LIT 7 - Guillen: complex organizations Flashcards
Guillen 2007: Definition of Power (Perrow)
Power is zero-sum, relational (over someone), exercised both inside and outside the organisation, and concerns an output of organised activity that is valued and an output that is produced only at some cost.
Guillen 2007:Zero-Sum Power
The assumption that power is such that one party’s gain is necessarily another party’s loss.
Guillen 2007:Power as Relational
Power is exercised over someone else.
Guillen 2007:Exercise of Power (Location)
Power can be exercised both inside and outside the organisation.
Guillen 2007:Power and Valued Output
Power concerns an output of organised activity that is valued.
Guillen 2007:Cost of Power
Power involves an output that is produced only at some cost.
Guillen 2007: Organisations as ‘Recalcitrant Tools’
The idea that organisations are not easily controlled and can be manipulated by various groups.
Guillen 2007: Power Amplification
Organisations amplify the power of those who control them.
Guillen 2007: Determining Organisational Goals and Means
Understanding who has the ability to determine the organisation’s goals and means is crucial when analysing power.
Guillen 2007: Bounded Rationality
The idea that those in control do not have perfect information or the ability to process it fully, making outcomes unpredictable and contestation possible.
Guillen 2007: Levels of Power Operation
Power operates at all levels: individual, intra-organisational, inter-organisational, and societal.
Guillen 2007: Unintended Consequences of Power
The exercise of power can lead to both benign and catastrophic unintended consequences at all levels.
Guillen 2007: ‘Efficiency for Whom?’
A question Perrow uses as a methodological device to unveil power and its workings.
Guillen 2007: Endogeneity in Organisational Theory
The idea that stated organisational goals and desired outcomes are determined as part of the interaction among organisational participants, both inside and outside.
Guillen 2007: Limited Stakeholder Consideration (Critique)
Perrow’s analysis is criticised for using a constraining two-way distinction between organisational ‘masters’ and ‘employees’, neglecting other stakeholder distinctions.
Guillen 2007: Assumed Conflict of Interest (Critique)
Perrow assumes that the conflict of interest between stakeholders is readily apparent and monotonic, which may not always be the case.
Guillen 2007: Latent Power Relations (Critique)
Perrow’s model in the last chapter fails to elaborate on how power relations exist even when there is no observable behaviour.
Guillen 2007: Dismissal of Culture (Critique)
Perrow’s analysis often dismisses culture as an explanation, which is seen as a missed opportunity to understand organisational goals and means.
Guillen 2007: Limited Engagement with New Institutionalism (Critique)
Despite criticisms, the new institutionalism’s insights on how institutions shape the structure of power could have been more thoroughly integrated.
Guillen 2007: Institutions and Power
Institutions are seen as ‘settlements born from struggle and bargaining’ that reflect and affect the distribution of resources and power.
