way back, Max Weber has defined power as “Power is the probability that one actor within the relationship will be in position to carry out his own will despite resistance (Weber, 1947, P.152). Nord has defined power in the context of mobilization of energy and resources to achieve one set of goals as against other set of Goals. He defines power as follows. “ Power is the ability to influence flows of the available resources towards certain goals as opposed to other goals. Power is assumed to be exercised only when these goals are at least partially in conflict with each other (Nord, 1978, P.675). Robbins has defined power in more elaborate way when he says” Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B, so that B does something he or she would not other wise do. This definition implies 1) A potential that need not to be actualized to be effective 2) A dependence relationship, and 3) That B has some discretion over his or her behaviour” (Robbins, 2003, p.366). Thus Power has been defined basically as the capacity to do something or get intended results from others. Power, through personal and lacks legitimacy, is a crucial factor in influencing the behaviour in organizational situation. Thus, power is one of the essential components of practically every organization. Power is required in the organization for the effective performance of activities of the people. In its absence, there may be chaos, which is undesirable because (i) People become upset and insecure in the presence of Chaos, and (ii) Chaos precludes the synergistic benefits that are gained from effective organizations. Thus, many benefits of modern organizations cannot be obtained without the viable exercise of power in some form. People may be willing to obey the power, although without any legitimacy. It has been observed that a person may like success more than he dislikes being controlled by another’s power. Power is commonly recognized as the basis of authority and responsibility. In one way, authority can be viewed as one of the prerequisite of power. If the source of authority system in the form of formalization is traced it may be found in power. Power is also the basis of Responsibility. Responsibility is the obligation to carryout any function or discharge of duty. In formal organizations, responsibility is fixed on the basis of allocation of activities through the process of organizing. But the basis root of the responsibility is found in power, and not merely in the formal allocation of duties. Power variable is a relational one- a person or group cannot have power in isolation; it has to be in relationship to other person or group. The parties involved in power relationship are tied to each other by mutual dependency. By virtue of mutual dependency, it is more or less imperative for each party to be able to control or influence other’s conduct. Dependency of some kind is the basic characteristic of all modern organizations. Such dependency exists either among individuals or units and subunits. For example, the design of a bureaucratic organization rests largely on power. In the mutual dependence, the power of a person over another depends on the amount of resistance the other can put against the influence attempts by the person. Thus power is balanced if both have equal power and dependency upon each other. The relationship is imbalanced when either of them has more power or dependency than the other. This is the situation when power can be exercised. The person’s response to the use of power will depend on his dependency on the influences the type of power that the latter exercises, and other variables. The understanding of different types of power also known as different bases or sources of power is important because a particular type of power is effective in a particular situation. Long back, Lasswell and Kaplan (1950) have suggested eight forms of influence. Physical power, respect, rectitude, affection, well being, wealth skills and enlightenment (Lasswell and Kaplan, 1950,P.77). Though these forms of influence are important, these do not serve the purpose of applying power in the context of present day organizations. Etzioni (1961) has identified three bases of power: Coercive, remunerative and normative. "Power is exercised rather than possessed" (Foucault, 1977a, p. 26). It exists in a nominal sense rather than in any substantive sense: Power is not a commodity, a position, a prize or a plot; it is the operation of the political technologies throughout the social body. The functioning of these political rituals of power is exactly what sets up the nonegalitarian, assymmetrical relations (Foucault, 1982, p. 185). The most important classification of power has been provided by French and Raven (1960). According to them, there are five types pf power: Reward, Coercive, legitimate, referent and expert. However Bacharach and Lawler (1980) feel that French and Raven have confused bases of power with sources of power, which has led to overlapping (Bacharach and Lawler, 1980). The term “sources of power” denotes from where the power holder drives his power that is, how a person happens to control his base of power e.g. personal, positional etc. Bases of power refer to the use of means in exercising power e.g., Coercion, reward etc. Based on this, Bacharach and Lawler (1980) has suggested four sources of power: Position, personal, Expert and opportunity. Thus different dimensions/faces of power are derived from different bases. The coercive, reward and legitimate powers are derived from organizations. Referent and expert powers resides in individuals and relate to their own characteristics. So bases or sources of power can be grouped into two general grouping-formal and personal and then breaking each of these down into more specific categories (Raven, 1993). Formal power is based on individuals positioning an organization. Formal power can come from the ability to coerce or reward from formal authority, or from control of information. Foe example, formal power based on an individual position in an organization. Any CEO of any organization drives his power from his/her position as CEO of the organization. Individual position in am organization provide him/her the coercive power, reward power, legitimate power or/and information power. The coercive power base is dependent of fear. One reacts to this power out of fear of the negative results that might occur if one failed to comply. It rests on the application, or threat of application, of physical sanctions such as the infliction of pain, the generation of frustration through restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic physiological or safety needs. The opposite of coercive power is reward power. People comply with the wishes or directives of another because doing so produces positive benefits; therefore one can distribute rewards that other view as valuable will have power over those others. These rewards can be in any form financial or non-financial. Reward power can lead to better performance, but only as long as employee’ sees a clear and strong link between performance and rewards. To use reward power effectively, then, the manager should be explicit about the behaviour being rewarded and should make the connection between the behaviour and the reward clear but coercive power can create stress and anxiety for employees. In extreme cases, it can even lead to increased absenteeism and turnover and may encourage sabotage at workplaces. Employees at all levels may exert coercive power through such tactics as ridicule or exclusion of a co-worker. Sexual harassment can be unethical and illegal use of coercive power. Organizations have generally made considerable progress in the past decade towards limiting overt forms of sexual harassment. This includes unwanted touching, recurring requests for dates and coercive threats that a person will lose his or her job if he or she refuses a sexual proposition. Most studies confirm that the concept of power is central to understanding sexual harassment (Cleveland & Kerst, 1993). The supervisor employee dyad best characterizes an unequal power relationship, where formal power gives the supervisor the capacity to reward and coerce. Because of power inequities, sexual harassment by one’s boss typically creates the greatest difficulty for those who are being harassed. So the topic of sexual harassment is about power. It’s about an individual controlling or threatening another individual. It’s wrong and whether perpetrated against Women or Men, its illegal. In formal groups and organizations, probably the most frequent access to one or more of the power bases in ones structural position. This is called legitimate power. It represents the formal authority to control and use organizational resources. Legitimate power, however, is broader than the power to coerce and reward. Specifically, it includes acceptance by members in an organization of the authority of a position. For legitimate power to be effective, the employees must believe the manager has the right to tell them what to do. Legitimate power stems from a persons occupation of a particular position in the organizations. It is based on the presumption that the organization’s structure gives people in some positions to influence other people. Legitimate power-especially when wielded by some one higher up the organization’s hierarchy is authority. The basic response to legitimate power is internalization. This means we comply because a degree of intrinsic satisfaction results from complying with the orders of a person in authority. The satisfaction is independent of whether that person doles out reward or punishments. Legitimate power has certain limitations also. Because legitimate power arises from a person’s position in the organization, it is effective only for influencing behaviour that employees’ belief falls within the authority of that position. Another source of formal power i.e. informational power-comes from access to and control over information. People in the organization those have data or knowledge that others need, can make those others dependent on them. Managers, for instance, because of their access to privileged sales, cost, salary, profit and similar data can use this information to control and shape subordinates behaviour. Now we will analyze the other form of power i.e., Personal power- Power that comes from individuals’ unique characteristics. Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill or knowledge. People with expert power are influential because other believes that they can benefit from the information expert can provide. For expert power to work, three conditions must be in place. First the target must trust that the information given is accurate; second the information must be relevant and useful to the target; and the third targets perceptions of the agent, as an expert is crucial. Expertise has become one of the most powerful sources of influence as the world has become more technologically oriented. As jobs become more specialized, we become increasingly dependent on experts to achieve goals. Another personal power is Referent power is based on identifications with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits. Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person. It helps explain for instance why celebrities are paid millions of dollars to endorse product in commercials. An advantages of holding referent power is that it can lead people to do things that may not results in a tangible rewards; the rewards comes instead from the relationship with the charismatic person. Now in an organizational setup, in general, managers can work at developing all five of main forms of power for future use. The key of using them well is using them ethically. The table below contains some guidelines to managers for the ethical use of power. FORM OF POWER GUIDELINES FOR USE Reward Power Verify compliance Make feasible, reasonable requests. Make only ethical requests. Offer rewards desirable to subordinates. Offer only credible rewards. Coercive Power Inform subordinates of rules and penalties. Warm before punishing Administer punishment consistently and uniformly. Understand the situation before acting. Maintain credibility. Fit punishment to the infraction. Punish in private. Legitimate Power Be cordial polite Be confident Be clear and follow up to verify understanding. Make sure request is appropriate. Explain reason for request. Follow proper channels. Exercise power consistently. Enforce compliance Be sensitive to subordinates’ concerns. Referent Power Treat subordinate fairly Defend subordinates interests. Be sensitive to subordinates needs and feelings. Select subordinates similar to oneself Engage in role modeling. Expert Power Maintain credibility. Act confident and decisive, Keep informed Recognize employee concerns. Avoid threatening subordinates’ self-esteem. (Adopted from “Leadership in organizations”, Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ (1981), page 44-59). To use power effectively seven tactical dimensions or strategies has been found, through various researches: Reason, friendliness, coalition, bargaining, assertiveness, higher authority, and sanctions. In addition, researches have uncovered five contingency variables that affect the selection of power tactics: the manager’s relative power, the manager’s objectives for wanting to influence, the manager’s exceptions of the target person willingness to comply, the organizations culture and cross cultural differences. To use power effectively where individual power couldn’t be established in such cases efforts will be maid to form a coalition of two or more “outs” who by joining together can combine their resources to increase rewards for themselves (Bacharach and Lawler, 1998). To use power effectively managers must be aware of the behaviours employees use to acquire and wield power, by which knowledge they can foster desirable behaviour and discourage destructive behaviour. So Power is a critical concept for organisational analysis. Power has significant implications for understanding the nature and role of organisations and for the resistance of power stratagems - stratagems that appear to be, but never are, neutral and independent. ******************************************************************** References: 1. Dahl, R.A. 1961. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City, Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 2. Bachrach, P., M.S. Baratz. 1962. Two Faces of Power, American Political Science Review. 56(4) 947-952. 3. Bachrach, P., M.S. Baratz. 1963. Decisions and Nondecisions: An Analytical Framework, American Political Science Review. 57(3) 632-642. 4. Bachrach, P., M.S. Baratz. 1970. Power and Poverty: Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press, New York. 5. Max Weber: 1947. The theory of social and Economic organization, (trans, A.M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons), New York, Free Press, P.152. 6. Walter R. Nord 1978.”Dreams of Humanization and the realities of power”, Academy of Management Review, July, P.675. 7. Robbins, Stephens P. 2003. Organizational behaviour, Pearson Education Inc. 10th Ed. p.366. 8. Lasswell, Harold and Kaplan, Abraham 1950. Power & society, New Haven: Yale University, P.77. 9. Etzioni, Amitai 1961. Comparative analysis of complex organizations, New York: Free press. 10. Foucault, M. 1977a. Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London: Allen Lane. 11. Foucault, M. 1982. The subject and power [Afterword] In Dreyfus, H. L. and Rabinow, P. Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (pp. 208-226). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 12. French, John R.P. and Raven, Bertran, 1960. “The bases of social power” in Dcartwright and A. I. Zander (eds.) Group Dynamics: Research and the theory, New York: Harper pp.607-623. 13. Raven, B.J. 1993. The bases of power: Origins and recent developments” Journal of social issues, vol. 49,1993,pp.227-51. 14. Bacharach, S.B. and Lawler, E.J. 1980, Power and politics in organizations, San Francisco, Jossey Bass. 15. Cleveland, J.N. and Kerest, M.E. 1993,Sexual harassment and perception of power: An under articulated relationship, Journal of vocational behaviour, February pp. 49-67. 16. Bacharach, S.B. and Lawler, E.J. 1998. “Political alignments in organizations” in R.M. Kramer and M.A. Neale (eds.) Power and Influence in organizations (Thousand oaks, CA: Sage), pp. 75-77. Read More