Power in Management and Organization Science

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent AbstractThis paper reviews and evaluates the concept of power in management and organization science. In order to organize the extant literature on this topic, we develop a framework that identifies four faces of power (i.e., coercion, manipulation, domination and subjectification) and four sites of power (i.e., power enacted 'in', 'through', 'over' and 'against' organizations). This allows us to evaluate assumptions both shared and contested in the field. Building on the review, the paper then points to potentially novel areas of research that may extend our understandings of organizational power in management and organization science.

What Do HRD Scholars and Practitioners Need to Know About Power, Emotion, and HRD?

“…(For a comprehensive discussion of power and organizations, I recommend Clegg, Courpasson, & Phillips, . For a review and conceptualization of how organizational power functions, see Fleming & Spicer, ). I am by no means providing a complete picture of these complex and ever‐present forces. Power is an embodied force that is part of our everyday selves .…”

“…We carry power with us in our relations, in our experiences, and in our conscience. For example, when a person shouts, “Hey, you,” at us from behind, we turn and think, “What do they want?” When a police officer shouts, “Hey, you,” at us, we think, “What have I done wrong?” In this sense we are subject to power—it defines the conditions underlying how we experience ourselves as people (Fleming & Spicer, ). Power is implicit within interpersonal relations . For example, hierarchies are present in organizations, and these are both real and imagined.…”

“…However, attempts at development may also give rise to “learning inaction”—our (conscious and unconscious) awareness or knowledge of when it is emotionally and politically expedient to refrain from action, when to avoid collective action, and the organizational dynamics that inform a failure to act. It is important to be aware that power can be exercised so as not to achieve a desired goal (Fleming & Spicer, ) and that learning and development may be complicit in this process. In developing ideas and practice for HRD we need to recognize that our strategies and approaches may contribute to ways of working that reduce learning capacity and that help to restrict or oversimplify what can be learned.…”

Politics and Power in Multinational Companies: Integrating the International Business and Organization Studies Perspectives

“…The work of Lukes has inspired research, including by Clegg (1989), Clegg et al (2006) and more recently Fleming and Spicer (2014), that applies multi-dimensional approaches to study the dynamics of politics and different facets of power relations in organizations. These applications also involved some criticism of the original model and have led to significant adaptations.…”

“…Key studies from each of the two approaches historically focused on different dimensions of power (Clegg et al 2006;Fleming & Spicer, 2014). Micro-political studies in both OS and IB have mainly concentrated on the role of 'coercion' and 'manipulation' in struggles within MNCs.…”