Power

Question 1

Pfeffer & Salancik (1978)

Answer 1

Transactions create dependence; dependencies constrain managers’ behavior

Looks at power within and across organizations

Managers are motivated to reduce dependence and to be autonomous

Firms can reduce uncertainty and interdependence on the larger social system so they lobbying to alter their environment

Has been mostly applied to explain M&A activity, composition of boards of directors, executive succession

Question 2

Bode et al. (2011)

Answer 2

How do firms respond to supply chain disruptions?

Applied organizational information processing (Galbraith, 1973) & Resource Dependence (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978)

How do firms reduce uncertainty in their supply chain environment?
o Buffering – build up slack resources and make oneself less dependent on info processing with supplier
o Bridging – internal to the relationship, share information, invest in joint risk management systems, etc.

Identified supply chain orientation and trust in partner as moderators

Question 3

Brass & Burkhardt (1993)

Answer 3

Applied structuration (Barley, 1986), Social Network Theory, and resource dependence to look at behaviors (i.e., influence tactics of an individual

Used a survey approach & social network measures on 75 people from a federal agency

Key findings:
o Formal position in the hierarchy conveys power without the need for behavior
o Use of influence tactics is popular
o When someone is in position to control information, they need to combine that with influence tactics to acquire power
o Behavior leads to advantageous positions that translates to power (structure shapes and is shaped by behavior)

Question 4

Jasperson et al. (2002)

Answer 4

Metatriangulation Review

• Applied multiple lenses to examine the literature on power in IT impacts, deployment, development, or use

Question 5

Oliver (1991)

Answer 5

Institutional theories ignored agency (i.e., institutional entrepreneurship)

Compared institutional theory and resource dependence

Where do they agree/disagree?

Org choice is constrained by multiple external pressures
• Institutional says firms have no choice, RD says they have choice

Org environments are collective and connected
• Institutional speaks to conforming to norms and beliefs and invisible pressures, RD speaks to coping with interdependencies and visible pressures

Org survival depends on response to external demands and expectations
• Isomorphism vs. adaptation

Orgs seek stability and predictability
• Orgs persist out of habit, convention; firms reduce uncertainty through power and influence

Orgs seek legitimacy
• Conform vs. Control external criteria

Orgs are interest driven
• Compliance is self-serving vs. noncompliance is self-serving

Question 6

Vickers & Fox (2005)

Answer 6

Case study of a US acquisition of a smaller UK chemicals company

networks of micro actors can coalesce and divert, delay, and influence strategic change

Question 7

Anderson & Brion 2014

Answer 7

Perspectives on Power in Organizations

Power is ASYMMETRIC control over valued resources…it is POTENTIAL influence, not influence behaviors…it is NOT Status (i.e., socially constructed)…it is NOT Leadership (powerful individuals are not always leaders)…although these are USUALLY CORRELATED

-Power provides access to job security, finanical rewards, the ability to influence others and to more easily perform one’s job

Power is process that unfolds over time (Acquisition, Maintenance, and loss of power)

Historical Perspective on Antecedents:
Power comes from….

Bureaucratic structure (Weber, 1968)
Political Coalitions (Cyert & March 1963, Thompson, 1967)
Resource Dependencies (Salancik & Pfeffer 1978)
Social Networks (Brass 2002; Burt 1992)

Or it is bestowed based on others’ perceptions:
Thibaut & Kelly 1959

Or it is born and emerges (i.e., emergent leadership; Stogdill 1948)
—self-monitoring, need for power, dominance

Future: Moderators of aquisition and maintenance of power (i.e., gender) and complexity of roles that people have in orgs (i.e., powerful in one role but not in others, power over subordinates but powerless compared to the boss)

Question 8

How is power maintained?

Answer 8

Anderson & Brion 2014 Review

• -need to defend the status quo, system justifying beliefs
• -Attributions—stereotyping those with power as more competent (i.e., halo effect in leadership)
• -Power Approach Theory
  
  • -Affect (power holders display more positive affect, power buffers against stress, provides health benefits)
  • -Cognition-influences goal setting and pursuit, abstract thinking and executive functioning
  • -Behavior – engage and neutralize threats to power, facilitates political behaviors, build coalitions

Question 9

How is power lost?

Answer 9

Anderson & Brion 2014

• Competition - others withholding information/resources
• Group Characteristics- group cohesion, power holders may abuse the group
• Individual Characteristics-race/sex, biases of others based on certain individual characteristics (invaliding female’s power)
• Ethics- corruptive influence of power, power holders care less about social approval and behave in ways that lead to power losses
• Decision-making bias - overconfident, focused on reinforcing evidence, excessive risk taking