Week 10: STRATEGIZING IN PLURALISTIC CONTEXTS: POWER, INFLUENCE & POLITICS

Question 1

Why isn’t strategy just a top-down dictatorship?

Answer 1

It involves multiple different groups of people, not just one or two decision-makers

Question 2

Can power be seen or touched?

Answer 2

No, but its effects are visible, such as in business handshakes or embedded in organizations

Question 3

What is latent power compared to?

Answer 3

King and queen power

Question 4

How does Pfeffer (1981) define organizational politics?

Answer 4

Actions to acquire, develop, and use power and resources for preferred outcomes amid uncertainty or dissensus

Question 5

What is power, according to Pfeffer (1981)?

Answer 5

The capability of one social actor to overcome resistance in achieving a desired objective or result

Question 6

How does Day (1963) describe authority?

Answer 6

A relationship where one commands and another obeys, [or a legal relationship] prescribed by rules

Question 7

What is influence, per Moyer et al. (2018)?

Answer 7

A force that transforms into power when actor A actively (and successfully) utilizes it to modify the behaviour of actor B

Question 8

Why is power considered complex?

Answer 8

It’s an intangible phenomenon with tangible effects

Question 8

What are the sources of power in organizations?

Answer 8

1) Coercive
2)Reward
3) Referent
4) Expert
5) Legitimate
6) Information

Question 9

What is reward power?

Answer 9

Exerting power positively by giving extra money or rewards for actions

Question 10

How does coercive power work?

Answer 10

A negative form, using sanctions, physical force, or psychological manipulation to change behavior

Question 11

What is expert power based on?

Answer 11

Following advice, like a strategy consultant’s, due to their expertise

Question 11

How does information power depend on presentation?

Answer 11

Its impact relies on clear presentation, such as with headings

Question 12

What is referent power also known as?

Answer 12

Charisma, where people are natural leaders others want to listen to

Question 13

What is legitimate power derived from?

Answer 13

Authority from someone’s role or position

Question 14

Where do power sources exist?

Answer 14

In zones of uncertainty, not in fully rational, predictable settings

Question 15

What are power dynamics based on?

Answer 15

Direct and indirect stakeholder priorities and demands

Question 16

How do people win scarce resources in organizations?

Answer 16

Through formal and informal efforts like negotiation, building coalitions, and networking

Question 17

When are politics born in a pluralistic organization?

Answer 17

When a diversity of interests needs to be aligned due to high incongruence or divergence

Question 17

What attributes do skilled influencers share?

Answer 17

1) Present checkable information
2) Consistent message
3) Display authority and enthusiasm
4) Offer something for compliance
5) Act likeable
6) Show empathy through listening
7) Awareness of circumstances, others, and self
8) Plan ahead

Question 18

Why do groups and individuals disagree in organizations?

Answer 18

Limited resources must be allocated, and opinions differ on how to do so

Question 19

How do managers and workers handle resources?

Answer 19

They negotiate and find ways to gain access to resources others control

Question 20

What are organizational politics often like?

Answer 20

Informal, unofficial, and behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, increase power, or achieve targets

Question 21

What does ‘attention’ mean in the Power/Attention Matrix?

Answer 21

Who requires the most attention

Question 21

What does the Power/Attention Matrix identify?

Answer 21

Power-holders and shifts in power position over time or due to strategic initiatives

Question 22

What shift in power does the content suggest?

Answer 22

Moving from 'power over' to 'doing something' in a strategic context

Question 22

What does the Power/Attention Matrix analyze?

Answer 22

Stakeholders based on their power and the attention they give to the organization or strategy

Question 23

How does the matrix help with strategy?

Answer 23

Helps see who may resist existing or new strategies

Question 24

Who holds much top-down power traditionally?

Answer 24

Shareholders and their representatives, exercising power over others

Question 24

How does SAP view power relations?

Answer 24

As plural, distributed, and multidirectional, embedded in context

Question 25

What does SAP say about power distribution?

Answer 25

Power is exercised by many groups and individuals, not just the top

Question 26

What can power achieve in the SAP perspective?

Answer 26

Goals beyond managerial ones, as groups pursue their own interests

Question 27

How does SAP describe power complexity?

Answer 27

A fluid, relational view, existing in complex networks, not just hierarchies

Question 28

When does a strategy exist, per the content?

Answer 28

When made real by a network of human and non-human actors supporting it

Question 29

What are organizational actors in strategizing?

Answer 29

Not just people, but also non-human elements like technology, systems, and spaces

Question 30

What is the translation process in strategy?

Answer 30

An ongoing process where strategy is interpreted, communicated, and adapted by actors

Question 31

Why are strategic orientations fragile?

Answer 31

They depend on actors sustaining a dynamic network of support through translation

Question 31

Can translation guarantee a strategy’s success?

Answer 31

No, it’s not deterministic; it may lead to an irreversible, well-defined strategy

Question 32

What are the four moments of translation?

Answer 32

1) Problematization 2) Interessement 3) Enrolment 4) Mobilization

Question 33

What happens in the problematization stage?

Answer 33

Translators define an issue and offer an obligatory passage point to draw actors together

Question 34

What is the key action in interessement?

Answer 34

Translators fix key actors’ interests to keep them involved in the strategy

Question 35

What occurs during enrolment?

Answer 35

Representatives of actor groups are assigned roles and build an alliance to support the strategy

Question 35

What is the focus of mobilization?

Answer 35

Extending the actor network beyond the initial group to embed the strategy

Question 36

What are the three faces of power?

Answer 36

1) Decision-making (overt) 2) Agenda-setting (covert) 3) Structural (latent)

Question 37

What is the first face of power?

Answer 37

Overt decision-making

Question 38

What does agenda-setting involve in the second face?

Answer 38

Controlling discussion parameters or mobilizing bias, covertly

Question 38

What characterizes the structural face of power?

Answer 38

Latent, hidden power to shape desires, beliefs, and thoughts, preventing conflict

Question 38

What are key conclusions about power from the SAP view?

Answer 38

1) Plural, distributed, fluid, and multidirectional 2) Actor-Network Theory shows how power networks emerge and stabilize 3) Three faces of power reveal overt, covert, and latent dynamics

Question 39

What is power in organizational politics?

Answer 39

A strategic resource to overcome resistance and achieve desired outcomes

Question 40

What is the Actor-Network-Theory

Answer 40

ANT views strategies not as fixed plans created by top management, but as dynamic outcomes that emerge and gain acceptance through networks of relationships between human and non-human actors.