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Power in organizations
dr. hab. Jerzy SupernatInstitute of
Administrative StudiesUniversity of Wroclaw
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Power in organizations

• Organizations
• can be defined as systems of power
• an interconnected series of order-givers and
  order-followers
• tools by which those people with power can use
  other people to achieve particular goals

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Power in organizations

• It is important to note that
• individuals who are not formally designated as
  order-givers in an organization may also wield
  power, that is, be able to get others to carry
  out their wishes
• individuals who are not official members of the
  organization may influence others in the
  organization to do as they wish
• From this point of view we can think of power in
  and around organizations.

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Power in organizations
Relational character of power Power has to do
with relationships between two or more actors in
which the behavior of one is affected by the
behavior of the other. Robert A. Dahl A has
power over B to the extent that he can get B to
do something B would not otherwise do. This
simple definition captures the essence of the
power con-cept. It implies an important point
that is often neglected the power variable is a
relational one. A manager, a group or a
de-partment cannot have power in isolation
rather, the concept describes a relationship
between a given individual or organiza-tional
unit and another specified person or collectivity.
dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Robert. A. Dahl (born 1915)
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Power in organizations
Types of power authority Richard H. Hall, Pamela
S. Tolbert Authority is a type of power that is
based on the acceptance by others of a given
individuals legitimate right to issue orders or
directives. Thus, orders are followed because it
is believed that they ought to be followed
recipients are expected to suspend judgment and
comply voluntarily. The exercise of authority
requires a common value system among members of a
collectivity one that defines who has the right
to give orders to whom, and under what conditions.
dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Pamela S. Tolbert
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Power in organizations
Max Weber Authority (rational-legal,
traditional, and charismatic authority) is the
probability that certain specific commands (or
all commands) from a given source will be
voluntarily obeyed by a given group of
people. Rational-legal authority rests on a
belief in the legality of patterns of nor-mative
rules and the right of those elevated to
authority under such rules to issue commands.
Rational-legal authority characterizes most power
relation-ships in contemporary organizations.
Traditional authority rests on a belief in the
sanctity of immemorial tradi-tions (on a belief
that an established set of social relations is
divinely intend-ed) and the legitimacy of the
status of those exercising authority under them.
The system of pope, cardinals, archbishops, and
so on in the Roman Catholic Church reflects the
belief in a divinely ordained set of
relations. Charismatic authority rests on
devotion to the specific and exceptional
sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an
individual person and of nor-mative patterns or
order revealed or ordained by him. If a person
with rational-legal authority can extend this
through the exercise of charismatic authority, he
has more power over subordinates than that
prescribed by the organization. This additional
power may be harnessed to enhance the
perfor-mance of the organizations.
dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Max Weber (1864-1920)
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Power in organizations

• Sanford M. Dornbusch and W. Richard Scott
  distinguished
• Endorsed power subordinates accept and comply
  with the orders given by their superiors
  (bottom-up view of authority). Herbert A. Simon
  The most striking characteristic of the
  subordinate role is that it establishes an area
  of acceptance in behavior within which the
  subordinate is willing to accept the decisions
  made for him by his superior. the superior is
  merely a bus driver whose passengers will leave
  unless he takes them in the direction they wish
  to go. They leave him only minor discretion as to
  road to be followed.
• Authorized power an individuals orders are
  supported and enforced by higher-level members of
  an organization, and ultimately, by the larger
  society (top-down view of authority). E.g. M.
  Webers top-down approach is based on the
  assumption that noncompliance with an order given
  by a person with normatively approved authority
  will result in the application of sanctions by
  the larger group.
• The above distinction addresses an old debate
  over the locus of authority in organizations. By
  distinguishing between endorsed and authorized
  power they recognized that authority has both
  bottom-up and top-down aspects. The distinction
  is useful in thinking about situations involving
  different types of organizational conflicts over
  authority mutiny, coup detat, civil
  disobie-dence, revolution, and so forth.

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Sanford M. Dornbusch
W. Richard Scott
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Power in organizations

• Other types of power
• Although authority is an important type of power
  in organizations, it is not the only type. Other
  types of power relationships entail dependency
  one partys need or desire for something that
  another party can provide. When two parties need
  each other equally, their dependency is mutual.
  But when dependency is not balanced, then one
  actor may have more power over another then vice
  versa.
• The things that actors may possess or control
  that can be sources of power are usually referred
  to as (power) resources. Basic resources that may
  provide organizational members with power above
  and beyond the formal authority they hold are
• persons
• information
• instrumentalities (physical or tangible
  resources, such as ma-chinery, office supplies,
  and money)
• nontangible, social factors (such as status and
  friendship)

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Power in organizations

• Access to resources of power
• can be affected by
• the official/formal organizational position an
  individual holds
• structural position (thought in terms
• of network relations) links to others provide
  access to information and power
• personal characteristics (e.g. social
  attractiveness or intelligence)
• Having access to resources that others desire
  isnt sufficient, by itself, to provide
  individuals with power. Rather power rests on how
  much these resources are highly valued or
  considered to be important, whether their
  acquisition is difficult or uncertain, and
  whether other resources can be substituted for
  them or not.
• Its important to emphasize that the value,
  uncertainty, and lack of substitutability of
  resources are not necessarily given these
  qualities can be socially constructed, or
  manipulated.

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Power in organizations

• Shifts in power
• There is not
• a fixed amount of power in the organization
• for all the time
• the amount of power
• can expand (or contract) due to
• delegation
• empowerment
• employeeship

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Power in organizations
Delegation Delegation is the downward transfer of
authority from su-perior to subordinate (or
subordinates). The subordinate is empowered to
act for the superior, while the superior remains
accountable for the outcome. Delegation of
au-thority is a person-to-person relationship
requiring trust, commitment, and contracting
between the superior and the subordinate.
dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Power in organizations
Good News Bible, Exodus 18, 13-23 The next day
Moses was settling disputes among the people, and
he was kept busy from morning till night. When
Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he
asked, What is all this that you are doing for
the peo-ple? Why are you doing this all alone,
with people standing here from morn-ing till
night to consult you?. Moses answered, I must
do this because the people come to me to learn
Gods will. When two people have a dispute, they
come to me, and I decide which one of them is
right, and I tell them Gods commands and
laws. Then Jethro said, You are not doing it
the right way. You will wear yourself out and
these people as well. This is too much for you to
do alone. Now let me give you some good advice
you should choose some capable men and
appoint them as leaders of the people leaders of
thousands, hun-dreds, fifties, and tens. They
must be God-fearing men who can be trusted and
who cannot be bribed. Let them serve as judges
for the people on a permanent basis. They can
bring all the difficult cases to you, but they
them-selves can decide all the smaller disputes.
This will make it easier for you, as they share
your burden. If you do this, as God commands, you
will not wear yourself out, and all these people
can go home with their disputes settled.
dr hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Power in organizations

• Benefits of delegating
• leaves delegator (superior) free to concentrate
  on more important strategic issues
• increases job satisfaction for delegator and
  subordinate
• helps subordinate to develop new skills
• helps subordinate to grow in confidence
• provides an opportunity to assess subordinates
  potential
• fosters teamwork
• helps create a more motivated workforce
• enhances morale
• improves communication through feedback
• creates fresh insights into work issues
• helps create a climate for achievement
• ultimately speeds up results
• reduces costs (subordinates time is less
  expensive than delegators time)
• increases chances of promotion for delegator
• ensures smooth succession when delegator is
  promoted

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
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Power in organizations

• Power outcomes
• compliance and involvement
• - alienative involvement (associated with the use
  of coercion)
• - calculative involvement (associated with the
  use of remunerative rewards)
• - moral involvement (associated with the use of
  symbolic rewards satisfying social
• or psychological needs)
• persuasion
• - direct discussion with the person who has
  issued an order
• - going over the bosss head
• withdrawal
• - complete departure from the organization
• - psychological disengagement (making only the
  barest efforts required to remain in the
  organization)
• conflict (the resistance to power)

The recipient of exercised power ?
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Power in organizations
Conflict Conflict arises whenever individuals
or groups (organizational units) perceive
differences in their preferences involving
decision outcomes, and they use power to try to
promote their own preferences over others.
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Power in organizations
There is a strong tendency to view conflicts as
necessarily harmful, or bad for organizations.
However, research indicates that conflict can
serve positive functions in organizations. The
pervasiveness and constancy of conflict in
organizations calls into question the propensity
to attribute conflict to individual failings
trouble is due to trouble-makers. Organizational
conflicts stem from differentiation, which leads
people and units to have different and opposing
interests, from overlapping or similarity in the
functions of two units, and from interest-group
struggles over the organizational rewards of
status, prestige, and monetary reward.
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Power in organizations

• Components of conflict situations
• parties involved (at least two)
• field of conflict (alternative outcomes toward
  which conflict can move)
• dynamics of the conflict situation (e.g. if one
  of the parties becomes more militant, the other
  will probably do the same)
• management (control, resolution) of conflict

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• Methods of dealing
• with conflict
• as seen by
• Mary Parker Follett
• (1868-1933)
• domination
• compromise
• integration

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Power in organizations

• Aftermath
• The resolution of a conflict
• leads to a stage that is known
• as the aftermath. This is a useful concept
  because conflict resolution does not lead to a
  condition of total settlement
• if the basic issues are not resolved, the
  potential for future, and perhaps more serious,
  conflicts is part
• of the aftermath
• if the conflict resolution leads
• to more open communication
• and cooperation among
• the participants, that, too,
• is part of aftermath

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Concluding remark
We look forward to the time when the Power of
Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will
our world know the blessings of peace. William E.
Gladstone, 1809-1898
dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat