power,stakeholders and ar action and case research in management and organizational contexts
TRANSCRIPT
Power,stakeholders and AR
Action and Case Research in Management and Organizational
Contexts
Internal politics – rival departments or managers;
External and internal stakeholders; Everyone involved in the discourse of the
organisation can affect it in some way; Other ways…
About power?
Positive: Socialised need to initiate, influence and lead, enabling power;
Negative: Unsocialised need to dominate over submissive others, seek control. (McClelland, D., 1961, and 1995).
Faces of Power:
AR would seek to encourage Positive power, through involvement and empowerment of a range of stakeholders
• Management may legitimately use Mendelow’s theories to manage some external stakeholders, such as Government and Competitors;
• It may be less acceptable when managing internal stakeholders;
• See following diagrams.
Management attitudes
AR would seek to encourage Positive power, through involvement and empowerment of a range of stakeholders
Power/Interest matrix ( Mendelow,1991) A management view
D
Key Players
C
Keep satisfied
B
Keep informed
A
Minimal effort
Level of interestLow High
Power
Low
High
Power/Dynamism matrix (adapted from Mendelow,1991)
Power
Low
Predictability
High
D
Greatest danger or opportunities
C
Powerful but predictable
B
Unpredictable but manageable
A
Few problems
High Low
Co-opting people with various skills from different stakeholder groups;
Presenting a united front; Learning and using knowledge from the
group; See also Tempered Radicalism (to be
discussed later, Myerson, 2003).
AR would seek to encourage Positive power, through involvement and empowerment of a range of stakeholders
• Legitimate• Reward• Coercive• Referent (charismatic)• Expert.
Sources of power:
(French & Raven,1959.)
• Action science can address coercive power (and even charismatic and expert power:
• By uncovering “double binds”;• Undiscussability;• Winning/losing behaviour.
Action science
(French & Raven,1959.)
Associative: deriving from the support of a strong mentor or sponsor, in a position to supply information and advice and to promote one’s career.
Assigned: the power that comes from making oneself indispensable to someone senior, by taking on tasks which they dislike and would other wise have to do.
Political: becoming politically involved in groups, committees, unions which have access to information and are involved in decision making.
(Garavan, et al.,1993)
Types of power:
Action research can use some of Garavan’s types of power, especially by using action learning sets to influence and exercise power.
• By mobilisation of the group’s knowledge;• Group action;• Communication;• Questioning.
French, J. R. P., Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In Cartwright, D., and Zander, A., (Eds.), Group dynamics. New York: Harper & Row.Garavan, G.N., Barnicle, B. and Heraty, N. (1993). The Training and Development Function: Its Search for Power and Influence in Organizations, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol 17, Iss. 7. McClelland, D.C., (1961). The Achieving Society New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, McClelland D.C and Burnham D.H. (1995). 'Power is the Great Motivator', Harvard Business Review, 73 January-February 126-39. A. Mendelow, A., (1991). Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Information Systems, Cambridge, MA.Meyerson, D., (2003). Tempered Radicals: how everyday leaders inspire change at work. Harvard Business School Press.
References