Chapter 7 - Power In-depth Flashcards
What did Kanter find out in her study of executive levels in a major industrial company?
Structural conditions change how people unconsciously perceive, judge and act towards each other. The proportion of men-women influenced the way management teams functioned, both the majority and the minority.
What are three effects that Kanter identified in unbalanced groups with a clear majority vs minority/token?
- A minority/token receives a lot of attention
- There is a contrast between the majority and the minority/token
- The token/minority adapts to the majority by assimilation and distancing.
Describe Kanter’s findings on attention.
As a token you stick out and receive attention for it, mostly for visible and external aspects. Since you are different, it could affect how liked you are. Similarity is the largest explanation for liking, and you may be judged more critically than if someone from the majority did the same thing. The token is seen as a representative of its category, while someone from the majority is an own individual.
Describe Kanter’s findings on Contrast.
A skewed group has a different dynamic than a balanced one. Upon entrance of a token, the thought and actions of the group will be strengthened as a result of feeling threatened. The majority reinforces the contrast to the token, and the token helps produce it just by its presence.
Describe Kanter’s findings on assimilation and distancing.
Categorical attention and exclusive group culture puts pressure on tokens to adapt to the majority. Unconscious assimilation can be done by distancing themselves from members of the same category, even outside of work. This is to show loyalty to the group, but tends to make the token remain a token in an unbalanced group.
What are Weber’s three types of legitimate authority, and in what way to they link to Mintzberg?
- Charismatic authority = simple structure (common in start-ups)
- Traditional authority = Professional bureaucracy
- Formal-rational authority = Machine bureaucracy
What characterises Weber’s Charismatic authority?
Based on personal qualities and individual strengths. Subordinates believe the leader as a person, because of charm and charisma (=heroic leaders). Vulnerable kind of authority, since it is dependent on leaders remaining their perceived charisma.
What characterises Weber’s Traditional authority?
Power is attributed because of traditions, customs and history (royalty/religion). Creates inequality and injustice because it hinders competent/merited people from gaining position. Dominant leaders continue to be superior unless questioned.
What characterises Weber’s Formal-rational authority?
The most developed and civilised form of power, position is defined by rationally designed hierarchical structures = meritocracy. High position is equal to knowledge/skills. When the person leave work in the evening, they lose their authority until they get back in the morning. Legitimate, effective and fair.
What are the main ideas of Michel’s theory of the Iron law of oligarchy?
Bureaucracy is a tool for creating a ruling class of the most senior managers. Management requires extensive administrative knowledge, which creates a gap to those in lower levels, and unites senior leaders from different organisations. They collaborate with each other to sustain their high position. The meritocratic ideal is thus not found in reality, since lower levels don’t have any chance to gain access to the ruling elite.
What are the main ideas of Acker’s theory of bureaucratic control and society’s gender systems?
Rationalization has increased the unfair and irrational division of labor between men and women. In bureaucratic systems there is no room for feelings or relationships, and demand workers to display unlimited loyalty to their position. To succeed like this, you need support functions outside of work such as cooking, washing, child care. These tasks have been passed on to those who are not expected to make a career = women. This explains women’s poorer working conditions and the expectation to take more responsibility for household work. It also explains why people strive for successful careers, where the clever exercise of power makes people willing to work hard for material rewards and career advancements.
On what level in the organization does Burawoy’s theory focus?
Labor process theory = lower levels of hierarchies = those who perform the production.
What are the three ways to lower employees’ potential influence according to Burawoy?
- Performance-based individual compensation
- An internal, flexible labor market
- Collective bargaining
What does Burawoy’s Labor process theory examine?
How the design of the labor process affects the power relationship between employees, managers and owners. Asks why workers work so hard when they only receive a small portion of the added value. Managers encourage employees to develop individual skills, which could make power more decentralised since knowledge is a power base. Instead, they can make employees work harder because the employees have accepted the capitalist order that controls them.
Explain the Performance-based individual compensation from Burawoy.
Vertical control is transformed to a vertical contest between individual employees. Higher salary, status, admiration is the reward for hard work. Managers/owners can hide that they earn most from coworkers competition/hard work by giving marginal individual wage increases.
