power

Examples of power in the following topics:

• Sources of Power

  • Power is the ability to get things done.
  • Although people sometimes regard power as evil or corrupt, power is a fact of organizational life and in itself is neither good nor bad.
  • Power comes from several sources, each of which has different effects on the targets of that power.
  • Also called "positional power," this is the power individuals have from their role and status within an organization.
  • Coercive power relies on fear to induce compliance.

• McClelland's Need Theory

  • David McClelland describes three central motivational paradigms: achievement, affiliation and power.
  • Psychologist David McClelland developed Need Theory, a motivational model that attempts to explain how the needs for achievement, power (authority), and affiliation affect people's actions in a management context.
  • People who are strongly power-motivated are driven by the desire to influence, teach, or encourage others.
  • McClelland proposes that those in top management positions should have a high need for power and a low need for affiliation.

• Porter's Five Forces

  • ., low buy power, low rivalry, low risk of new entrants, etc.).
  • Bargaining power of buyers: The bargaining power of customers is also described as the market of outputs.
  • Picture a supply and demand curve: if the supply greatly outstrips the demand, the buyers have more power than the suppliers.
  • Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers is also described as the market of inputs.
  • Similar to power of buyers, this bargaining power relies on scarcity and basic economics of supply and demand.

• Leadership and Situational Context: Fiedler

  • Leader position power – the amount of formal authority leaders have based on their role within the group
  • When good leader-member relations, a highly structured task, and high leader-position power are in place, the situation is considered a "favorable situation."
  • Leaders in high positions of power have the ability to distribute resources among their members, meaning they can reward and punish their followers.
  • Leaders with low position power cannot control resources to the same extent as leaders with high position power, and so lack the same degree of situational control.
  • For example, the CEO of a business has high position power, because she is able to increase and reduce the salary that her employees receive.

• Increasing Empowerment

  • Empowerment is a process that enables individuals and groups to fully access personal and collective power and employ this power when engaging with other people, other institutions, or society.
  • Empowerment does not give people power; rather, it helps to release and express the power that people already have.
  • This can be a powerful and positive aspect within an organization that promotes shared power and enables checks and balances in decision-making processes.
  • When turning responsibility over to others, it is important to keep in mind that diversifying power creates more voices and therefore potentially more conflict and discussion.

• Cultural Intelligence

  • Studying the components of culture, the theories pertaining to cultural dimensions and competencies, and the current initiatives in promoting these concepts are all powerful resources for managers involved in foreign assignments.
  • Power distance index (PDI): Simply put, this measures the level of acceptance of authority naturally present in a culture.
  • Less powerful members must accept leadership just as more powerful individuals must bear the responsibility of leading.

• Building Organizational Culture

  • Power structures: Power and culture are often intertwined: the degree to which specific individuals are free (or not) to make decisions is indicative of the openness and fluidity of the organization.
  • Stories and myths: Finally, stories are powerful communicators of culture.
  • Walmart uses Sam Walton's founding as a powerful myth to promote efficiency and the desire to try new things and integrate various products and services.

• Considering the Environment

  • The five forces include power of buyers, power of suppliers, rivalry (competition), substitutes, and barriers to entry (how difficult it is for new firms to enter the industry).
  • Porter's five-forces analysis identifies five environmental factors that can influence a company's strategic design: power of buyers, power of suppliers, competition, substitutes, and barriers to entry.

• Types of Organizational Culture

  • Power distance: Power distance is simply the degree to which an authority figure can exert power and how difficult it is for a subordinate to contradict them.
  • High power distance could be another, where employees intuit that they should show a high degree of deference to their superiors without being specifically told to do so.
  • Power culture: In this type of culture, there is usually a head honcho who makes rapid decisions and controls the organizational direction.
  • Power is derived from membership in teams that have the expertise to execute a task.

• Technology as a Driver and Enabler of Innovation

  • Technology is a powerful driver of both the evolution and proliferation of innovation.
  • Technology in particular is a powerful driving force in innovative capacity, particularly as it pertains to both the evolution of innovations and the way they proliferate.