SU 2: Power & Politics - Organisation Lecture Notes PDF

Dr Selen Kars SU 2: Power & 5X219 Politics Selen.Kars@u we.ac.uk Lecture 2 – Organisations: Rational or Political?  The unitarist view assumes that… Employees possess goals that conform to a...

Dr Selen Kars SU 2: Power & 5X219 Politics Selen.Kars@u we.ac.uk Lecture 2 – Organisations: Rational or Political?  The unitarist view assumes that… Employees possess goals that conform to and are compatible with those around them. Employees’ actions are directed towards the achievement of these goals. The unitarist view were seen to be problematic as it… Fails to acknowledge power and politics in organisations Focuses only on managerial Recap and prerogative Overview Pluralist and radical views on power and politics take on a more An alternative: Pluralism – Organisation is a living organism Pluralism “In place of a corporate unity reflected in a single focus of authority and loyalty, we “a democratic state composed of have to accept the existence of rival sources sectional groups with divergent of leadership and attachment. They need to interests over which the government be accepted above all, by whoever is ruling tries to maintain some kind of dynamic the plural society in question” (Fox, 1966: equilibrium” (Fox, 1966: 134) 89) The organisation is a living organism, made up of various sub-systems Emphasis is placed on the diversity of individual/group interests; the organisation is a loose coalition with a passing interest in the formal goals An acceptance of competing interests and politics... Pluralism and decision-making, conflict and resistance Employees are given a place and voice in decision-making. Aim for a “negotiated order than creates unity out of diversity” (Morgan, 2006) Conflict is inevitable, legitimate Conflict is manageable and resolvable Tends to assume balance of power between parties with different interests (Burrell and Morgan, 1979) Some issues with pluralism Pluralism seems to provide a more realistic outlook – acknowledging that power and politics have a place. However… Assumes that all parties are rational, working with a common interest, and are willing to trust and compromise Assumes all conflict is manageable and resolvable HOWEVER! Only ‘sanctioned’ forms of resistance and conflict are acceptable An equal balance of power - a  When pluralists refer to participation this is pseudo- participation. Lukes (1974) note that management still have overriding power and can control the agenda through ‘non decision-making’- including what items are unacceptable to address. o Talk, decisions and actions 2nd Face of Power are not necessarily aligned (Lukes, 1973) (Brunsson, 2002) Agenda setting o Participation can be limited to unimportant issues while more important issues are Power to set conditions removed from the agenda to Power to keep issues on or off keep potential conflicts off agenda A critical perspective: The radical view – Organisation is an instrument of (covert) domination The radical view Takes issue with, and serves as a critique of pluralist accounts: Suggesting that the assumption of organisations as level playing fields is, at best, optimistic. Identifies organisations as deeply imbedded sites of domination where the less powerful are constantly outflanked by dominant managerial groups who have the power to “define social reality” and a s a n e xercise conceal conflicts of power (Alvesson, 1987; i s viewed o rga n i sa t i o n s f m a n a gerial Fulop and Linstead, 2004; Lukes, Pow er i n 1974) status quo o pi t a l a i n t a i n i n g t he t o “ d e l i v er ca in m ployee s l , d i re c t i n g e m 9 9 3: 5 1 9 ) and contro t i o n” ( W i llmott, 1 ’ ( Fu l op a n d m u l a eg e d accu a ns o f t h e ‘privil y,1980: g t h e m e D u n k e r l e servin 0 4 ; C l e gg and 2 0 Linstead, 197-8)  The ‘invisible hand of power’, where managers look to create a culture shaping employee’s desires and beliefs so that conflicts of interest are obscured and resistance is “eliminated, or never created in the first place” (Antonsen, 2007:186) 3rd Face of Power Employees don’t realise (Lukes, 1973) real interest Shaping desires and beliefs Think no alternative Value it as beneficial Power shapes desires and beliefs Power prevents Power: A radical view Control and conformity through surveillance – The Panopticon & disciplinary power (Foucault, 1979) Power is embedded in all social relations – in all that we are and all situations we inhabit. Normalisation: “the tendency of people to accept as normal the expectations of those who govern them and to comply with them” (Jackson and Carter, 2000: 105)  Radical accounts do not see employee resistance as irrational, pathological and dysfunctional Conflict and (Knights and Willmott, 2017) As long as we are working within a capitalist system, Resistance: exploitation, asymmetrical power relationships, dehumanisation, oppression, and resistance to this will A radical view continue to occur... Different forms of power give way to different forms of “Where there is resistance as control increases, “so too does [employee] power, there is resistance to the domination of capital, and with it, resistance” (Foucault, the necessity for capital to overcome this The Relational View on Power How much power does a rook have? How much power does a rook have ? How much power does a rook have ? Power is a relationship Power is ‘a condition of social relations in the sense we are all capable of exercising power’ (McCabe, 2007: 228) Power is embedded in all social relationships between free people and thus everyone has power through the relationship may have in built power inequalities. Recap Views of power Views power Views conflict / Misses the fact as… resistance as… that… Unitarist … united in the … dysfunctional … naïve expectation of hands of the conformity management Pluralist … diffused in … overt … power differentials coalitions … manageable and exist between different resolvable group … power lies in the power of setting the agenda Radical …invisible … inescapable and … false consciousness is unresolvable questionable … hides real issues ( false consciousness) We Recommend… The power struggle between two women - Wintour and Coddington - spurs the film’s plot How you can analyse the movie by using unitarist, pluralist and radical perspectives of power? We Recommend… Novel/film about resistance in Nazi Germany Observe how power is dispersed throughout and embedded in everyday life. We tend to see the state in Nazi Germany as omipotent. But is it so? How you can describe the power of ordinary people by using concepts from relational view of power and resistance?  References Alvesson, M. (1987) ‘Organisations, culture and ideology’. International Studies of Management and Organisation, 17(3): 4-18. Antonsen, S. (2007) ‘Safety Culture and the issue of Power’, Safety Science, 47 (2): 183-191 Brunsson, N. (2002) ‘Organisational Hypocrisy’. In: Czarniawska, B. and Sevone, G. (Eds) ‘The Northern Lights: Organisation Theory in Scandinavia’. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School. Burrell, G. and Morgan, G. (1979) ‘Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis’. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Clegg, S. and Dunkerley, D. (1980) ‘Organisation, Class and Control’. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Foucault, M. (1979) ‘Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and other writings’. Harlow: Longman. Fox, A. (1966) ‘Industrial Sociology and Industrial Relations: An Assessment of the contribution which industrial sociology can make towards understanding and resolving some of the  References Fulop, L. and Linstead, S. (2009) ‘Power and politics in organizations’. In: Linstead et al (eds.) ‘Management and Organization. A Critical Text’. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Jackson, N. and Carter, P. (2000) ‘Rethinking Organisational Behaviour. A Poststructuralist Framework’. 2nd ed. London: Prentice Hall. Knights, D. and Willmott H. (2017) ‘Introducing Organisational Behaviour and Management’ (3rd edition) Cengage Learning Lukes, S. (1974) ‘Power: A Radical View’. London: Macmillan Marx, K. ( 2001) ‘Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Vol. 1, Book one, the Process of Production of Capital’ London: Electric Book Company. McCabe, D. (2007). Power at work: How employees reproduce the corporate machine. Routledge. Morgan, G. (2006) ‘Images of Organisation’. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Willmott, H. (1993) ‘Strength is Ignorance; Slavery is Freedom: Managing Culture in Modern