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Power in Management and Organization Science
Abstract
This paper reviews and evaluates the concept of power in management and organization science. In order to organize the extant literature on this topic, we develop a framework that identifies four faces of power (i.e. coercion, manipulation, domination, and subjectification) and four sites of power (i.e. power enacted “in”, “through”, “over”, and “against” organizations). This allows us to evaluate assumptions both shared and contested in the field. Building on the review, the paper then points to potentially novel areas of research that may extend our understandings of organizational power in management and organization science.
... Power is often assumed to be unilateral in IS research. This goes hand in hand with the tradition that scholars in the IS field and beyond, by and large, tend to associate power with domination and the exercise of authority and control (Jasperson et al., 2002;Clegg et al., 2006;Avgerou & McGrath, 2007;Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Particularly concerning organizational transformation associated with digital technologies, power has been 1 There are, of course, a number of IS studies that take a different position on power issues (e.g., Avgerou & McGrath, 2007;Hekkala & Urquhart, 2013). ...
... Episodic power may thus be recognized by the "faces" of coercion and manipulation (of processes/rules). In contrast, systemic power may be identified with the faces of domination (covering the interpretive and radical views of power addressed by Jasperson et al., 2002) and subjectification (Hardy & Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1998;Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Figure 1 seeks to illustrate these four faces of power. ...
... In general, the works of Michel Foucault can best represent the subjectification face of power (Hardy & Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1998;Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Nevertheless, this goes with the acknowledgment that Foucault (1966Foucault ( /1970Foucault ( , 1969Foucault ( /1972Foucault ( , 1963Foucault ( /1973Foucault ( , 1975Foucault ( /1977Foucault ( /1978Foucault ( , 1980Foucault ( /1985aFoucault ( /1985b) offers a body of thought with broad possibilities for interpretation and reflection. ...
... Marginalization of the AdSense platform is not a viable option either, due to the monopoly power and the tremendous value derived from the platform by PDEs (Teece, 2018). The lack of transparency (opacity) leaves room for potential manipulation (Fleming and Spicer, 2014;Gorwa, 2019;Hurni et al., 2022). Hence, a class action lawsuit against AdSense in 2014 alleged that Google unfairly retained revenue from banned accounts. ...
... Subjectification emerges as a critical adaptive strategy, making other survival strategies possible (Fleming and Spicer, 2014;Hurni et al., 2022). Its underlying mechanisms are proactive compliance, resource acquisition, and redeployment, which play multiple roles. ...
... My new business entity has been paid twice now … This raises the mystery even a little more as to why my original Adsense account was banned. Therefore, subjectification through proactive compliance, responsiveness, and reentry workarounds is shown to enable PDEs to continuously reap the benefits of platform participation despite the risks (Fleming and Spicer, 2014;Hurni et al., 2022). Accordingly, this study concludes that subjectification enables survival via two main classes of mechanisms: resource acquisition and redeployment, and continuous platform participation. ...
This study investigates the adaptive strategies of platform-dependent entrepreneurs (PDEs) to mitigate venture survival risks associated with power asymmetries on transaction platforms. Using an embedded single case study design, we explore the decade-long survival of a PDE's firm in EdTech, focusing on its relationship with two dominant platforms, Google Search and AdSense. Our findings culminate in a robust framework that elucidates the strategic responses of PDEs to the challenges of power imbalance and its exercise through platform gover-nance. Critically, the study reveals that PDEs assert their self-determination in a two-step process that is best observed over time. Strategic subjectification, followed by multihoming and diversification, can be observed over a long temporal duration, emerging as crucial mechanisms for managing dependency risks. This study contributes to the platform strategy literature by shifting the focus from owners to participants, simultaneously illuminating entrepreneurial resilience amid power-related uncertainties.
... The missing link for management research -and the leading pathway for the management field to contribute multi-disciplinary insights concerning digital platforms -is power; what it is and where it resides. The challenge for scholars -and the purpose of this integrative review -is how to redirect the trajectory of platform governance research towards an agenda that more fully contemplates and incorporates the inescapable role of power dynamics (e.g., see Fleming & Spicer, 2014 for a comprehensive review of power dynamics in organizational research). Management scholars have at their disposal a diverse array of conceptual tools that are useful in decoding, assessing, predicting, and prescribing the complex power relations (Martin, 2024) inherent in platform governance (Fleming & Spicer, 2007;), yet the field has been slow to recognize the opportunity to put these tools to productive use. ...
... Power relations, consistent with Schüßler, Attwood-Charles, Kirchner & Schor (2021), are captured through a detailed assessment of mutuality, autonomy, and control, to which we add adversarial relations, which has increasingly emerged as a dominant theme in the contested relationships circumscribing platform governance (Sadowski, 2020;Van Dijck et al., 2019). Faces of power (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Lukes, 1974) are comprised of coercion, manipulation, domination, and subjectification. ...
... These are elusive questions. Whatever else one might say about digital platforms, ultimately, they are meta-organizations (Chen et al., 2022a) -comprised of varied actors (Chen et al., 2020), relations (Schüßler et al., 2021), faces of power (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Lukes, 1974), and struggle (Fleming & Spicer, 2007) -that are coordinated in ways and for reasons that question the very notion of efficient organizing. In the following sections, we explore the existing literature on each of these four dimensions. ...
The ubiquity of digital platforms is undeniable, as is their transactional efficiency and global reach of world-flattening possibilities. Yet, these same platforms are also hotly contested battlegrounds where power struggles among stakeholders both reflect and influence broader societal turbulence. In the emerging era, side-by-side with the blinding speed and global reach of the gig economy are the looming specters of rentier capitalism, digi-serfdom, misinformation, rampant data exploitation, digital addiction, and near-ungovernable algorithmic agents. To date, the scholarly focus on digital platforms has been directed primarily towards their transactional features and impacts, dimensionalizing governance mechanisms as emanating from old economy conceptions of bottom-up or top-down checks and balances, or incentives and efficiencies. These emphases, while offering a useful lens through which to understand managerial control of digital platforms, largely ignore the extent to which digital platforms are battlegrounds; contested organizational spaces, shaped by complex power dynamics. Foucault asserted that power is everywhere and that those who hold power are rarely well-understood by those who are subject to it. In seeking to rebalance and reorient the future of digital platform research, our study analyzes and integrates existing research along four key dimensions that shape platform power dynamics: actors, relations, faces, and struggle. Through this, we establish a future research agenda-including a set of six testable propositions-that more thoroughly engages the critical, yet largely untapped, expertise of management scholars concerning platform power.
... To bridge this gap, we adopt an intersectional approach alongside organizational power dimensions. We specifically apply Fleming and Spicer's (2014) multidimensional power framework, which articulates four dimensions of organizational power: over, through, in, and against. This framework is acutely aware of the nuances in identity construction and performance within power dynamics and aligns with Foucault's (1988) analysis of identity. ...
... Schildt et al. (2020) delineate systemic and episodic power as formative in the shape and substance of sensemaking processes. Building on these insights, Fleming and Spicer (2014) formulate an organizational power structure framework that underpins an intersectional analysis of identity construction. ...
... Academics shape their perspectives through in-depth engagement with their discipline's history, debates, and key thinkers, aligning their research with established standards. However, the academic culture that produces and certifies knowledge also wields authority akin to external power (Delamont et al., 2000), which manifests as a form of 'power over organization' (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). In the field of Chinese management studies, this phenomenon is evident in the disproportionate of American paradigms. ...
The academic landscape in China has undergone a profound transformation, shifting from a spiritually rooted vocation to a model driven by managerial efficiency, catalyzed by market reforms that dismantled the traditional, centrally planned system. This seismic shift has forced scholars to adapt to a performance-oriented environment, leading to significant transformations in their professional identities. Contemporary literature, primarily centered on Western role-theory perspectives, often fails to capture the intricate cognitive dynamics that shape academic identities under the varied influence of power dimensions. This study addresses this gap by exploring how Chinese academics’ identities are constructed amidst a complex interplay of power dynamics, external changes, and internal motivations, moving beyond simplistic group-level categorizations. Employing an intersectional approach within a multidimensional organizational power framework, this research utilizes case study methods to probe deeply into the multiple identities of academics in the Business Management discipline across various Chinese higher education institutions. The study reveals a dynamic interplay among multiple power dimensions, including American research hegemony, industrialization of academic governance, self-regulation, and rebellion against ‘academic games’. These forces collectively shape distinct identity modules among Chinese academics: fanatic convert of American research, career survivor, diligent game player, and career retreater, each responding uniquely to the evolving academic pressures. This research significantly enhances our understanding of academic identity construction by extending beyond traditional role-based analyses to encompass a broader spectrum of cognitive processes. It highlights the nuanced intersectionality of academic identities, effectively integrating structuralist perspectives with personal agency. This comprehensive examination provides critical insights into the development of Management disciplines, university governance, and professional practices within the academic community in China.
... In this effort, we draw upon the scant but noteworthy literature around periodization in management and organizational studies and from related studies of time and temporality, sensemaking, rhythmanalysis, entrainment, and agency (Ancona & Chong, 1992;Emirbayer & Mische, 1998;Hernes & Schultz, 2020;Lefebvre, 1992;Reinecke & Lawrence, 2022;Weick et al., 2005). Tracing the sporadic yet distinct links of periodization and temporality to power (e.g., Costas & Grey, 2014;Feldman et al., 2020;Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Vaara & Whittle, 2022), we develop a novel perspective on how periodization schemas compete to shape, inform, and change possibilities for action, struggle, and resistance. ...
... Discerning these actor types in turn requires exploring the power implications of periodization: actors' agency is reflected in the achieved or imposed intersubjectivity, the process, dynamics, and impact of which exhibit a subtle yet strong link with power and resistance. Here, we draw upon Fleming and Spicer's (2014) four "faces" of power to explore these dynamics in more depth. Two of these faces are episodic and two are systemic, whose use depends on the extent to which periodization is taken for granted and the ensuing implications for centralizing or marginalizing some actors. ...
... Episodic power inheres in the identifiable acts that shape actions, cognition, and behavior (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). For Fleming and Spicer (2014), episodic power can manifest in two forms: it can involve coercion, exercised directly and often involving unspoken threats, or manipulation, operating less directly through deciding what is important and thereby limiting the boundaries in which issues can be understood and discussed. ...
Periodization, or the division of perceived time, pervades organizational life. While scholars have explored many ways in which actors relate to the past, present, and future for various purposes, periodization as an expression of temporality is often taken for granted. With a fundamental capacity to inform cognition and action, periodization carries high stakes for involved actors and groups, which necessitates addressing this lacuna. Specifically, we investigate the intersubjective instances of periodization that foreground human agency, which lends itself to developing a critical perspective on periodization with emphasis on its relation to power and agency and theorizing its often-covert presence and use in organizational life. Periodization, we contend, centralizes some organizational actors or events while marginalizing others. This insight is amenable to two theoretical contributions. First, we offer a new lens for understanding, theorizing, and leveraging the power of temporality and the temporality of power. Second, we set the stage for examining periodization as an actionable yet often overlooked temporal tool at the disposition of organizational actors. By systematically unearthing and challenging the underlying assumptions of periodization, we invite scholars and practitioners to scrutinize and challenge why and how organizational actors can temporally interpret, frame, and contest the social reality.
... As suggested by this quote, power is inseparable from organizations and the organizing that takes place within them. Power allows individuals or groups in an organization to allocate tasks and to enforce their execution (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Power can be broadly defined as asymmetric control over valued resources (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). ...
... Further, power allows individuals to exert influence on others more easily and to perform work in organizations more effectively (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). In bureaucratic organizations, power is bound to the formal position that individuals hold (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Monteiro & Adler, 2021) and increases as they ascend in corporate hierarchy. As a result, there are few individuals with much power, while others in the organization are left powerless. ...
... Power is an essential concept in the study of groups and organizations (Anderson & Brion, 2014;Emerson, 1962;Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Key to the concept of power in organizations is its relational character (Anderson & Brion, 2014;Emerson, 1962), i.e., an individual does not hold power per se, but relative to another person. ...
Power is key to all organizing. It allows actors to perform actions, make decisions and assign tasks to others. In bureaucratic organizations power is mainly associated with the position that the actor holds. Because actors compete for power, change their position within an organization or leave an organization, power is dynamically changing. We refer to these changes in power as power dynamics. Many New Forms of Organizing, such as Holacracy, claim that individuals have more decision-making capacity, i.e., that power is more equally distributed within the organization. In this paper, we use a unique dataset from a holacratic organization to empirically examine how power dynamics in Holacracy evolve over time. In particular, we use temporal network analysis to reconstruct and contrast two related networks that capture information on how decisions in Holacracy are made. Our findings indicate that also in Holacracy power is not equally distributed, but that few individuals hold most power.
... The expression of power in this paper is episodicin the sense of direct acts between actors that shape their behavioras well as systemicin the sense of more enduring institutional structures (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). Power, here, is the transformative capability and ability to directly or indirectly influence the behavior of actors, to intervene a given set of events (Stevenson, 2010) and in some way alter them (Giddens, 1979(Giddens, , 1987. ...
... Following this logic, the power relation between the actors in the specific setting can be considered as co-created. The proposed understanding of power is not limited to power-over (Fleming and Spicer, 2014;Giddens, 1984;Morriss, 2006), but is broadened to a perspective of power-with, which also includes cooperation and transformation. ...
... Transformation that even rejects long-standing practices can be produced by a movement that starts small, but with a kind of bandwagon effect (Schmitt-Beck, 2015), and results in massive social changes in markets and politics. Social and collective movements are often born from dissatisfaction with formal institutional forums because certain concerns remain unvoiced (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). Actors coordinate their efforts to improve their resource integration, agree or disagree on practices and ultimately shape their service ecosystem (Taillard et al., 2016). ...
The paper covers the topic of power strategies between actors and the interplay between the service ecosystem and the actor(s), and vice versa. The paper addresses the lack of conceptual development concerning power considerations beyond dyadic, rigid and role-based models found in general marketing literature. Further, the paper opens the area of power relationships, using the service ecosystem as conceptual framework.
The paper has a systemic and sociological view on service-ecosystems using mainly Giddens' structuration theory. Service-dominant logic literature from 2004 to 2021 is systematically reviewed for power issues and qualitatively analyzed. Mayring's step model of, firstly, inductive and, secondly, deductive category development is applied. Subcategories were identified, subsumed and finally grouped into four categories to increase the level of abstraction.
The article investigates power considerations and enables marketers to create power through (1) imbalance, to find strategies and counterstrategies for (2) actor's behavior, to understand the (3) actor's embeddedness within a service ecosystem and its dynamic nature, to learn about (4) institutions and actor's institutional work. A set of seven propositions is presented for the conceptualization of power strategies in a service ecosystem.
The consideration of power on different levels supports both the zooming-in and zooming-out to observe and understand the power phenomena in a service ecosystem. Seven propositions about episodic as well as systemic power relations are presented. Power is conceptualized in service ecosystem as transformative capability of an actor to intervene on institutions and in some way alter them, recognizing that power relations are co-created, dynamic and context-dependent.
The article recognizes different levels (micro-meso-macro) of power considerations and helps practitioners and marketers to create power through (1) imbalance, find strategies and counterstrategies for (2) actor's behavior, understand the (3) actor's embeddedness within a service ecosystem and its dynamic nature, learn about (4) institutions and actor's institutional work. This enables managers to find an appropriate choice of action in their specific context to transform the service ecosystem(s) they are embedded in.
As all social systems are power systems, a service ecosystem can only be fully understood by integrating the elementary concept of power. As such, power considerations within actor strategies and the service ecosystem are relevant to improve the understanding of transformation of the service ecosystem. Power, in the sense of the transformative capability of actors, changes the social and material world. Originality/value-Power issues are important to understand the "hows" of resource integration in service ecosystems and its transformation or stability.
... In keeping with the predominant understanding of the (non)pursuit of innovative ideas as an outcome of structural features inherent in firms (e.g., Dougherty & Hardy, 1996), research on power in CE in particular and innovation management more generally has focused on structural forms of power (Ocasio et al., 2020). Such forms relate to an uneven distribution of capital to influence the behavior of others (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). This body of literature has insightfully studied the political process of gaining legitimacy for innovation (Bunduchi, 2017), the challenging illegitimacy of product innovation (Dougherty & Heller, 1994), struggles over managerial attention in order to gain resources (Kannan-Narasimhan, 2014), or the power-based decision-making processes in portfolio decisions (Kester et al., 2011). ...
... This body of literature has insightfully studied the political process of gaining legitimacy for innovation (Bunduchi, 2017), the challenging illegitimacy of product innovation (Dougherty & Heller, 1994), struggles over managerial attention in order to gain resources (Kannan-Narasimhan, 2014), or the power-based decision-making processes in portfolio decisions (Kester et al., 2011). Taken together, prior research has drawn attention to "more overt forms of political influence" (Swan & Scarbrough, 2005, p. 920) in which managers exploit possessed political capital to influence resource allocation in CE (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Ocasio et al., 2020). ...
... In order to shed light on how the enactment of mundane power shapes the pursuit of innovative ideas in CE, we build on discursive analyses of power (e.g., Hardy & Thomas, 2014;Wenzel et al., 2019), which are more attentive to day-to-day performances of power than traditional approaches to power (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Specifically, we draw on a Foucauldian discursive perspective on power (Foucault, 1977(Foucault, , 1980(Foucault, , 1981. ...
Corporate entrepreneurship is infused with power. Prior research has begun to shed light on the role of power in innovation contexts. Yet, we know much less about the day-today enactment of mundane power in corporate entrepreneurship, which, despite its partial subtlety, is no less consequential regarding decisions on pursuing or abandoning innovative ideas. This article extends the literature on corporate entrepreneurship and power by exploring the discursive practices through which managers and employees of a corporate accelerator disciplined venture founders in the pursuit of innovative ideas. Based on a Foucauldian discourse analysis of ethnographic data, we show how a clash of entrepreneurship discourses invokes the day-today performance of three discursive practices-observing, exercising, and punishing-through which the accelerator's staff ensured that venture founders would adopt a dominant entrepreneurship discourse, with important implications for decisions on pursuing innovative ideas or not. These findings deepen our understanding of enacting mundane power in corporate entrepreneurship as well as the enablers and outcomes of such power enactment. We also outline the practical implications for emerging corporate innovation settings such as accelerators.
... One important attribute in inter-organizational relationships is power (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). ...
... Coercive power refers to the ability to impose will on others while pursuing own interests (Avelino and Rotmans, 2009). It can be exercised through direct mechanisms such as manipulation or indirect mechanisms like ideological values and identity (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). In this type of conduct, the powerful party may act opportunistically to extract a higher share of the value pie among the parties generated through cooperation, but excessive exploitation can jeopardize interorganizational trust and lead to an exit strategy (Ireland and Webb, 2007). ...
Clusters are important for achieving regional competitiveness and development through innovations and new business development, but the realization of this goal requires good management of relationships. This bears challenges because cluster members have divergent interests and differences in power, and environments change constantly, creating opportunities and threats for cluster members, which may affect their relationships. Applying stakeholder theory to cluster management, this chapter proposes a stakeholder-oriented approach to managing relationships in the cluster. The approach argues that building common stakes among cluster members, complemented by supporting governance mechanisms, could promote cooperation and avoid the exercise of coercive power in the cluster. The use of coercive power and the proposed stakeholder-oriented approach are illustrated with the historical analysis of two cases from the European automotive industry. The first case is about the coming into force of the Block Exemption Regulation 1400/2002, and the second case is about the competitiveness challenges of the Volkswagen Group in the 1990s and 2000s.
... IS studies that study power often focus on hierarchical or episodic forms of power (e.g., managers and employees) and the strategic actions of self-interested "rational" actors, rather than examining power in its diffused, cultural, or systemic forms (Lawrence et al., 2012). Prior studies also tend to focus on unidirectional rather than multidirectional forms-in other words, the static exercise of power, not the dynamic aspects of power and its multidirectional responses (Cendon & Jarvenpaa, 2001;Dhillon et al., 2011;Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Simeonova et al., 2020;Simeonova & Galliers, 2023). The existing research tends to consider innovative IS designs, novel implementations or change initiatives, such as automation systems and enterprise systems (Azad & Faraj, 2011;Dhillon et al., 2011), rather than common, mundane organizational practices and technologies. ...
... Because of these limitations, Silva and others (e.g., Jasperson et al., 2002) have concluded that power dynamics in IS lack sufficient theorization-the theories used to study IS phenomena often fail to provide a theoretical foundation. Additionally, Fleming and Spicer (2014) observed that theories and analytical concepts need to change to remain current with emerging developments in organizations and societies. To summarize, IS needs better and more relevant views of power. ...
The information systems (IS) field has not consistently dealt with the importance of power in theory, research, or practice, because of epistemological and theoretical challenges for studying power in IS. In responding to these issues, we develop an accessible “power-sensitive” framework, using the episodic/systemic view of power and an activity theory (AT) view of organizational practices. We draw on two cases of IS work. Case 1 focuses on information technology (IT) organizations in Bulgaria, and Case 2 focuses on a global development sector nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Thailand. While much of the IS literature emphasizes cutting-edge innovations, this paper highlights mundane yet widespread IS applications such as email and spreadsheets. We elaborate on lessons learned from the cases and develop a power-sensitive framework to support IS researchers and practitioners seeking to acknowledge power in different IS contexts. The paper has two main aims and contributions: to illustrate how power can be articulated using the episodic/systemic view and AT by providing a more dynamic perspective that goes beyond traditional views of power as possessive, hierarchical, and static, and to deploy the cases strategically as part of a broader call for more consideration of power in IS research, illustrating the important insights such a focus can provide. We argue against simply ignoring power or considering it as a “nuisance” in IS research. Instead, we argue that power is endemic to IS work and an integral aspect of everyday IS practices. We characterize this view of power as “present-in-actions” in IS.
... We focus on the less-researched concern of how corporations attempt to secure hegemony over other groups, including those antagonistic towards them, through counterinsurgency techniques with military origins. Our goal is to examine the repertoire of hidden power tactics used by corporations to neutralize activist pressures and sustain corporate hegemony (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Nyberg & Wright, 2024). In doing so, we answer calls "for organizational scholars to engage with historical topics of social and moral relevance" (Godfrey, Hassard, O'Connor, Rowlinson, & Ruef, 2016, p. 599). ...
... Hegemony is theorized as a key dimension of power (Fleming & Spicer, 2014) in organizational theory. For Gramsci (1971, p. 80), hegemony is a new form of domination combining force and consent at the same time, ''[i]ndeed, the attempt is always made to ensure that force will appear to be based on the consent of the majority." ...
We contribute to critical theory building in relation to political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) by conceptualizing the underlying processes and practices through which corporations seek to counter threats posed by activist groups. We argue that the problematic nature of PCSR is entangled not only in its state-like aims, but also in its covert deployment of military tactics towards the maintenance of corporate hegemony. We illuminate how corporations use counterinsurgency tactics to undermine the ability of activists to hold them accountable for their wrongdoing. Building on the work of Gramsci, we propose that counterinsurgency tactics combine elements of force and persuasion that enable corporations to maintain hegemony (i.e., secure consent over time). We ask: How are counterinsurgency tactics used by corporations to neutralize activist pressures and maintain corporate hegemony? We draw upon historical sources regarding the Nestlé infant milk boycott case to undertake a genealogical analysis that exposes counterinsurgency tactics enabling corporations to counter activists and sustain their hegemony. We find that Nestlé deployed four key counterinsurgency tactics to nullify activist pressures (suppressing external support, isolating the activist(s), capturing the dialogue, and covert intelligence gathering). From our analysis, we propose the term corporate counterinsurgency and theorize the historic use of corporate counterinsurgency tactics as an example of a hegemonic strategy that enables corporations to covertly undermine activist pressures. We conclude by calling for further reflexivity in organizational studies research on the military origins of PCSR, and by outlining how activist organizations might mobilize against corporate counterinsurgency tactics.
... According to (Fleming & Spicer, 2014), there are plenty of opportunities to improve organizational management, for example offering new bonus packages or incentives to its sales staff to increase production and if earnings performance is poor, management can assess its leadership and introduce new training programs to address weaknesses for each employee, then move forward with incentives once they have increased the performance. ...
... e.g. developing concepts such as leadership, decision making, team building, motivation and job satisfaction are all aspects of organizational behavior and management responsibilities, all of these criteria are aimed at improving the quality of work and building strong organizations that are able to create a competitive advantage and a position for them among competitors (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). ...
In this paper, a small applied research will be prepared to discuss four theories of organizational management: (Neumann's theory of leadership - Edgar Schein's theory of organizational culture - Archie Carroll's theory of CSR - Kotter's theory of organizational change), these theories will be applied to the Bechtel corporation by discussing the literature of these theories and their practical contributions to improve performance and administrative efficiency. Some strategies will be addressed to ensure optimum performance based on the selected theories by preparing a brief plan to evaluate these strategies and the criteria that can be identified to ensure they succeed. It will discuss the challenges and opportunities of organizational behavior based on the techniques developed and, finally, the expected improvement results within the organization.
... Episodic modes of influence include both decision-making politics and non-decision-making politics. Decision-making politics relates to the direct exercise of power by individuals to achieve certain political ends (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). This is reflected in the mobilisation of resources by organisational actors to further their interests through observable behaviour and concrete decisions and actions (Clegg et al., 2006;Lawrence et al., 2012). ...
... This is reflected in the mobilisation of resources by organisational actors to further their interests through observable behaviour and concrete decisions and actions (Clegg et al., 2006;Lawrence et al., 2012). Non-decision-making politics is concerned with agenda-setting work to ensure that action and discussion occurs within what are perceived to be acceptable boundaries (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). This mode of influence reflects the ability of actors to handle conflicting issues in such a way that they do not become matters of open discussion (Hardy, 1996;Ferner et al., 2012). ...
Understanding how hybrid organizations resist mission drift and sustain the joint pursuit of their plural goals over time remains a central theoretical and practical concern in the business and society literature. In this article, we mobilize an organizational politics approach to elucidate how hybrid organizations react to mission drift and strive to rebalance the relationship between their conflicting missions. Drawing on an in-depth longitudinal analysis of a project developed within a multinational worker co-op to reverse mission drift, we elaborate a process model showing how shifting patterns in the mobilization of episodic and systemic forms of power provoke critical changes in the way that plural missions are construed and enacted within hybrid organizations. This study also contributes to the field of co-operative organization and management studies by revealing that the transfer of organizational practices within multinational co-ops is more critically shaped by power relations and conflicting interests rather than, as much of the previous literature has argued, by host country institutions.
... Another key strand of power dynamic literature in management and organization science suggests the four faces of organizational power that are mappable via the organizational sites where these power typologies manifest (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Coercion and manipulation are the episodic types of power that are directly exercised, while domination and subjectification are systemic forms of power that are mostly institutionalized and structurebased. ...
... These types of power can manifest and be observed (with)in organizations, through organizations, over organizations, and against organizations. These sites of power are established and actively shaped by the type of organizations, contextual/environmental conditions external to the organizations, collective identity of the organizations, as well as the composition of the people and structures that make up the organization (Spicer & Fleming, 2014). ...
This doctoral dissertation proposal proffers three interconnected essays on the relationship between the platform owner (as the lead firm) and the born-digital firm (as the complementor firm) in the context of digital platform orchestration. Coopetition amongst complementor firms is also explored as influenced by their relationship with the lead firm-given the open innovation processes and platform governance models implemented in a digital platform. I draw upon the strategy and innovation management literatures to inform three interrelated conceptual frameworks that underscore the role of power dynamics and resource dependencies in the adoption of control and incentive mechanisms when orchestrating digital platforms in a dyadic lead-complementor firm relationship. The latter could potentially shape the governance typologies implemented by the lead firm in the orchestration of digital platforms. I also mobilize the coopetition literature delving into the educement of coopetitive behaviours amongst complementors that interact within an innovation ecosystem in view of their entrepreneurial lifespan development. In such interaction, the influence exerted by the lead-complementor firm relationship type to the complementors' coopetitive behaviour is delineated as a crucial facet vis-à-vis the platform governance model in effect. The open innovation framework is then employed to present a double-sided pathway (viz. inbound or outbound) in which the interplay of coopetitive behaviours can be observed contingent upon the complementors' position in these pathways.
... Organization scholars often distinguish two modes in which power operates: episodic and systemic (e.g. Lawrence 2008;Fleming & Spicer 2014;Geppert et al. 2016). Episodic power includes not only the direct mobilization of resources by actors to further their own interests through observable behavior and concrete decisions (Clegg et al. 2006;Lawrence 2008), but also subtler forms of manipulative or non-decision-making politics that reflect the ability of powerful actors to shape the agenda and ensure that -action and discussion occurs within accepted boundaries‖ (Fleming & Spicer 2014, p. 241; see also Geppert et al. 2016). ...
... Up's management drew on non-decision-making politics (Fleming & Spicer 2014;Geppert et al. 2016) to ensure that the transfer of the co-op core HRM practices occurred within politically safe boundaries. Specifically, transfer of employee share ownership was circumvented, while the other three core HRM practices (employee participation in strategic decision making, profit sharing, and co-op training) were transferred in a ceremonial or superficial rather than substantial way. ...
This paper examines the cross-national transfer of HRM practices at Up Group, an emblematic French multinational worker co-op. Our findings reveal that stakeholder pressure to disseminate the co-op‘s core HRM practices to its foreign subsidiaries triggered two key strategic responses from the HQ member-owners: transfer circumvention and ceremonial transfer. Therefore, our study provides new insights into the political and contested nature of practice transfer by elucidating how MNCs actively engage in the selective and differential transfer of some of their core HRM practices to protect the HQ actors‘ interests and preserve their position of power vis-à-vis the subsidiaries. In addition, our fine-grained analysis of the ceremonially transferred practices contributes to the literature on practice variation during diffusion processes in MNCs. Finally, by examining the challenges of the cross-national management of people in multinational worker co-ops, an increasingly important global player, this study addresses critical management scholars‘ calls to broaden the horizons of IHRM research beyond the hegemonic analysis of for-profit shareholder-owned MNCs.
... P SR 2 [0,1]; saturates fast, reflecting the ªtype of power [which] involves someone getting another person to something that he or she would have not otherwise done. They are simply told what to do`orelse'º [55] which is often observed in organizations[56]. ...
The complex nature of organizational culture challenges our ability to infers its underlying dynamics from observational studies. Recent computational studies have adopted a distinct different view, where plausible mechanisms are proposed to describe a wide range of social phenomena, including the onset and evolution of organizational culture. In this spirit, this work introduces an empirically-grounded, agent-based model which relaxes a set of assumptions that describes past work - (a) omittance of an individual's strive for achieving cognitive coherence, (b) limited integration of important contextual factors - by utilizing networks of beliefs and incorporating social rank into the dynamics. As a result, we illustrate that: (i) an organization may appear to be increasingly coherent in terms of organizational culture, yet be composed of individuals with reduced levels of coherence, (ii) the components of social conformity - peer-pressure and social rank - are influential at different aggregation levels.
... Kontrolli ja valta voivat ilmetä organisaatioissa monissa eri muodoissa, jotka voivat vaihdella suorasta pakottamisesta ja dominoinnista manipuloinnin ja subjektivoinnin hienovaraisiin ja epäsuoriin muotoihin (Fleming & Spicer 2014). Barker (2002, kts. ...
Autonomy or control? A case study in an organization striving to increase self-management In many organizations increasing self-management is a new way of working. The case organization of this study is a Finnish financial services organization with about 100 employees. We use qualitative interview data to explore the commonalities and contradictions in the interpretations of employees and management in an organization that is in a process of adopting a more self-managed way of working. We also examine the implementation of the basic assumptions of Self-Determination Theory in to-day's organizational environment. We approach the issue from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Our analysis shows that self-management in the target organization is initiated and controlled by management, which sets strict limits but allows only a certain amount of freedom. Our case study provides both theoretical and practical insights into the discussion of the process of increasing self-management.
... CEO power refers to a CEO's capacity to utilize or mobilize financial, technical, and discursive resources to drive organizational activities (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Schildt et al., 2020). CEO power is not uniform across firms; it can differ depending on firms' governance structure (Chin et al., 2013;Finkelstein et al., 2009;Zajac & Westphal, 1996). ...
Not all firms exhibit the same level of commitment to green new product introductions (GNPIs), yet our understanding of the factors underlying these disparities remains incomplete. Prior research has primarily focused on firm‐level factors, paying little attention to individual‐level antecedents of GNPIs. This imbalance in the GNPI literature contrasts with the broader innovation and general management literature, which displays an ever‐growing interest in the “human side of innovation,” acknowledging the relevance of Chief Executive Officers' (CEOs') political ideologies for organizational outcomes. Addressing this imbalance, our study examines the relationship between CEOs' political ideologies and their firms' GNPIs, along with the conditions that shape this influence. Grounded in social identity theory, our study first argues that the more liberal CEOs are, the more GNPIs their firms are likely to generate and that this association is amplified by CEO power. It then proposes that the more liberal CEOs are, the more likely they are to respond to adverse situations beyond their control (a Republican presidency or lower levels of consumer green sentiment) by initiating more GNPIs. It finally posits that the more liberal CEOs are, the fewer GNPIs they tend to initiate in response to adverse situations for which they are accountable (involvement in sustainability‐related scandals). We integrate data from seven databases into a longitudinal dataset comprising 89 firms and 192 CEOs over the period 2010–2020 to test our theoretical framework empirically. Time‐lagged panel regression analyses strongly support our theoretical arguments. Our findings contribute to the emergence of an individual‐level, microfoundational perspective on sustainable innovations, our knowledge about the organizational implications and boundary conditions of CEOs' political ideologies, and the treatment of multiple identities within social identity theory, especially the relationship between political and occupational identities. The implications of our findings extend to business practitioners, offering valuable insights for CEOs, boards of directors, and investors.
... Our conception on silent steering offers contingent and more dynamic view on the role of public actors in stakeholder engagement than the idea of institutional embeddedness (Matten & Moon, 2020), and operationalizes the power of public actors both in a systemic and in an episodic manner (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Lawrence et al., 2012). For example, role-giving is based on systemic legislative changes, while example-giving and expectation-giving emerge episodically in participatory processes. ...
Our understanding of how public actors directly influence stakeholder engagement through mechanisms such as regulation and licensing has been steadily improving. However, the indirect influence of public governance measures on stakeholder engagement remains less explored. This article seeks to bridge this gap by examining how public sector actors use participatory governance to influence private stakeholder engagement beyond public governance processes. We introduce the concept of silent steering to describe how indirect effects on stakeholder engagement occur. Through an in-depth case study of Finnish mining governance from 1995 to 2020, we uncover how silent steering of private engagement occurs through role-giving, example-giving, and expectation-giving. Through these processes, public actors can exert significant influence over industry- and firm-level private stakeholder engagement processes even when they are not present.
... Governmentality is generative, to the extent that it creates subjects who freely choose to comply with requirements, removing the need for compulsion. Governmentality thus relies on self-surveillance by the subject (Fleming and Spicer, 2014), such that personal ambition is shaped to be consistent with external requirements. At its core, governmentality consists of three interrelated processes (Foucault, 2007). ...
Managing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs remains a challenge for many women migrant workers in developing countries. Nonetheless, the extent to which they can be supported in meeting these needs remains underexplored, with implications for worker health and working life. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 25 factory women migrant workers in Penang, Malaysia, this article applies a Foucauldian lens of governmentality to explore directly their agency in managing their SRH. The authors consider the self-surveillance practices the women adopt in response to a programme of SRH interventions. The findings reveal varied degrees of compliance with programme expectations. The article demonstrates empirically the importance of the perceived salience of SRH as a motivating force in self-surveillance practices, drawing out the disempowering effects of self-consciousness and shame in gendered subjectivity. The authors further consider the impact of universalist prescriptions for SRH within locales in the developing world, and the implications for SRH interventions with factory women migrant workers in such settings.
... We define this influence on processes and outcomes as discretion. Knowing the influence of individual agents in exchange interactions, entrepreneurs can make overt and covert efforts to sway, coerce, and/or manipulate others to achieve the desired outcomes (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Schildt, Mantere, & Cornelissen, 2020). In our data, entrepreneurs use their power to influence agents' discretion or avoid interacting with agents on the demand side of corrupt dealings. ...
This paper explores when and how entrepreneurs who operate new organizations in environments where corruption is endemic can resist it. Despite the continued scholarly interest in corruption, anticorruption efforts by micro, small, and medium enterprises have been largely overlooked. Instead, studies have focused on the intraorganizational actions of larger established organizations (local and multinational) without sufficiently considering their interdependence with other actors in their external environments. Given the social exchange nature of corruption, we collected and analyzed data from interviews with Tanzanian entrepreneurs, and theorized about when and how they circumvent or resist corruption. Our findings illuminate the complex relationship between entrepreneurs’ motivations and capability, and highlight the strategies entrepreneurs use when they seek to resist corruption without compromising their resource needs. Subject to their leverage (i.e., resource endowments and available alternatives), entrepreneurs resist corruption by avoiding powerful focal firms, restructuring their resource dependence in a firm-focused manner, and managing risks. Considering social-relational dynamics, entrepreneurs also find ways to avoid interactions with corrupt agents and to use power strategically (through political tactics, such as co-opting and challenging) that influence agents to act in the entrepreneurs’ best interests and against corruption.
... What is new about platforms, as an organizational model, is their capacity to manage this heterogeneity of workers and behaviours without the need to homogenise them within a unique normative standard. In this regard, rather than assuming resistance as the explanatory category of workers' agency, addressing how workers imbricate to platforms as an empirical problem opens up the possibility of exploring the ways in which platforms exercise power, not only in coercive terms -as algorithmic management is usually understood -but also in terms of subjectification (Fleming and Spicer 2014). ...
The debate on digital labour platforms (DLPs) postulates that algorithms engineer pervasive organizational control, but it often observes that work-ers can evade and resist this control by manipulating algorithms’ decisions. This article aims to unpack this dichotomic view, shedding light on the more intricate dynamics at play in the everyday interaction between work-ers, algorithms and related technologies in the context of food-delivery platforms. Based on a seven-months ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Milan in 2020, during which the author worked as a food-delivery courier, this article highlights the internal differentiation within an emerging occu-pational field that is often considered homogeneous. First, it compares two food-delivery platforms – Glovo and Deliveroo – to uncover differences in the way they prefigure couriers’ work, enabling or constraining their agency. Second, it illustrates how two groups of workers with uneven cultural and socioeconomic resources engage with both platforms. The analysis shows that pre-existing social stratification of workers is reproduced through the processes of “imbrication to platform”, leading to the emergence of differ-ent ways of working and dispositions – namely, reactive and strategic. In conclusion, however, it is argued that strategic “imbrications” result less in practices of resistance to organizational control and more into self-optimi-zation tactics that, to some extent, are envisaged and tolerated by DLPs.
... In government departments, officials at the section-head level and above were categorized as middle and senior leaders because of their leadership roles in government; conversely, ordinary civil servants were classified as staff members. In the questionnaires distributed to enterprises, subjects were asked to specify their job positions and select whether they belonged to middle and senior management or were ordinary employees [25]. ...
This study utilized a sample of 2052 participants from government and enterprise sectors to explore the distinct effects of power and sense of power on cognitive flexibility. It also delves into how the three dimensions of reward sensitivity and the comprehensive measure of punishment sensitivity mediate this relationship. The key findings are as follows: (1) There is no significant direct correlation between power and sense of power. (2) Both power and sense of power are substantial positive predictors of cognitive flexibility, with middle- and upper-level employees demonstrating significantly greater cognitive flexibility than their lower-level counterparts, and sense of power having a more pronounced positive influence than objective power. (3) Drive and fun-seeking mediate the relationship between sense of power and cognitive flexibility, yet only when sense of power is the independent variable. (4) No mediating effects are observed for the dimensions of reward sensitivity or punishment sensitivity when power is the independent variable. Exploring reward and punishment sensitivity in the context of power’s influence on cognitive flexibility in real organizational settings is of paramount importance. This enhances our understanding of the intricate ways in which power dynamics shape individual behaviors and cognition across diverse cultural landscapes and provides actionable insights for refining organizational management and leadership strategies.
... Nevertheless, many questions are still unanswered regarding this theoretical inference. For instance, it is well established that power can be drawn from many sources, that power dynamics are often complex, and that various types of boundary work can exist simultaneously and on different levels (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Building on these notions, we set out to explore how different types of boundary work are related and how the organizational context influences boundary negotiations. ...
... This instance lets us briefly comment on one other aspect that arises when moving from the individual to the collective level of sensemaking, the question of power (see Schildt et al., 2020). One long-standing distinction in literature on power is that between episodic and systemic power, where episodic power applies to the direct exercise of power by certain individuals to achieve their ends, whereas systemic power operates through relatively enduring institutional structures (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). The impact of the NGO's action -an example of episodic power -was so formidable that "actually, the annual shareholder meeting, when they looked at the issue, they even thought of coming out of the seed production business" [CMI01]. ...
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly called upon to address sustainability issues along their supply chains. We advance prior literature on this topic by building on the argument that comprehending individual-level sensemaking is the foundational step for understanding the design and execution of corporate sustainability strategy. Hence, we undertook a qualitative study of one European agri-food MNE and captured how internal and external stakeholders along two entire supply chain segments, reaching into India and Ethiopia, respectively, make sense of farmer livelihoods as one particular sustainability issue. Using Weick’s stages of sensemaking as our theoretical lens, we find a high degree of diversity in interpretations regarding (1) the nature of the sustainability challenge, (2) the MNE’s motives for addressing it, and (3) the potential solutions to it. However, consistent patterns emerge for the three sensemaking stages in relation to the individual’s position in the supply chain. As a result of our analysis, we develop a conceptual model that elucidates differences in sensemaking of sustainability challenges by actors at different positions along global supply chains. Building on our findings, we offer a detailed explanation of how individual sensemaking influences collective sensemaking and, in turn, the direction and effectiveness of corporate strategy on sustainability.
... They possess the official, sanctified power of decision-making within an organization. This formalized authority, besides other factors, is implied from managers' occupational roles or job titles [134]. Due to their broader visibility in the organization, their attitude and behavior towards sexual harassment, managers' level of engagement as well as the credibility of their efforts play an important role in affecting employees' decisions to sexually harass [30,109,135]. ...
This paper examines workplace sexual harassment and looks into why workplace sexual harassment remains a pervasive, underappreciated problem in the United States and outlines the limitations of existing controls of sexual harassment at work, namely sexual harassment policies, awareness training, and grievance procedures. Based on these limitations, it reflects on the current definitions of sexual harassment and introduces the concept of nudging to support the preventive and corrective measures already adopted to reduce workplace sexual harassment. It provides a conceptual framework of nudges that might be effective in reducing incidents of sexual harassment. The eight types of nudges that form the framework are grouped into five overall categories depending on who a nudge is for: top, middle, and line management, harassers, observers, victims, and society. This paper is first to conceptualize nudging as a supportive mechanism to traditional management control systems in the context of workplace sexual harassment.
... Stressing the emergent nature of collective action, recent research has emphasized that innovations are often shaped and negotiated through the interaction between internal and external actors, each of whom are pushing their own political agendas (Bajde et al., 2022;Fleming & Spicer, 2014). For example, scholars have described how the markets for grass-fed meat (Weber et al., 2008), craft beer (Maciel & Fischer, 2020), and seawater desalination technology (Fuenfschilling & Truffer, 2016) have dynamically co-evolved with changes in perceptions and actions of a multitude of different players. ...
Innovation politics impact the development and introduction of innovations, yet knowledge about the influence of specific political behavior or behavioral patterns remains blurred. Based on a literature review and the articles in this Special Issue, we propose a three-part framework that identifies the building blocks of political behavior in innovation: what motivates actors to be political, the different types of political actors, and the effect of various political behaviors on innovation outcomes. Emphasizing the evolving landscape of innovation politics, the framework aims to highlight research gaps and guide future studies toward improving our understanding of the functional and dysfunc-tional aspects of innovation politics. K E Y W O R D S influencing tactics, innovation process, institutional change, performance, political behavior, RNP
... Whereas early theories conceive of power as something individuals can possess and exert episodically with clear intentions of getting others to do something they would otherwise not do (e.g. Weber, 1924Weber, /1947Dahl, 1957), later theories have emphasised relational aspects (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). According to Foucault, "power is not something that is acquired, seized or shared, something one holds on to or allows to slip away" (1976/1990, p. 94). ...
Purpose
The paper discusses how the management of a sports and fashion company, which we refer to as NULMA, successfully applied the neo/normative control technology “karma organisation” and gained employee engagement. Whereas other studies have documented employee resistance to organisational cultures when used for managerial control, our case demonstrates resistance to management practices that employees find inconsistent with the dominant karma culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a six-year longitudinal organisational at-home ethnography conducted by one of the authors using methods of both participant and non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews and collaborative production of secondary data in the case organisation.
Findings
While our research shows that management can successfully apply neo/normative control which employees accept and support, we further show that employees mobilise the same values to resist management when it fails to deliver on the commitments and promises of the organisational culture.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on organisational culture and, in particular, neo/normative control by theorising employee resistance as being by “accident”, by which we mean an inherent negative potentiality co-invented and released by managers establishing a “karma organisation”. Our theorising culminates in a discussion of the study’s implications for research and practice.
... Nevertheless, many questions are still unanswered regarding this theoretical inference. For instance, it is well established that power can be drawn from many sources, that power dynamics are often complex, and that various types of boundary work can exist simultaneously and on different levels (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Building on these notions, we set out to explore how different types of boundary work are related and how the organizational context influences boundary negotiations. ...
Professional boundary takes place as actors negotiate occupational boundaries and division of labour. In this article, we examine the conditions of defensive, accommodating, and configurational boundary work in the context of crime investigation. We analyse how professional boundaries are negotiated as civilian investigators become involved with policing. The article is based on 71 interviews with civilian and police crime investigators from a variety of investigation units in Sweden. Findings show how policing as a professional field is shifted as civilians from a wide variety of backgrounds and with varying motivations enter the occupation. Defensive boundary work that devalued civilians was widely occurring. However, boundary work that focused on learning, collaboration, and training was also occurring in high-status units. The discussion focuses on how power asymmetries impact boundary work when professions are undergoing change. This study exemplifies how organizational actors navigate, defend, and challenge their positions as professional boundaries are negotiated.
... The counterfactual assumptions also share a theme of encouraging a more explicit consideration of power. By power, we mean both direct coercion (e.g., A gets B to do something B does not want to do; Dahl, 1957) and more systemic forms of power (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Ladkin & Probert, 2021). For example, a focus on power could mean exploring how certain meanings of "leader" become socially dominant and what behaviors those meanings motivate. ...
... Such views anchored in the Weberian tradition and seeing power as a form of authority or of "coercion" exercised by consultants have been extended with the development of critical perspectives on consultancy roles. These critical views have enriched discussions of management consultants' power by considering alternative facets of power (Fleming & Spicer, 2014) such as "manipulation" (Bachrach & Baratz, 1963), "domination" (Lukes, 2005(Lukes, [1974) or "subjectification" (Foucault, 1975). They reveal "uglier faces" of CSR/SD consultants, less visible than others, by depicting them as potentially engaged in the manipulation of their clients to secure business opportunities (Iatridis et al., 2022), contributing to reproduce business and market hegemony and domination by focusing on the business case (Shamir, 2005), and involved in subjectification with the emergence of normative forms of control through CSR (Costas & Kärreman, 2013). ...
Despite their central role in the construction and development of the market for virtues as well as in the design, implementation, and evaluation of corporate sustainability strategies and governmental sustainability policies, sustainability consultants remain at best “hidden” corporate change agents. In this paper, we bring sustainability consultants back to the fore to account for how these actors discreetly regulate and shape contemporary sustainability transformations from the outside‐in. We do so first by unpacking various roles of consultants as engineers , market builders , power vehicles , boundary workers , issue translators , and soft regulators ; then we conceptualize how, through these roles, they contribute to empowering , legitimizing but also potentially supplanting and undermining the activities of corporate change agents operating inside corporations. We finally propose some research orientations for studying further the role of sustainability consultants in corporate transformations toward sustainability.
... This finding remains even though Manteli et al. (2014) demonstrated that there is a positive, significant correlation between centrality measures and transactive memory systems processes. It is different in megaprojects in light of the theory of economic and social organization, where the limited communication pathways restrict direct communication among members in a network, and this prevents members from accessing other people's specialized knowledge (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). As a result, the centrality of the members of an organization in social networks negatively affects the knowledge stored in their digital knowledge repository. ...
This study investigates the effects of project network characteristics (i.e., network density and centrality) and transactive memory systems on project performance. Based on 361 valid questionnaires from megaproject teams, a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach is used for data analysis. The findings discover that high network density is positively associated with specialization, credibility, and project performance, without a significant link with coordination. Meanwhile, a high degree of network centrality negatively affects three dimensions of transactive memory systems, as well as project performance. Regarding the mediating role of transactive memory systems dimensions, specialization and credibility serve as the dominant mediating effects. Interestingly, the interactive relationships among transactive memory systems dimensions are empirically examined. These findings provide a network perspective to integrate and utilize organizational knowledge, thus improving organizational flexibility and resilience.
... It is the concept of changing or improving oneself until meeting satisfaction in work performance (Robinson Jr & Green, 2011). In an organization, the work performance improvement of staff is essential and must be supported by the management team by allowing and encouraging their subordinates to improve their approaches (Fleming & Spicer, 2014;Robinson Jr & Green, 2011). To improve work performance effectively, Petersen et al. (2012) suggested four main guidelines including the following: (1) quality -improving work performance should be of high quality because the outcomes from the developed work approaches can be satisfactory and ultimately beneficial to all; (2) quantity -the outcomes should be follow expectations and organizational policy; (3) Time -expense on work should be well aware, instant, and relevantly consumed; and (4) Cost -each improved work performance should be suitable, practical, and cost-effective. ...
This critical participatory action research was conducted to develop the work approaches among teachers in a private school in Bangkok. The study was framed around the participatory discipline, as follows (1) explore work problems; (2) study the guidelines of work approaches; and (3) develop the work abilities of teachers. A principal, eight private school teachers, and six researchers were engaged as participants, and divided into two groups: insiders and outsiders. Content analysis was used for data collection with a qualitative approach, such as participatory focus groups, in-depth interviews, document analysis, and action learning were applied. The findings showed that private school stakeholders address the importance of work problems and work management by systematically focusing on the abilities and problem-solving skills and were divided into three dimensions of work problems among private school teachers, e.g., workload problems, work context problems, and work management problems. It also presents that the action learning process can promote abilities and problem-solving skills, collaborative teamwork, and other needed individual skills to achieve the goals of the school. Moreover, the development aims to enhance the abilities of teachers, problem-solving skills, and management from action learning, impacting three stakeholder levels: individual, team, and organization.
... According to Fleming and Spicer (2014), power is the potential that an individual within a social or organizational structure possesses to pursue their goals or personal interests despite encountering resistance. Politics, on the other hand, involves the tactics and strategies individuals employ to either assert this power or resist it. ...
... Our study highlights the fact that individuals and collectives in the organization anticipate its influence as a guide for collective action in the organization (symbolic function), and its impact on management tools for strategic purposes such as the construction of innovation projects portfolios (instrumental function), and consequently deploys political microstrategies to try to influence the roadmap frameworks and phrasing so that it will better serve their or their group's future interests (Bourgoin et al., 2020). By reinserting these political affordances into the relationship between the roadmapping process and product and the actors who enact and mobilise it, our study allows us to refocus managers' attention on power dynamics that can lead to forms of manipulation, coercion, domination or subjectification which could divert the primary intentions of roadmapping (Fleming and Spicer, 2014). ...
... Wall et al., 2017). Using a relational outlook on power (Allen, 2002;Fleming & Spicer, 2014), the present investigation utilizes a participation perspective (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and therefore a process perspective, where the central idea is that the power to define competent practice is key to understanding the connection between learning and power. Using the concept of modes of participation (Pina-Cabral, 2018;Wenger, 1998), we show how different struggles over the definition of competence result in different modes of participation. ...
This article aims to contribute to the theorization of power in workplace learning. We examined the ways in which civilian investigators participate in criminal investigation practice, and how these modes related to the social ordering in the police organization. Civilians, mostly women and well educated, are being hired in large numbers to help with the shortage of staff within the Swedish police organization. We analysed 71 interviews with both civilians and police officers, covering views on the nature of investigative work, the introduction of civilians, and their competence. The interviews were analysed in an abductive process using a practice theory outlook on power and participation. The results show four different modes of participation for civilians that have vastly different consequences for their integration into the police. These modes are dependent on how civilian competence is viewed, whether civilians are viewed as different or similar, and whether they are considered competent at investigating crimes. We conclude that the struggle to define competent practice is at the core of understanding the relationship between learning and power.
... Analyzing the interactions between firms and governments from the power-dependence perspective is an important topic (Deng, Yan, & Sun, 2020;Deng, Yan, & van Essen, 2018). This topic can be related to studies on firm-government relations, such as firms lobbying or bribing government officials for certain purposes (Fleming & Spicer, 2014). However, these studies generally focus on the firms' dependence on the governments and the corresponding power of the governments over the firms, while offering limited knowledge regarding the governments' dependence on firms as well as the potential power of the firms over the governments. ...
The pollution haven hypothesis has suggested that developed-country multinational enterprises (DMNEs) offshore their polluting activities to developing countries in an attempt to circumvent the stringent environmental protection regulations in their home markets. What remains unclear is why the host developing-country governments permit the above-average pollution caused by foreign subsidiaries. From a power-dependence perspective, we hypothesize that when the host developing-country governments exhibit dependence on advanced resources from developed countries, DMNE subsidiaries exert power (or influence) over the governments in regulatory discretion within the legal boundary. The unbalanced power relation grants DMNE subsidiaries the leeway to pollute more than their peers. By combining the pollution haven hypothesis with the power-dependence theory, this study highlights the heterogeneity within the local developing countries in environmental arbitrage in international business.
... Individuals may not only be relatively unaware of their own habits but also quite unaware of how their habits are shaped by institutions, by dominant firms (as we emphasize in this paper), and, increasingly, by algorithms. To engineer habits, firms often draw on insidious, unobtrusive, and subtle techniques and rely on "soft" sources of power (Fleming and Spicer 2014). Subtle forms of influence are particularly accentuated when social relationships are shaped by algorithms. ...
Habits and routines are foundational to several organizational theories. Considering organizational members to be predominately employees, established habit-based models recognize how these members’ habits help build organizations and are shaped by them. Departing from this traditional, internal focus, our paper highlights an important aspect of organizing, which has been relatively overlooked by established habit-based models, namely, how firms engineer consumer habits to their advantage and, by extension, strategically shape the habits of other key resource providers. To better theorize consumer habits and their engineering, and to integrate these phenomena within extant organizational theory, we develop a new habit-based perspective relating firms, consumers, and social institutions. Inspired by Dewey’s transactional approach and drawing on modern habit science, our transactional framework helps illuminate habit engineering, promotes a richer and more integrated view of organizing, and opens new possibilities for habit-based organizational theories. Our paper also offers several implications for firms’ managers, individual consumers, and broader society.
... In order to enhance their teams' information sources and knowledge base, these high-powered individuals often recruit members from diverse backgrounds, thereby creating the objective conditions for the formation of faultlines. On the other hand, in teams with a more centralized power structure, where power is concentrated in the hands of a selected few, the corrosive nature of power often drives these high-powered individuals to display more self-centered behaviors and employ various strategies to consolidate their power [41], which, inevitably come at the expense of certain team members. In response to the perceived loss of their own interests, team members may form alliances against individuals in positions of power. ...
Building on the upper echelons theory and demographic faultline theory, this paper investigates the role of the top management team (TMT) faultline as a mediator and explores the moderating effect of CEO power as an important contextual factor. We utilize a sample of A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2009 to 2020. Our findings show that outside CEO successors are significantly and positively related to corporate strategic change. TMT faultline mediates the effect of CEO successor origins on corporate strategic change, while CEO power reinforces the relationship between the two. Heterogeneity tests reveal that the effect of outside CEO successors on strategic change is insignificant in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) but has a significant impact on firms at their growth and maturity stages. Furthermore, our findings suggest that outside CEO successors inhibit the positive role of strategic change in promoting firm value.
... HCPs are legally and institutionally authorised to make medical decisions [27] and usually decide which treatment options patients are offered [28,29]. Moreover, as they are considered the legitimate knowledge authority [30], HCPs generally control the terms in which health issues are discussed, which is an important dimension of power in decision-making [31]. This is also the case for the HCP-pregnant woman relationship in maternal health [29]. ...
Background
Whether women should be able to decide on mode of birth in healthcare settings has been a topic of debate in the last few decades. In the context of a marked increase in global caesarean section rates, a central dilemma is whether pregnant women should be able to request this procedure without medical indication. Since 2015, Law 25,929 of Humanised Birth is in place in Argentina. This study aims at understanding the power relations between healthcare providers, pregnant women, and labour companions regarding decision-making on mode of birth in this new legal context. To do so, central concepts of power theory are used.
Methods
This study uses a qualitative design. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers were conducted in five maternity wards in different regions of Argentina. Participants were purposively selected using heterogeneity sampling and included obstetrician/gynaecologists (heads of department, specialists working in 24-h shifts, and residents) and midwives where available. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to inductively develop themes and categories.
Results
Three themes were developed: (1) Healthcare providers reconceptualize decision-making processes of mode of birth to make women’s voices matter; (2) Healthcare providers feel powerless against women’s request to choose mode of birth; (3) Healthcare providers struggle to redirect women’s decision regarding mode of birth. An overarching theme was built to explain the power relations between healthcare providers, women and labour companions: Healthcare providers’ loss of beneficial power in decision-making on mode of birth.
Conclusions
Our analysis highlights the complexity of the healthcare provider-woman interaction in a context in which women are, in practice, allowed to choose mode of birth. Even though healthcare providers claim to welcome women being an active part of the decision-making processes, they feel powerless when women make autonomous decisions regarding mode of birth. They perceive themselves to be losing beneficial power in the eyes of patients and consider fruitful communication on risks and benefits of each mode of birth to not always be possible. At the same time, providers perform an increasing number of CSs without medical indication when it is convenient for them, which suggests that paternalistic practices are still in place.
Las contrataciones públicas (CP) representan más de la mitad del presupuesto de gobiernos, estudios previos demuestran que las CP se utilizan para resolver problemas socios ambientales y apoyar el desarrollo económico, sin embargo, se presenta ineficiencia y corrupción en su gestión. Este estudio propone un modelo conceptual para analizar la influencia del poder interpersonal en la gestión de las contrataciones públicas y la sostenibilidad institucional con un enfoque socio técnico. La propuesta también contempla la validación del modelo teórico a través de un estudio mixto y para el análisis de los datos se sugiere utilizar el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM). El propósito de esta investigación es aportar con fundamentos teóricos a la gestión y regulación de las CP, así como recomendar nuevas rutas para futuras investigaciones que permitan profundizar o ampliar el estudio.
Resumo Este artigo explora a integração da ontologia de Spinoza e da epistemologia de Winnicott como uma estrutura teórica para entender a interação dinâmica entre organizações contemporâneas e indivíduos. Com base no monismo de Spinoza e na ênfase de Winnicott no papel do ambiente no desenvolvimento humano, esta estrutura oferece uma abordagem abrangente e centrada no ser humano para o desenvolvimento organizacional. Destaca a importância da adaptabilidade, inovação e capacidade de resposta em desafiar noções tradicionais da estrutura organizacional. Reconhecer a interconectividade de todos os aspectos da organização e promover a colaboração permite que os responsáveis aproveitem a conectividade para resolução criativa de problemas e inovação. Espaços de transição, inspirados por Winnicott, permitem que os indivíduos se envolvam em pensamento criativo e experimentação, fomentando inovação e crescimento pessoal. Criar um ambiente de suporte é crucial para apoiar o bem-estar dos funcionários, desenvolvimento pessoal e promover a inclusividade. Alinhar os objetivos individuais e organizacionais promove a tomada de decisões participativa e comunicação transparente. A sensibilidade emocional e o envolvimento afetivo nutrem uma paisagem emocional positiva que fomenta a criatividade e o bem-estar. Empoderar a autonomia e mentalidades empreendedoras permite que os indivíduos atuem de forma empreendedora dentro da organização. Incorporar flexibilidade nas estruturas organizacionais aprimora a capacidade de resposta e agilidade. Oportunidades contínuas de aprendizado e desenvolvimento reforçam o impulso dos indivíduos para a autorrealização. Medir e refletir sobre o impacto das estratégias, juntamente com a priorização do envolvimento da comunidade e das partes interessadas, aumentam ainda mais a interconectividade organizacional. Ao incorporar essas recomendações, os responsáveis organizacionais podem desenvolver organizações mais adaptáveis, inovadoras e responsivas, considerando a interconectividade de indivíduos, organizações e sociedade.
This article explores the integration of Spinoza’s ontology and Winnicott’s epistemology as a theoretical framework for understanding the dynamic interplay between contemporary organizations and individuals. Drawing on Spinoza’s monism and Winnicott’s emphasis on the environment’s role in human development, this framework offers a comprehensive and human-centric approach to organizational development. It highlights the importance of adaptability, innovation, and responsiveness in challenging traditional notions of organizational structure. Recognizing the interconnectedness of all aspects of the organization and promoting collaboration helps leverage connectivity for creative problem-solving and innovation. Inspired by Winnicott, transitional spaces allow individuals to engage in creative thinking and experimentation, fostering innovation and personal growth. Creating a supportive holding environment becomes crucial for supporting employee well-being, personal development, and fostering inclusivity. Aligning individual and organizational goals promotes participative decision-making and transparent communication. Emotional responsiveness and affective engagement nurture a positive emotional landscape that fosters creativity and well-being. Empowering autonomy and entrepreneurial mindsets enable individuals to act entrepreneurially within the organization. Incorporating flexibility in organizational structures enhances responsiveness and agility. Continuous learning and development opportunities reinforce individuals’ drive for self-actualization. Measuring and reflecting on the impact of strategies, along with prioritizing community and stakeholder engagement, further enhance organizational interconnectedness. By incorporating these recommendations, organizational holders can develop more adaptive, innovative, and responsive organizations, considering the interconnectedness of individuals, organizations, and society.
Innovation is a pivotal driver of competitive advantage and overall organisational success. Despite an extensive body of literature exploring the link between organisational justice (OJ) and innovation, a comprehensive synthesis regarding whether fair treatment within the workplace fosters innovation is notably lacking. This systematic review elucidates a predominantly positive correlation between OJ and various dimensions of innovation, although in some instances suggesting a neutral relationship between the two constructs. Furthermore, the research highlights knowledge sharing as a prominent intermediary variable among scholars. The study contributes significantly by demystifying the nuances of the relationship between OJ and innovation. Second, it introduces a categorisation of OJ and innovation subconstructs and identifies emergent concepts based on cluster analysis. Third, it presents a comprehensive conceptual model linking OJ, innovation, and several variables. Finally, the study offers seven theoretical research directions aimed at deepening our understanding of this topic.
In this paper, we review the development of critical management studies, point at problems and explore possible developments. We begin by tracing out two previous waves of critical management studies. We then focus on more recent work in critical management studies and identify ten over‐arching themes (Academia, alternatives organizations, control and resistance, discourse, Foucauldian studies, gender, identity, Marxism, post‐colonialism, and psychoanalysis). We argue that CMS has largely relied on one‐dimensional critique which focused on negation. This has made the field increasingly stale, focused on the usual suspects and predictable. We identify a number of problems calling for critique and rethinking. We label these author‐itarianism, obscurantism, formulaic radicalism, usual‐suspectism and empirical light‐touchism.
I denna essä om hur den ideologiska styrningen av universitetet påverkar akademisk frihet tas avstamp i två fallstudier där enskilda forskare ifrågasatt förändringsinitiativ som i bred bemärkelse skildras som goda, rätta och sanna. Genom att studera hur kritik mot dessa förändringsinitiativ bemöts, visar vi hur dessa antaganden om godhet fungerar som en form av normativ styrning som även påverkar den formella maktutövningen. Vi visar hur en sådan styrning utgör ett hinder för konstruktiv dialog inom universitetet. Essän avslutas med en reflektion kring hur hotet mot den akademiska friheten kan härledas både inom och utom akademin.
Recent conceptualizations of trends in the structure of U.S. industry have focused on the relative importance of markets, hierarchies, and hybrid intermediate forms. This paper advances the discussion by distinguishing three ideal-typical forms of organization and their corresponding coordination mechanisms: market/price, hierarchy/authority, and community/trust. Different institutions combine the three forms/mechanisms in different proportions. Economic and organizational theory have shown that, compared to trust, price and authority are relatively ineffective means of dealing with knowledge-based assets. Therefore, as knowledge becomes increasingly important in our economy, we should expect high-trust institutional forms to proliferate.
A review of trends in employment relations, interdivisional relations, and interfirm relations finds evidence suggesting that the effect of growing knowledge-intensity may indeed be a trend toward greater reliance on trust. There is also reason to believe that the form of trust most effective in this context is a distinctively modern kind—“reflective trust”—as opposed to traditionalistic, “blind” trust. Such a trend to reflective trust appears to threaten the privileges of currently dominant social actors, and these actors' resistance, in combination with the complex interdependencies between price, authority, and trust mechanisms, imparts a halting character to the trend. But the momentum of this trend nevertheless appears to be self-reinforcing, which suggests that it may ultimately challenge the foundations of our capitalist form of society while simultaneously creating the foundations of a new, postcapitalist form.
Calls for reintroducing agency, politics and contestation into institutional analysis are now legion, spanning nearly two decades since DiMaggio’s (1988) classic piece, and gaining new urgency as scholars struggle to explain institutional emergence and change. Institutionalists face persistent difficulties in these tasks. Working from arguments about isomorphism, diffusion, or path dependence, they often invoke ad hoc explanations like exogenous shocks in order to reconcile change and path creation with theories that stress the contextual sources of stability, continuity and conformity (Greenwood and Hinings 1996; Clemens and Cook 1999; Campbell 2004; Streeck and Thelen 2005; Schneiberg 2005; Guillén, 2006). To address these difficulties, institutionalists have begun to revise both their conceptions of fields and their views of action. From a structural standpoint, some scholars increasingly view fields as comprised of multiple logics, or by indeterminacy, ambiguities or contradictions, opening theoretical spaces for action (Scott et al. 2000; Stryker 2000; Seo and Creed 2002; Schneiberg 2007; Lounsbury 2007; Marquis & Lounsbury forthcoming). Focusing more on agency, other scholars have brought new attention to actors and what they do, producing studies of “institutional entrepreneurs” (Beckert 1999; Hwang and Powell 2005; Hardy and McGuire, this volume) and institutional work (Lawrence and Suddaby 2006). Within this milieu, scholars have also sought to overcome “excessive institutional determinism” by turning to social movement theory and the study of collective mobilization.
Spanning sociology and political science, social movement theory has produced a wealth of concepts and research on change, including studies of students organizing to register black voters in the 1960s (McAdam1988), the mobilization of farmers, workers and women to make claims on the state (Clemens 1997), shareholder activism to contest managerial control over corporations (Davis and Thompson 1994), the growth of identity movements pursuing peace, gay/lesbian rights and environmentalism (e.g., Laraña, Johnston and Gusfield 1994), and the rise of transnational pressure groups (Keck and Sikkink 1998). What these studies share is an interest in contestation and collective mobilization processes—how groups coalesce to make claims for or against certain practices or actors in order to create or resist new institutional arrangements or transform existing ones. They also share an interest in tracing how contestation and collective action rest on the capacity of groups to mobilize resources and recruit members, their ability to engage in cultural entrepreneurship or frame issues to increase acceptance of their claims, and the political opportunity structures that constrain or enable mobilization (McAdam, McCarthy and Zald 1996). This chapter focuses on how engaging collective mobilization and social movement theory has inspired new work in institutional analysis.
The integration of movements into institutional analysis has begun to revise existing imageries of institutional processes, actors, and the structure of fields, generating new leverage for explaining change and path creation. Regarding processes, it adds contestation, collective action, framing and self-conscious mobilization for alternatives to conceptual repertoires of legitimation, diffusion, isomorphism and self-reproducing taken-for-granted practices (Jepperson 1991; Colyvas and Powell 2006). Regarding actors, it counter-poses challengers and champions of alternatives to standard accounts of states, professions and other incumbents as key players. Regarding structure, it moves away from images of an isomorphic institutional world of diffusion, path dependence and conformity toward conceptions of fields as sites of contestation, organized around multiple and competing logics and forms (Kraatz and Block, this volume).
In this paper, we examine how conflicting ideologies affect organizational practice. We theorize that the basic relationship between ideology and organization is moderated by social pressures and economic incentives that result from differences between the organization and its environment on issues of ideology. Using data from Israeli kibbutzim for 1951-1965, we examine how the ideology of a set of socialist organizations affects the practices they employ and how the influence of socialist ideology is moderated by an environment that is governed by capitalism. We assess the change in the extent to which kibbutzim employed hired labor, a practice that is incompatible with kibbutzim socialist-Zionist ideology. We find that ideological organizing principles are affected by resource dependence pressures, particularly from banks, and economic incentives for organizations to change their form. These external influences combined with internal influences, such as kibbutz size, age, and industrialization, to account for kibbutzim's transition to hired labor. The results indicate how interaction with the environment can lead to the forfeiture of ideological organizing principles.
We distill existing literature on theoretical contribution into two dimensions, originality (incremental or revelatory) and utility (scientific or practical). We argue for a revision in the way scholars approach the utility dimension by calling for a view of theorizing that would enable theories with more "scope" (both scientific and practical utility). We also argue for an orientation toward "prescience" as a way of achieving scope and fulfilling our scholarly role of facilitating organizational and societal adaptiveness.
Researchers have assumed that large ownership stakes held by institutional investors grant them power to influence R&D investments, We found that ownership alone was insufficient and that institutions resorted to activism to influence R&D investments. Institutional activism increased R&D inputs over both the short and long terms. The nature of the activism and the strategic context of the R&D investment moderated the relationship. Further, R&D inputs mediated the effect of activism on R&D outputs.
Choosing a president in an organization is an important political decision that reflects who controls the organization and the bases for that control. In this paper, a model of power based on resources in the organization and the environment is specified in order to understand how power shifted between intraorganizational units in the 100 largest U.S. firms between 1919 and 1979. Early in the century, large firms were controlled by entrepreneurs or personnel who came up through manufacturing. In the middle decades, sales and marketing personnel controlled large firms. In the past 25 years, finance personnel have become increasingly dominant. These shifts resulted from changes in the strategy and structure of the organizations, changes in antitrust laws that promoted an increase in product-related and unrelated mergers in the postwar era, and the mimicking of firms in similar environments.
This paper examines the role of accounting calculations in the process of reorganizing the manufacturing capabilities of a vertically integrated global retailing company. In contrast to mainstream analyses that emphasize the novelty and mutual benefits of teamwork, we show how its introduction to replace line work extended rather than supplanted traditional, hierarchical systems of management control. Management's intention was to engender a self-managing means of continuous improvement of working practices, but the self-managing demands of teamwork contravened workers' established sense of self-identity as "machinists" and "mates." Output was raised by changing to a group bonus system, but the move to teamwork had the unintended effect of fermenting hostility toward the managerial goal of making the teams fully self-managing.
An interorganizational network consisting of one United Way organization and 46 of its member agencies was studied to determine whether power relations within the network were modified by various possible linkages between the agencies and other elements in the community upon which the United Way organization depends for its survival. The general argument was that agencies that have linkages with important community elements would be more powerful relative to United Way than agencies lacking such linkages. To integrate conceptual and methodological distinctions in the literature, five measures of power were developed: two measures of perceived power, one of potential power, and two measures of enacted power. Specific hypotheses were developed and tested using data obtained from interviews with agency directors and staff, and from agency and United Way records. Results varied for different measures of power, with results for potential power, measured as net dependence, best supporting the hypotheses. Additional analysis revealed interaction effects between potential power and both perceived and enacted power measures. Most notably, agencies with low potential power were more successful in budget requests and in obtaining increased funding from United Way if they experienced client growth and had low costs per client. Agencies with high potential power did better if they had relatively many joint programs with other agencies and high costs per client.
In this paper, we analyse the significance of compassion as an emotion in its relationship to various manifestations of power within the organisational context. We critique those theories of compassion that assume that compassion in organsational contexts is motivated only by a noble intent. The paper draws on a study of organisational responses to the flood that devastated the City of Brisbane Australia on the morning of 11 January 2011. We use a framework of ‘circuits of power’ to provide a triple focus on interpersonal, organisational and societal uses of power together with a model of coercive, instrumental and normative organisational power. We present our findings in a framework constructed by overlapping these frameworks. The unique contribution of this paper is to provide a conceptualisation of organisational compassion enmeshed with various modes of power exercised in and by organisations.
Ranging from Weber's ideal‐typical analysis of bureaucratic domination to Burt's structural hole theory, the analysis of the determinants and consequences of power have played an important role in organization theory. Research in organizational power and dependence follows, however, not a single line of development but disparate and at times contradictory approaches. These include views of power as emerging from bureaucratic structures, shifting political coalitions, structural contingencies and resource dependencies, organizational demography, institutional logics and organizational networks. These multiple approaches have not come together into a unified understanding of power and dependence, but reflect instead an organized anarchy of diverse research problems and theoretical solutions all identifying the ubiquity and criticality of organizational power, but relying on different mechanisms to explain its determinants and consequences.
This second edition of a seminal work includes the original text, first published 30 years ago, alongside two major new chapters. Power, Freedom and Reason assesses the main debates about how to conceptualize and study power, including the influential contributions of Michel Foucault. Power Revisited reconsiders Steven Lukes' own views in light of these debates and of criticisms of his original argument. With a new introduction and bibliographical essay, this book will consolidate its reputation as a classic work and a major reference point within social and political theory.
This analysis considers the impact of the top managers in an organization on the organization's outcomes, specifically strategic choices and performance levels. The focus is not on the chief executive alone, but rather on the entire top management team. Using a macro view, these organizational outcomes are perceived to be related to the values and cognitive bases of those high-power individuals in the organization. In developing the model, emphasis is on the background characteristics of the top managers as opposed to the psychological dimensions. A series of propositions that should be tested to support the upper echelons theory are presented. The topics of these propositions include age, functional track, other career experiences, education, socioeconomic roots, financial position, and group characteristics. The creation of this model is just the beginning of the work that is necessary to evaluate and understand the upper echelons theory. Further input is needed from areas such as the executive recruiting industry. Additionally, clinical and statistical studies are both necessary to fully develop this theory. (SRD)
In an age when large corporations dominate the economic and political landscape, it is tempting to think that their power goes largely unchecked. Contesting the Corporation counters this view by showing that today's corporations are driven by political struggle, power plays and attempts to resist control. Building on a wide range of theoretical sources, Fleming and Spicer present an analysis of the different ways in which power operates within the modern workplace. They begin by building a theoretical perspective that synthesizes previous investigations of power and resistance, identifying struggle as a key concept. Each subsequent chapter illustrates a different dimension of workplace struggle through an array of original empirical studies relating to sexuality, cynicism, new social movements and new-wave trade unionism. The book concludes by demonstrating that social justice claims underlie even the most innocuous forms of resistance, helping to transform some of the largest modern corporations. © Peter Fleming and André Spicer and Cambridge University Press, 2007.
This paper explores the experiences of staff working under a business process re-engineering (BPR) work regime. We examine the nature of work within a team-based, multi-skilled and empowered environment within financial services. Despite mixed responses our case study indicates that for those employees who remain in employment after 're-engineering', working conditions may become more stressful and intensive. Although some staff may welcome those elements of a BPR work regime that facilitate a more varied work experience, the possibilities for satisfaction are often curtailed due to management's preoccupation with productivity and 'bottom line' results. In practice BPR is neither as simple to implement nor as 'rational' in its content as the gurus would have us believe. Partly for these reasons it is also not as coercive in its control over labour as some critics fear. While managers may only want to encourage employee autonomy that is productive to its ends, we identify a number of occasions where autonomy is disruptive of corporate goals. The paper seeks to add to our understanding of 'stress', 'resistance' and management 'control' by considering the ways in which staff engage in the operation of BPR so as to maintain and reproduce these conditions. This dynamic cannot be understood, however, outside of the relations of power and inequality that characterize society and employment.
A job is no longer something we "do," but instead something we “are.” As the boundaries between work and non-work have dissolved, we restructure ourselves and our lives using social ingenuity to get things done and be resourceful outside the official workday. In his provocative book, Resisting Work Peter Fleming insists that many jobs in the West are now regulated by a new matrix of power-biopower-where "life itself" is put to work through our ability to self-organize around formal rules. This neoliberal system of employment tries to absorb our life attributes--from our consumer tastes, "downtime," and sexuality--into employment so that questions of human capital and resources replace questions of employee, worker, and labor. Fleming then suggests that the corporation turns to communal life-what he calls "the common"-in order to reproduce itself and reinforce corporate culture. Yet a resistance against this new definition of work is in effect, and Fleming shows how it may already be taking shape.
American society today is shaped not nearly as much by vast open spaces as it is by vast, bureaucratic organizations. Over half the working population toils away at enterprises with 500 or more employees--up from zero percent in 1800. Is this institutional immensity the logical outcome of technological forces in an all-efficient market, as some have argued? In this book, the first organizational history of nineteenth-century America, Yale sociologist Charles Perrow says no. He shows that there was nothing inevitable about the surge in corporate size and power by century's end. Critics railed against the nationalizing of the economy, against corporations' monopoly powers, political subversion, environmental destruction, and "wage slavery." How did a nation committed to individual freedom, family firms, public goods, and decentralized power become transformed in one century?Bountiful resources, a mass market, and the industrial revolution gave entrepreneurs broad scope. In Europe, the state and the church kept private organizations small and required consideration of the public good. In America, the courts and business-steeped legislators removed regulatory constraints over the century, centralizing industry and privatizing the railroads. Despite resistance, the corporate form became the model for the next century. Bureaucratic structure spread to government and the nonprofits. Writing in the tradition of Max Weber, Perrow concludes that the driving force of our history is not technology, politics, or culture, but large, bureaucratic organizations.Perrow, the author of award-winning books on organizations, employs his witty, trenchant, and graceful style here to maximum effect. Colorful vignettes abound: today's headlines echo past battles for unchecked organizational freedom; socially responsible alternatives that were tried are explored along with the historical contingencies that sent us down one road rather than another. No other book takes the role of organizations in America's development as seriously. The resultant insights presage a new historical genre.
Although the fields of organization theory and social movement theory have long been viewed as belonging to different worlds, recent events have intervened, reminding us that organizations are becoming more movement-like - more volatile and politicized - while movements are more likely to borrow strategies from organizations. Organization theory and social movement theory are two of the most vibrant areas within the social sciences. This collection of original essays and studies both calls for a closer connection between these fields and demonstrates the value of this interchange. Three introductory, programmatic essays by leading scholars in the two fields are followed by eight empirical studies that directly illustrate the benefits of this type of cross-pollination. The studies variously examine the processes by which movements become organized and the role of movement processes within and among organizations. The topics covered range from globalization and transnational social movement organizations to community recycling programs.
I suspect that many members of our field, including those in leadership positions, believe that our hypercommitment to theory - and particularly the requirement that every article must contribute to theory - is somehow on the side of the angels. They may believe that this is a hallmark of a serious field. They may believe that theory is good and that the "mere" description of phenomena and generation of facts are bad. Worse yet, they may have given no thought to these matters, accepting our field's zeal about theory as simply part of the cosmos. My aim has been to promote a rethinking of these positions. Theory is critically important for our field, and we should remain committed to it. And, for sure, the greatest acclaim will always go to those who develop breakthrough theories. So there is plenty of incentive to keep working on theory. But it takes much more than theory for an academic field to advance. Indeed, various types of atheoretical or pretheoretical work can be instrumental in allowing theory to emerge or develop. Thus, our insistence in the field of management that all papers contribute to theory may actually have the unintended perverse effect of stymying the discovery of important theories. More broadly, this norm - or policy, really - is holding back our field.
It is of prime importance to provide a much more rigorous scrutiny of the concept of place than can be found in classical time-geography. 'Place' cannot be used simply to designate 'a point in space'. Introduces the term 'locale' to refer to the use of space to provide the settings of social interaction. The properties of these settings - in effect, the distribution of the conditions of action in space and time - are used by agents in the constitution of encounters across space and time. -from Editors
Many bureaucracies still exist, and not just in the public sector. Increasingly, however, we would argue that they are more likely to evolve towards polyarchic forms because of the growing centrality of stakeholder resistance, especially that which is premised on empowerment of key employees. We suggest that managerial responses to this resistance are transforming bureaucracies through process of accommodation: upper echelon managers invent responses to contentious acts and voices so as to reintegrate ‘resisters’ while rewarding them for contesting decisions in a cooperative way. Understanding these processes help us understand why traditional bureaucracy is currently transforming itself as a result of the emergence of new forms of resistance in the workplace.
This study examines strategies that business lobbyists, consumer groups, unions, and federal agencies employ to shape federal legislation. Interviews with U.S. senators and congressmen preceded a questionnaire survey of 435 chief legislative policymakers. Results reveal that the three major sectors adopt different strategy sets and these strategy sets have varying impacts on the legislative process. Many of the critical problems plaguing business are the result of changes in external forces and constraints. In response to these pressures corporations have begun devoting extensive resources to external affairs projects, long-range planning, and public relations campaigns. Development of effective strategies for coping with governmental regulation has proven especially perplexing (Weaver, 1977). Formulation of political strategies is complicated by changes in philosophies underlying businessgovernment relations. The transition from a laissez-faire philosophy to one embodying extensive governmental involvement in business decisions is manifest in many ways. The structures, powers, and orientations of federal agencies clearly demonstrate the magnitude of this transition. Traditionally federal regulatory agencies were industry specific, narrow in scope, lacking in enforcement powers, and concerned primarily with fostering the development of their industry. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) (commercial aviation industry), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (telecommunications industry), the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) (trucking/highway transportation industry), and the Atomic Energy
A review of decision research suggests that the design stage is a neglected aspect of the decision-making process. This study develops a conceptual model for analyzing the design of alternatives in organizations, and applies it in three case studies. The model has two basic dimensions which may affect the range and quality of options generated in the design process. One is the mix and type of creativity and search; the other is the degree and type of closure to other phases of decision making. Comparative analysis of the cases offers qualified support for the hypotheses, and clear evidence that the impact of alternatives design on decision outcomes warrants greater attention to this stage of the decision-making process.
This research examines the effects of managerial power and corporate performance on managerial tenure and longevity and the probability of managerial succession in 242 large industrial corporations between 1971 and 1980. The power of a chief executive officer is defined in terms of his relationship to any family represented on the board of directors that controls a significant block of the voting stock in the corporation. Managerial power was directly related to both managerial tenure and longevity, even controlling for the effects of corporate performance. Similarly, managerial power was inversely related to the probability of managerial succession during periods of poor corporate performance. These relationships were contingent, however, on the extent of stock ownership by the controlling family. Finally, although the proportion of internal directors had no effect on either managerial tenure or longevity, it did have an effect, along with corporate performance, on the degree of internal recruitment for a successor to the chief executive officer.
In recent years a rich outpouring of case studies on community decision-making has been combined with a noticeable lack of generalizations based on them. One reason for this is a commonplace: we have no general theory, no broad-gauge model in terms of which widely different case studies can be systematically compared and contrasted.
Among the obstacles to the development of such a theory is a good deal of confusion about the nature of power and of the things that differentiate it from the equally important concepts of force, influence, and authority. These terms have different meanings and are of varying relevance; yet in nearly all studies of community decision-making published to date, power and influence are used almost interchangeably, and force and authority are neglected. The researchers thereby handicap themselves. For they utilize concepts which are at once too broadly and too narrowly drawn: too broadly, because important distinctions between power and influence are brushed over; and too narrowly, because other concepts are disregarded—concepts which, had they been brought to bear, might have altered the findings radically.
Many investigators have also mistakenly assumed that power and its correlatives are activated and can be observed only in decisionmaking situations. They have overlooked the equally, if not more important area of what might be called “nondecision-making”, i.e. , the practice of limiting the scope of actual decisionmaking to “safe” issues by manipulating the dominant community values, myths, and political institutions and procedures. To pass over this is to neglect one whole “face” of power.
Power is a critical resource for organizational actors. Given the profound importance of power to individual functioning, it is essential to understand how some individuals acquire power when others do not, why some individuals retain their power once they have attained it, and why others fall from their lofty positions in spite of the political advantages power provides. In this review, we conceptualize power as a process that unfolds over time and review research that speaks to three distinct but related dynamics: the acquisition, maintenance, and loss of power. We address and attempt to reconcile a burgeoning set of findings that appear to conflict with each other, especially findings vis-à-vis the maintenance and loss of power. We conclude by addressing overlooked topics and areas for future research.
Processes of control remain central to managerial and critical theories of organization, but their inherently emotional form has been largely neglected. The experience and expression of emotions are more than simply objects and outcomes of control, they also shape its context, processes, and consequences. Drawing upon observations of interpersonal encounters between environmental regulatory inspectors and industrial managers in the U.K., an emotional framing of the dynamics of control Is developed. This presents emotion as a condition and consequence of interacting socioeconomic roles and power structures such as those associated with occupations, gender, and capitalism. It also provides a way of analyzing control that is sensitive to its emotional characteristics and may be applied to other, more conventional control contexts.
The creation of new roles commonly threatens the power and status of elite professionals through the substitution of their labour. In this paper we examine the institutional work carried out by elite professionals to maintain their professional dominance when threatened. Drawing on 11 case sites from the English National Health Service (NHS) where new nursing or medical roles have been introduced, threatening the power and status of specialist doctors, we observed the following. First, the professional elite respond through institutional work to supplant threat of substitution with the opportunity for them to delegate routine tasks to other actors and maintain existing resource and control arrangements over the delivery of services in a way that enhances elite professionals' status. Second, other professionals outside the professional elite, but relatively powerful within their own professional group, are co-opted by the professional elite to engage in institutional work to maintain existing arrangements. Our work extends Lawrence and Suddaby's typology of institutional work in three ways. First, we reveal how different types of institutional work interact, and how different types of institutional work cross categories of creating or maintaining institutions. Second, we show how an actor's social position or status, both intra-professionally as well as inter-professionally, in the institutional field frame the institutional work they engage in. Third, the institutional work of 'theorizing' by professional elites appears particularly significant, specifically the focus of the institutional work to invoke the concept of 'risk' associated with any change in service delivery, which maintains the model of medical professionalism.
Through a rich empirical study of forms of collective action in Ghana, this paper examines how groups sustain co-operation in the absence of strong legal institutions and mechanisms (such as legal contracts or regulated loan finance) that are often taken for granted in most ‘western’ economies. It presents evidence from case studies of micro-saving groups, palm oil processing groups and transport associations, which indicate that co-operation is based on trust and power, both of which are based on culturally specific norms. Decisions to co-operate are shaped by a combination of conscious calculations, habitual actions and unquestioning compliance or obedience. The way that trust and power are articulated also varies according to local context, and attempts to facilitate and support co-operative activities have to build on the existing co-operative structures that are embedded in the local, culturally specific, social relations.
Psychoanalysis has been widely used to develop our understanding of power in organizations. In this paper, I draw on a case study of a non-profit organization in the field of international development, in order to explore in depth how people engage with powerful discourses at play in this context. I use an ethnographic approach to do so, and find Lacan's ideas on identification and affect to be useful in the analysis of the case. I show how, at first glance, people appeared to readily alter their activities and goals in response to the wishes of an important donor. However, moving deeper to examine identifications on the part of people themselves reveals complex forms of recognition that were inscribed by affective relations. I discuss the implications of these findings for the study of organizations, including the contribution of the concept of affect for studies of identification and subjection in organizations, and the value of ethnographic research approaches that draw upon Lacan's work on recognition.
Elite analysis has re-emerged as a central theme in contemporary organization studies. This paper builds on recent contributions to this revitalized field by developing a distinctive theoretical approach and substantive agenda for the study of power relations and elite ruling in organization studies. By drawing on a realist/materialist ontology and a neo-Weberian analytical framework, the paper identifies the idea of ‘command situations’ as the key concept for identifying changing mechanisms and forms of elite domination and control in contemporary socio-political orders. Three case histories are subsequently discussed in order to provide illustrative examples of the way in which this analytical framework can enhance our understanding of the complex interplay between ‘institutional’ and ‘interstitial’ power as it shapes the emergence of hybrid governance regimes through which contemporary regimes of elite domination and rule become organized.
This article identifies key dimensions of organizational politics as described in incidents of "political behaviors" experienced by people in workplaces. It rejects the idea that all political behaviors are "bad" and suggests that behaving politically is a necessary part of enabling organizations to run effectively and efficiently.
This paper proposes and tests a model that predicts the extent to which members of organizational units will engage in ongoing attempts to influence the design and operations of other units, documenting interunit behavior that may be explicitly or implicitly political. The proposed model is thus derived from organization design perspectives on political behavior. The model predicts that resource constraints and lowered commitment to the status quo trigger influence activity within a set of related units and that this influence activity, along with other facets of interunit relationships (communication, formalization, and coordination uncertainty), in turn predicts the extent of a specific unit's influence attempts. Findings from a well-controlled test on 295 management units in 46 divisions of a large organization generate strong support for the model and tend to disconfirm rival explanations.
This paper criticizes the assumption that participation of the less powerful in decision-making processes results in a reduction of differences in power between the more powerful and the less powerful. Empirical data about European work councils support this point of view. Preconditions are specified in which participation will, on the contrary, increase power differences, and the hypothesis is proved in three laboratory experiments.
Previous research about the results of leadership training has revealed both desired and dysfunctional consequences. The effects of leadership training are shown to depend on social influences which both support and hinder the transfer of training into managerial performance. Three specific sources of social influences are described and three dimensions of social influence are advanced. Earlier studies are reviewed to illustrate how the social influence variables account for the dysfunctions of leadership training. Interactions between various types of leadership training and the social influences are hypothesized. Finally, a proposition is advanced to explain and permit prediction of the consequences of leadership training in varying situations.
This paper proposes an alternative to resource-dependence approaches to strategic behavior, which predict that actors seek direct cooptive relations to alleviate constraint. I propose that an actor can gain leverage on a limiting party by building a cooptive relation with a player that may control this party's behavior, thus using two-step leverage. Data on dependence relations, political alliances, and confidential discussion networks among decision makers in a cooperative agribusiness furnish evidence of both direct and two-step leverage and clarify the contexts in which these two strategies are used. As predicted by the resource-dependence approach, leaders build ties of interpersonal obligation with people directly affecting their performance in the organization. When policy divergences or personal frictions make these ties untenable, however, leaders build strong cooptive relations with people who may constrain the performance of the party on whom they depend. Based on these results, I discuss an extension of resource-dependence theory and explore the potential uses of two-step leverage mechanisms in organizational politics.
This paper contributes to a recent movement to reframe entrepreneurship theory into a more critical and reflexive mode. It builds on the processual notion of entrepreneuring-as-emancipation to theorize a balanced conception of agency and active constraint rooted in the notion of power rituals. We develop a micro-sociological analysis of power rituals that conceives power reproduction and entrenchment as a 'practice-based' activity that focuses on what power holders and subordinates concretely do, think and feel. This makes emotion a key dimension of entrepreneurial agency and redefines constraining barriers to agency in terms of a social process of 'barring'. This novel approach is illustrated using an autobiographical account of a social entrepreneurship project. On the basis of this analysis, a number of insights are provided into the ways in which the power-as-practice approach can inform wider debates in organization studies where the notions of agency and constraint are linked to issues of power and resistance.
How do product managers with little or no formal authority gain support for their product lines? This article reports the results of an exploratory field study designed to identify the sources of interpersonal influence used by product managers. The authors illustrate how various forms of influence are exerted by product managers in the absence of formal authority.
Many scholars have noted the disparity between Marxian approaches to macro societal issues and neo-Durkheimian sociologies of consciousness in micro settings. The first focuses on the real structures of society, the second on the social construction of reality. Theory of formal organizations, largely in the tradition of Weber, is a good place to attempt to link these major but divergent schools. Such linkage might occur from two directions: scaling Marxism down to the level of organizational practice, and scaling micro sociologies up to the level of organizational structure. For the first of these tasks, we can use special tools from the phenomenological tradition to reinterpret Marx's category of labor into that of the Lebenspraxis of everyday organizational life. For the second task, we may reinterpret ethnomethodological and symbolic interactionist studies. Though emerging from Durkheim's work on symbolism and ritual, and though ostensibly of discrete settings, these studies are in fact conducted within formal organizations. "Rationality," "legitimacy," or "authority" are structures of consciousness as well as features of face-to-face settings; as such, their construction can be reinterpreted phenomenologically as the praxiological foundations of organizational life, the organizing out of which organizations are constituted.
This paper examines the use of influence diagrams to help understand political processes within organizations. This technique is illustrated through a case study of a new extended care facility connected to a hospital. Advantages of influence diagrams are highlighted by comparing the level of understanding before and after the technique was used. The improvement in performance that may be derived from the use of influence diagrams is discussed. Finally, the implications of the case for important issues in organization theory, particularly those dealing with internal politics and conflict, are discussed.