Power

Question 1

Morgan

Answer 1

1986: Image of the organisation as a political system; material interests are predispositions toward goals, values, etc. that lead a person to act in one way rather than another; power is the medium through which conflict is resolved

Question 2

Bolman & Deal

Answer 2

1997:

Differing interests (people thinking and wanting to act differently) leads to conflict, which leads to politics (can question these links - mediating factors and context!).

Stakeholders with more power have a greater say in the decision

A lack of conflict creates an apathetic, uncreative atmosphere

Question 3

Sherif

Answer 3

1954: Robbers Cave experiment, realistic conflict theory - intergroup conflict occurs when two groups are in competition for limited resources

Question 4

Dahl

Answer 4

1957: Power is a relation in which A can get B to do something that B would not otherwise have done

Question 5

French & Raven

Answer 5

1959: Five bases of power - reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, expert (just a list, doesn’t really say how power is deployed)

Question 6

Dawson

Answer 6

1996: Constraints to power - technological, administrative, ideological; power is not a characteristic of an individual but a property of relationships between people

Question 7

1) Unitary approach

Answer 7

(Johnson & Gill, 1993)
Organisation is united under common goals so material interests don’t differ, power comes from the top, conflict is irrational

Question 8

2) Pluralist approach, 1st dimension

Answer 8

(Johnson & Gill, 1993)
Organisations consist of different interest groups pursuing self-interests, power identified by seeing who prevails in cases of decision-making under conflict (doesn’t take into account persistence of inequalities)

Question 9

3) Radical approach, Marxist

Answer 9

(Johnson & Gill, 1993)
Society is characterised by confrontation between fundamentally opposed and irreconcilable class-based interests, power unequally distributed between owner and labourer

Question 10

4) Bacharach & Baratz

Answer 10

1970: Theory of non-decision making, 2nd dimension - power can be exercised by keeping issues off the decision agenda in the first place

Question 11

5) Lukes

Answer 11

1974: 3rd dimension - potential issues kept out of politics through social forces and institutional practices - e.g. soldiers going off to war, slavery (but are people really that stupid? They know they’re playing a game!)

Question 12

6) Foucault

Answer 12

Power and control is all around us, it’s a social construction

Question 13

Is conflict inevitable?

Answer 13

1) No, conflict would be irrational
2) Yes - conflict is normal, without conflict power wouldn’t show up
3) Yes - because of inequality
4) Yes/no - conflict is latent with the potential to erupt
5) No - not observable
6) Yes/no - it’s latent

Question 14

Why is conflict a bad thing?

Answer 14

It makes people afraid to speak out;

Leads to argument, grudging compliance and low morale

Question 15

Why is conflict a good thing?

Answer 15

Positive resolution increases intragroup cohesion;
Intergroup contact can be used to combat prejudice and racism;
Conflict challenges the status quo

Question 16

Brown

Answer 16

1988: Conflict can be resolved without politics - unite people with a common superordinate goal