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The beauty of a prism lies not only in its ability to refract light, but also in the varying perspectives each angle offers. Likewise the analysis of organisations is often encapsulated in three differing viewpoints. They are namely, the structural-rational, symbolic-cultural and the political approaches. Each approach individually though lacks an element or two that inhibits our ability to understand organisations fully. An integration of all three frameworks provides a fuller picture as attractive as a prism in its full glory.
The structural framework focuses on the rational and formal aspects of organisations. This approach is usually associated with excessive bureaucracy and rigidity. According to the structural framework, conflict, if and when it occurs, is due to a lack of differentiation in responsibilities. The result is a highly structured Weberian system, with a clear cut division of labour among positions which enables a high degree of specialisation. Also, the scope of authority of supervisors over subordinates is clearly demarcated, thus reducing the potential for conflict (Blau, p 0). McDonald's manifests such a Weberian system, unlike most other organizations which allow their employees more latitude. As such, conflict does occur, and people have to cope. According to Blau and Schoenherr (17, p -), structure is 'independent of the personalities and psychological dispositions of individual members", and that "organisations are not people".
To a person who lives in a world of logic and rationality, at first glance the symbolic-cultural frame appears not to carry much weight. According to the symbolic framework, what is assumed to be rational is not as rational as it appears and is actually symbolic in nature. Tests and interviews are established elements of organisational practice. According to the symbolic approach, the data produced from these is of doubtful validity; but the process communicates a sense of exclusivity and fairness to those selected. This approach thus rationalises the irrational aspects of organisations for analysts. Rational systems pursue the prediction of outcome from the starting block of activity. The symbolic system on the other hand, looks at the outcome and attempts to explain the cause of it. This is explained by man's need to have a sense of completion and a need to give meaning to events (Bolman and Deal, p 148- 18).
As can be seen, the structural-rational frame dwells in the cold, rational realm, and the symbolic-cultural frame belongs to an almost supernatural plane. The former approach does not consider the effect of humans and is relatively unitarist in analysing organisations. Argyris' (17, p 76-0) critique of Blau, emphasizes that the latter does not consider the separate components of the organisation, i.e. the human perspective. Argyris (157, p 6) highlights that it is next to impossible to understand humans, as a result of which understanding organisations is also difficult. The latter frame is reminiscent of humans in the ancient times- superstitious and seeing omens in the way the wind blows or the flight of a bird. It may lack rationality, but it helps to explain some outcomes which would otherwise not make sense. It thus provides an alternative perspective. The political approach complements and links the rational pragmatic side, as illustrated by the structural approach, as well as the irrationality of humans, as exhibited by the symbolic frame. For this reason, it is very useful to understand the nature of power and politics in organisations.
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For expedient understanding, it is necessary to define these terms. According to Cavanaugh (184, p 10-1) power is analogous to a risky investment where the source must consider the costs and benefits of using the power. Therefore, power can be considered to be potential energy, the sources of which are various (as will be seen). According to Kakabadse and Parker (184, p 5) politics are the interactions that ensue as a result of the exercise of power to achieve the desired outcome. They also suggest that politics can also be used to increase a party's power.
Bacharach and Lawler (180, p 1) argue a convincing case for treating dependence as a formal dimension of power. That is, true power is vested in one who has others dependent upon him. This link is alluded to in The Bases of Social Power by French and Raven (168, p 5-6) in which they propose five sources of power. They are namely, reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power and expert power.
Reward power refers to the carrot approach, whereby A who exerts power over B is able to reward B and thus B does what A wants in anticipation of reward. An example is piecework at a factory.
Coercive power on the other hand is the stick approach, whereby B is motivated to comply with A's wishes so as to reduce punishment. Examples of this form of power can be observed through bullying at the workplace and rumour and gossip. By not obeying A, B can be subjected to bullying and/ or victimisation by discrediting rumours, whether professional or social.
Legitimate power stems from the internal values which B carries. These dictate that A has a legitimate right to influence B which the latter is obliged to accept A's. A monarch's authority over his subjects exemplifies this. Organisational citizenship behaviour may be an effect of A, an employee, acknowledging that the organisation has the right to direct his behaviour. Thus A performs above and beyond expectations.
Referent power can be equated to charisma. As a flame to moths, people with referent power are attractive such that other people wish to identify with them. People who exhibited such characteristics were Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler.
Expert power exists because B assumes A to be an expert in his field and in deference accepts A's decisions in his field of expertise. A good example that applies to organisations is the control of technology. Mann (15, p 10) comments that by "masculinising" computers, men deny women from being able to use technology as a source of power.
It should also be analysed whether one basis of power is more desirable than another form. It can be concluded that reward power is more desirable than coercive power, because a person would cease performing the desired action the moment the threat of punishment is removed. However resistance would be lesser in the case of reward power, because it is perceived to be an advantageous situation. Amongst the other three bases of power, legitimate power appears to be the most stable, as it is a result of deep seated values which have been ingrained into the psyche of the people. Expert power only lasts as long as one preserves the mirage of superior knowledge. For example, A might be the first in the organisation to learn a new technique. As long as the rest of the organisation remains unfamiliar in the technique, they will defer to A. Once the scales are more balanced, A loses expert power. Therefore, A's interest is in restricting access to the technique, making himself indispensable. Referent power is by definition elusive and thus is most transient. If someone else comes along who is more charismatic, and attracts A's followers, A loses referent power.
Why is power so important? Hickson and McCullough (174, p 11) claim that "Power is the essence of organisation". The cold reality is that the need for resources in an organisation is not matched by sufficient supply. As such, an "invisible hand" would have to determine how the resources will be allocated (Bolman and Deal, p107). "Might is right" goes the old adage. Therefore the party with the most power can decide how the resources should be allocated. Power is accumulated through politics, and the party with the best strategy accumulates the most power. The party gains control of the available resources, which enables them to implement their course of action.
There is debate regarding the place of politics in organisations. In a survey that Pfeffer (1, p 14) examines, 55.1% of managers believe that politics are detrimental to organizational effectiveness and 48.6% feel that top management should try to eliminate politics within the organisation. However, 8% believe that successful executives must be good politicians and 6.8% believe that one has to be political in order to advance in an organisation. The above results highlight that even though politics is viewed as "dirty" and people claim to not want it, it is here to stay. Buchanan and Badham (1, p 610) start their paper by quoting an interviewer and a manager. In it, the interviewer says that managers claim that organizational politics are a distraction and they are not paid for it. To which the manager replies that the interviewees are lying, as they only achieved their position with their skill in politics. Lacking such political skills will leave them lagging. Therefore, as long as one person plays the political game, the rest have to play along, or they will be left behind.
There is an element of conflict in politics, which arises due to the scarcity of resources, as highlighted above. In order to reduce conflict, there has to be a clearly dominant group. What happens when no one group has enough power to get what it wants?
Since there are instances when the scales of power are balanced, coalitions are formed to tip the scales. Tivey comments that an organisation should be thought of "as a coalition of many groups, constantly changing in composition, strength and relationships…" (178, p1). Bolman and Deal (184, p 111) add on that the groups have different objectives and resources, and will attempt to bargain with other groups to form coalitions, with the intended end result of influencing the goals and decisions of the organisation. Since the idea of forming coalitions is to increase a group's power, we can infer that the bargaining process is but a political act that illustrates the dimension of compromise in politics.
The constant instability of organisations is a product of politics. Just as a system in chaos tries to get back into equilibrium, no group likes to be powerless and would thus take action to ensure that its position will be secure. This translates into a constant jockeying for position (Bolman and Deal, p 1).
Chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies may be viewed as all powerful, but this is not true (Bolman and Deal, p 117). They are consummate politicians who have learnt the art of maximizing profits for shareholders whilst at the same time being sufficiently generous with wages to ensure happy employees. This is not the only balancing act that CEOs have to perform. They are called upon daily to make choices, the consequences of which reverberate amongst everyone within the organisation. For example, backing group A over group B in a competition for resources runs the risk of not having the latter's support in a later situation in the future. Therefore the CEO has to make decisions based on both long term and short term considerations. Knowing that compromise is necessary, parties will ask for more than what they need with the hope of getting their actual requirements. It is important to note that power need not just be hierarchical. The CEO is de jure and de facto, the head of the organisation. However the CEO depends on the subordinates to get the work done. Usually, the subordinates can use expert power to subvert the CEO's wishes, if they do not wish to do the required job. CEOs have to understand the reality of the situation, separating fact from fiction. They aim to minimise conflict, knowing the limitations of their power. As such understanding and implementation of politics is important.
Thus far, the other major perspectives in viewing organisations, the structural-rational frame and the symbolic-cultural frame, have been briefly addressed. The main features and the shortcomings of the two frameworks have been noted. The second part of the essay has dealt with the role that power and politics play in organisations. The nature of power has been elucidated, through a brief description of French and Raven's five bases of power. The nature of politics has been expanded, with a study of conflict and compromise and of how politics is needed to maintain or swing the equilibrium of power. The importance of politics has been illustrated through the example of chief executive officers. In conclusion, whilst politics may often be considered a taboo, it penetrates all organizations thoroughly, thus rendering an understanding of power and politics pivotal to an exploration of organisations.
Argyris, C. 157, Personality and Organization The Conflict Between System and the Individual, Harper & Row, New York.
Argyris, C. 17, 'Peter Blau' in Salaman, G. and Thompson, K. (eds) People and Organizations, Longman for Open University Press, London, p 76-0.
Bacharach, S. and Lawler, E. 180, Power and Politics in Organizations, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Blau, P. 174, On the Nature of Organizations, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Blau, P. and Schoenherr, R. 17, 'New Forms of Power' in Salaman, G. and Thompson, K. (eds) People and Organizations, Longman for Open University Press, London, p 1-4.
Bolman, L. and Deal, T. 184, Modern Approaches to Understanding and Managing Organizations, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Buchanan, D. and Badham, R. 1, 'Politics and organizational change The lived experience, Human Relations, vol. 5, no. 5, p 60-6
Cavanaugh, M. 184, 'A Typology of Social Power' in Kakabadse, A. and Parker, C. (eds) Power, Politics and Organizations A Behavioural Science View, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, p -0.
French, J. and Raven, B. 168, 'The Bases of Social Power' in Cartwright, D. and Zander, A. (eds) Group Dynamics Research and Theory, Tavistock Publications, Wiltshire, p 5-6.
Hickson, D. and McCullough, A. 174, 'Power in organizations' in Structure and System Basic Concepts and Theories, Open University Press, London, p -0.
Kakabadse, A. and Parker, C. 184, 'Towards a Theory of Political Behaviour in Organizations' in Kakabadse, A. and Parker, C. (eds) Power, Politics and Organizations A Behavioural Science View, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, p 87-108.
Mann, S. 15, 'Politics and Power in Organizations Why Women Lose Out', Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, Vol. 16, No. , p -15.
Pfeffer, J., 1, Managing with Power Politics and Influence in Organizations, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Tivey, L. 178, The Politics of the Firm, St. Martin's Press, New York
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