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Transcript of 1 Economics and Organisations - Week 8 Power and conflict in organisations Best readings are: Gareth...
![Page 1: 1 Economics and Organisations - Week 8 Power and conflict in organisations Best readings are: Gareth Jones Mary Jo Hatch Morgan – Images of Organisation.](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022062619/5515de7e550346d46f8b4be5/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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Economics and Organisations - Week 8
Power and conflict in organisations
Best readings are:
Gareth Jones
Mary Jo Hatch
Morgan – Images of Organisation
Reading pack on networks
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Defining Power in Organisations
• Robert Dahl “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do”
• “Organisation power is the mechanism through which conflict gets resolved”
• It is “the ability of one person or group to overcome resistance by others and to resolve conflict and achieve a desired outcome”
• “Power is control of relevant resources”• “To increase power an individual or group must:
– Decrease dependence on others– Increase others dependence on self (group)”
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Power and Authority
• Pfeffer has a resource-based view of power, in which organisation structure determines who controls critical resources.
• ‘Authority’ derives from an individual’s position in the hierarchy.
• Authority is thus directed downwards in an organisation whereas other forms of power are multidirectional.
• Authority is power that is legitimised by the legal, structural and cultural foundations on which an organisation is based.
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Authority in Practice
• The exercise of authority has fewer costs; organisation members implicitly accept the authority relationships when joining.
• Where other forms of power are needed by those in authority the organisational structure is under threat
• Authority usually visible by symbols, such as:– Titles and ways by which people are addressed– Location, size, furnishings etc of office– Scale of perks, salaries, bonuses etc.
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Theories of Power in Organisations
• Sociological approaches – who holds power• Political approaches – how a particular decision
was made• Population ecology and Institutional theory –
concerned with the distribution of power• Network approach to power – centrality
• Consider four political approaches
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Strategic Contingencies Theory
• Power derives from the ability to provide something that the organisation values highly, such as a particular skill, valuable contacts, knowledge
• Pfeffer views this as control over uncertainty, Hickson, Hinings et al, stress power comes from control of uncertainty not uncertainty itself
• See example in Hatch re maintenance engineers in cigarette factory
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Resource Dependence Theory
• Power is control over key resources – an extension of Strategic Contingencies
• An organisation may increase its power by controlling more of its resources – buying a supplier; making itself not buying – vertical integration
• Resource Dependence Theory views power as a ‘distribution of opportunities to manage uncertainty’
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Hidden Power or the ‘power to set the agenda’
• Power is ‘controlling the premises of decision making’ – ‘unobtrusive’ power
• Bacharach and Baratz argue one aspect of power is the ability to ensure that certain issues are not raised – power is used to suppress certain issues.
• E.g. Profits could be increased by cutting costs either/or by increasing sales. If Sales Dept are powerful they ignore the possibility of cutting costs – they want their lavish expenses!
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Feminist Critique of Power
• Feminists drawing on Marx argue that power is used to marginalise the powerless
• Postmodernists attack this position by attempting to ‘give voice to the silenced’
• Feminist view sees power being exercised in all situations of domination/submission
• Gender seen as the ‘patterned, socially produced distinctions between male and female’
• Power seen to be exercised on basis of gender and stereotypes of male/female
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Male/Female Stereotypes
Male Female
Logical Intuitive
Rational Emotional
Aggressive Submissive
Exploitative Empathetic
Strategic Spontaneous
Independent Nurturing
Competitive Co-operative
“Leader and decision “Loyal supporter and
maker” follower”
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Power and Networks
• Organisations seen as ‘Networks’• Network ‘is a set of relations or ties among
actors’ – individuals or organisations• All the actors in an organisation can be
represented in various networks, such as: work flow, communication, friendships
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Background to Networks
Three factors have greatly increased the interest in network analysis in last 20 years
• The emergence of ‘New Competition’ – e.g. Third Italy
• Recent technological advances – instant data exchange, new production techniques, ERPS
• Maturing theoretical study of networks – mathematical and conceptual
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Substantive Themes within network Analysis
• Power within organisations can be understood in terms of relationships within a network
• Power between organisations, particularly where there are many small organisations
• Relationships between companies, suppliers, customers – not simply ‘arms-length’ contracts – strategic alliances
• As a means of structuring within an organisation, particularly for developments and new initiatives – flatter structures
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Power and centrality in networks
• Power can be represented by position within the net work – ‘Centrality’
• Within an organisation many networks can exist, e.g. information flows, work flows, friendships, senior executives
• Centrality can be an analytical tool to identify and measure power
• For measures of centrality in more detail, see John Scott
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15Centrality?
A B
C
D A B
C
D
E F
G
H I
J
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Measures of Centrality - Degree
• Degree – the number of points to which a point is adjacent
• A central point has high degree• This is a measure of local centrality• Multiple points with same degree• Can be modified into a relative measure
– Degree of 25 out of 100 nodes– Degree of 25 out of 50 nodes
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Measures of Centrality - Closeness
• ‘Geodesic’ represents the shortest path between two points on a sociograph
• Closeness is the sum of all the geodesics for one point
• Closeness – This measures the shortest distance between one point and every other point
• The point that has the lowest closeness measure is most central
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Measures of centrality - Betweenness
• Betweenness – The extent to which a particular point lies between all the other points in the sociograph
• ‘A point is dependent on another if the paths that connect it to other points pass through this point’
• Betweenness reflects being a broker or ‘gatekeeper’
• Calculation is techically complex – powerful computer programs
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Test of Centrality and Power
• Study by Brass and Burkhart of 140 non-supervisory workers, their supervisors and high level managers
• All three measures of Centrality were calculated• Power also measured by direct questioning • Three ‘units of reference’ used: sub-unit,
department and entire organisation
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Results from Brass & Burkhart
• All degree measures correlated significantly with supervisors’ power ratings
• Most of closeness and betweenness measures also significantly correlated
• Department was most significant unit of reference
• Simple degree measures performed better than more complex measures
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Tactics for playing power politics
• Increasing Indispensability– Increasing non-substitutability– Increasing centrality
• Associating with powerful managers• Building and managing coalitions• Influencing decision making
– Controlling agenda– Bringing in an outside expert
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Conflict in Organisations
• Conflict is ‘the clash that occurs when the goal-directed behaviour of one groups blocks or thwarts the goals of another’
• Organisation conflict “is an overt struggle between two or more groups in an organisation… It usually centres on a state or action that favours one social actor over others”
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Brief History of Conflict
• Conflict is Dysfunctional. Early theorists argued that conflict is wholly dysfunctional. Conflict should be overcome, and theorists suggested means to do this
• Conflict is Natural. Lou Pondy (1967) Conflict may be unpleasant but it is an inevitable part of any organisation
• Conflict is Functional. Pondy further suggested that some aspects of conflict can be positive, e.g. conflict is psychologically healthy
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Stimulate conflict
Optimal conflict
Reduce conflict
Low level of conflict high
Per
form
ance
leve
lOptimal Levels of Conflict
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25
Interunit Conflict
• Humans employ psychological defence mechanisms to avoid open conflict
• Many opportunities for open conflict are not taken
• Walton and Dutton have a model for identifying/predicting interunit conflict
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26Walton and Dutton Model
Context Local Conditions Observable indices
environment group characteristics open hostility
Strategy goal incompatibility distrust/disrespect
technology task interdependence info distortion
social culture rewards and performance ‘we v they’ rhetoric
culture common resources lack of cooperation
physical structure status incongruity avoid interaction
jurisdictional ambiguity
communication obstacles
individual differences
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27Pondy’s Model of Organisational Conflict
Stage 1: Latent
Conflict
Stage 2: Perceived Conflict
Stage 3:
Felt Conflict
Stage 4: Manifest Conflict
Stage 5: Conflict
Aftermath
Sources of Conflict:
•Interdependence
•Difference in goals
•Bureaucratic factors
•Incompatible performance criteria
•Competition for resources
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Other Theories for Conflict
• Marxist theories - class-based - workers v capital(ists)
• Leads to Braverman - ‘deskilling’ hypothesis i.e. systematic fragmentation and specialisation of work giving more power to management
• Labour-market theories - Primary and Secondary markets for labour. In primary wages and conditions are good; whereas in secondary, both are poor
• Organisational contradictions - units adapting to different environments; contradictions with past
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Concluding Comments
• Power and conflict are vast and complex subjects
• Vital to an understanding of how organisations operate
• Different theories interpret ‘facts’ in different ways
• Need to read!!