A Strategic Contingencies' Theory of Intraorganizational Power

Organizational and systems theory: An integrated review.

“…This research was designed to identify which variables are most Influential in determining power. The hypotheses in e this study were (Hickson et al, 1971) …”

“…In analyzing power, one attempts to determine the most powerful subunit. A further area of analysis concerns factors that function to vary dependency and power (Hickson et al, 1971;Salancik and Pfeffer, 1974). "Perrow (1970).attempted to identify the most powerful subunit in industrial firms.…”

“…Organizations may allocate task areas that vary in uncertainty to their subunits. The greatest power will be given to those subunits that cope most effectively with the uncertainty (Hickson et al, 1971). Those subunits that were •'.…”

“…4 to meet the requirements or needs of other individuals and/or units and (b) the relative effectiveness of maintaining this ability in competition with other powqer seeking units. Hickson et al (1971) suggested that dependency is related to three .-onditions: (1) the amount of "coping -with ioncertainty" that a unit (division) or group does for other units or ".-groups within the organization; (2) the degree cf substitutability of the S coping mechanisms which really means "how maniy alternatives are available? ";…”

Trust as Networking Knowledge: Precedents from Australia

“…The remaining 15 items relate to aspects of networks that have been suggested in the literature as being related to the level of trust between network members. Most of these are self evident, with the exception, perhaps, of item 13, which emerges from the literature on strategic contingencies and power (Hickson et al, 1971). The presumption here is that if there is one such member, then, the network members will be overly reliant on them-and thus may either feel that they have to trust them or that because the fate of the network lies in their hands that they cannot trust them at all.…”