Download - Power, Control and Resistance 2014
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Topic: Power, Control, and Resistance
Developed by Dr. Ruth Barton, RMIT University
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Aims of the lecture
Questions of power
How power works; 4 faces of power
Resistance and control
Types of resistance
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Questions of Power
POWER
What is power?
Several dimensions and bases
Who has power?
How is influence achieved?
How is power obtained
in organisations? What
alternative theories and perspectives
are there?
What of resistance?
Another form of power?
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How Does Power Work in Organisations?
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Organisations are
hierarchical
Power as the ability
to control social interaction
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What is Power?
OB blind towards power
An individual capacity?
Property of the person or collective?
Power as the prerogative of
wise or wealthy men?
Two broad
traditions
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Normative
(most
rational
way of
organising
power)
Realpolitik
(how does
power
actually
operate)
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Power in Mainstream Theory
Bases of power
► Reward
► Coercive
► Referent
► Legitimate
► Expert
(French & Raven 1959)
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Trend spotting as Power
information power in the advertising industry
Control over information flow
legitimate power
More power to those who can help firms cope with uncertainty in contemporary business
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Power : Mainstream Theory (Runciman 1999)
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Economic
Ideological
Coercive
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The Four ‘Faces’ of Power
► Coercion
► Manipulation
► Domination
► Subjectification
(Fleming and Spicer 2007)
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1st Face of Power: Coercion
Coercion
►one individual getting another to follow his/her
orders
Direct coercion
►getting another person to do something that
might not have been done.
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The First Face of Power and Control
Rational bureaucratic control (Weber)
►Process standardisation
►Functional specialisation
►Hierarchical coordination
Taylor’s scientific and Fordist mass production regimes
►Highly personalised and relatively confrontational
forms of supervision
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The First Face of Power and Control
Control in the workplace
►Remote
►Depersonalised
►Well integrated
►Unobtrusive
Type of surveillance
►Email scanning
►Data entry
►Phone calls
►Video surveillance
►Location monitoring
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2nd Face of Power - Manipulation
3 processes
► Anticipation of results
► Mobilisation of bias
► Rule and norm making
►Of agendas: ‘behind the
scenes’ politicking
►Exclusion from decision
making authority
►Power as manipulation:
There is no direct
exercise of power but an
implicit shaping of issues
considered important or
irrelevant.
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The Second Face of Power and Control
There are three
processes of control
• Anticipation of results
• Mobilisation of bias
• Rule and norm making
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3rd Face of Power - Domination
►Over the preferences and opinions of participants
►Power that shapes our preferences, attitudes and
political outlook
►Used in the design and implementation of
paradigmatic frameworks
►Forms of life e.g. profit
►Ideology
►Technical rationality
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The Third Face of Power and Control
►Used in the design and implementation of
paradigmatic frameworks
►Forms of life e.g. profit
►Ideology
►Technical rationality
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The Third Face of Power and Control
• Space as a frontier of control
–Buildings as structures of
non- verbal
communication
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4th Face of Power - Subjectification
►People are moulded with certain understandings of
themselves and the world around them
►The organisation moulds people into a certain type
►Use knowledge to produce compliance
►Culture of the customer
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The Fourth Face of Power and Control
Power and control operate through knowledge
►Professionalism
►Human Resource Management and performance
appraisal
►Internalisation of surveillance
►Corporate culture
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Power and iPower and Influence
Source: Wiley Publishing: Wood et al. 2013: 376
“ Influence is a behavioural response
to the exercise of power”
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Power and Influence Power and Influence
Source: Wiley Publishing: Wood et al. 2013: 387
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“A wide range of behaviour – from failure to work very hard or conscientiously, to not working at all, deliberate output restriction, practical joking, pilferage and sabotage.”
(Ackroyd and Thompson, 1999 cited in Fleming and Spicer, 2007)
“Resistance constitutes a form of power exercised by subordinates in the workplace.”
(Collinson, 1994 cited in Fleming and Spicer, 2007)
Resistance
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Resistance as Refusal
1st face of power is coercion
► Resistance is refusal to do what the person
in the position of power tells him / her to do
► Aim is to block the effects of power by
undermining the domination rather than
changing it
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Resistance as Voice
2nd face of power operates through non-participation
► Resistance is to gain access to power in order to express voice
►Internal: interest groups, trade unions
►External: social movements
►Sabotage
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Resistance as Escape
3rd face of power is domination
► Escape is to mentally disengage from the
world of work
► Tools are
►Cynicism
►scepticism
►dis-identification
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Resistance as Creation
4th face of power is subjectification
Involves using domination to create something
that was not intended by those in authority
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Conclusion
• Power is a product of human collective endeavour and we
should only expect power and politics to spring forth from
our organisational endeavours (Arendt, 1958, 1970).
• But what comes first – power or resistance?
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References • Bratton, J, Sawchuck, P, Forshaw, C, Callinan, M, & Corbett, M 2010, Work and Organization
Behaviour, 2nd edn, Palgrave MacMillan, UK. Chapter 15: Decision Making and Ethics, pp.407-432
• Clegg, S, Courpasson, D and Phillips, N (2007) Power and Organisations, London: SAGE.
• Edwards, P and Wajcman, J (2005) The Politics of Working Life, OUP: Oxford.
• Fleming, P and Spicer, A (2007) Contesting the Corporation: Struggle, Power and Resistance in
Organisations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Haslam, SA, 2004, Psychology in organisations: the social identity approach, 2nd edn, Sage
London. Chapter 6: Group decision making, pp.99-119
• Knights, D (2009) ‘Power at Work in Organisations’, in Alvesson, M, Bridgman, T and Willmott, H
(eds) The Oxford handbook of Critical Management Studies, Oxford: OUP.
• Linstead S, Fulop, L, Lilley, S 2009, Management and Organization: A critical text, 2nd edn, Palgrave
MacMillan, London. Chapter 14: Decision making in organisations, pp. 667-708
• Nelson, DL, Quick, JC, Wright, S,& Adams, C 2012, OrgB Asia-Pacific Edition, Cengage, Sydney.
Chapter 10: Decision making by individuals and groups, pp. 148-164
• Thompson, P, & McHugh, D, 2009 Work Organisations: A critical approach, Palgrave Macmillan,
London. Chapter 24: From groups to teams, pp. 369-387