Topic 4: Power, Resistance and Decision Making

1. Topic 4: Power, Resistance and Decision Making Developed by Dr. Ruth Barton & Dr. Margaret Heffernan, OAM RMIT University

2. Aims of the lecture

3. Questions of Power

4. How Does Power Work in Organisations? Power as the ability to control social interaction • Organisations • are hierarchical

5. What is Power? • Normative (most rational way of organising power) Realpolitik (how does power actually operate) (Source: Thompson and McHugh 2009:256)

6. Power in Mainstream Theory Bases of power • Reward • Coercive • Referent • Legitimate • Expert (French & Raven 1959) Trend spotting as Power • information powerin the advertising industry • Controlover information flow • legitimate power • More power to those who can help firms cope with uncertainty in contemporary business

7. Power : Mainstream Theory • The Four ‘Faces’ of Power • Coercion • Manipulation • Domination • Subjectification (Fleming and Spicer 2007) • Economic • Coercive • Ideological • (Runciman 1999)

8. 1st Face of Power: Coercion • Direct coercion • getting another person to do something that might not have been done. • Coercion one individual getting another to follow his/her orders

9. 2nd Face of Power - Manipulation 3 processes • Anticipation of results • Mobilisation of bias • Rule and norm making • Ofagendas: ‘behind the scenes’ politicking • Exclusion from decision making authority • Power as manipulation: There is no direct exercise of power but an implicit shaping of issues considered important or irrelevant.

10. 3rd Face of Power - Domination • Over the preferences and opinions of participants • Power that shapes our preferences, attitudes and political outlook • Used in the design and implementation of paradigmatic frameworks • Forms of life e.g. profit • Ideology • Technical rationality

11. 4th Face of Power - Subjectification • People are moulded with certain understandings of themselves and the world around them • The organisation moulds people into a certain type • Use knowledge to produce compliance • Culture of the customer

12. “A wide range of behaviour – from failure to work very hard or conscientiously, to not working at all, deliberate output restriction, practical joking, pilferage and sabotage.” • (Ackroyd and Thompson, 1999 cited in Fleming and Spicer, 2007) • “Resistance constitutes a form of • power exercised by subordinates • in the workplace.” • (Collinson, 1994 cited in Fleming and Spicer, 2007) Resistance

13. Resistance as Refusal • 1st face of power is coercion • Resistance is refusal to do what the person in the position of power tells him / her to do • Aim is to block the effects of power by undermining the domination rather than changing it

14. Resistance as Voice • 2nd face of power operates through non-participation • Resistance is to gain access to power in order to express voice • Internal: interest groups, trade unions • External: social movements • Sabotage

15. Resistance as Escape • 3rd face of power is domination • Escape is to mentally disengage from the world of work • Tools are • Cynicism • scepticism • dis-identification

16. Resistance as Creation • 4thface of power is subjectification • Involves using domination to create something that was not intended by those in authority • May make use of parody e.g. Union newsletter

17. “A decision is often defined as a product of decision making processes. • Recent researchers argue that managers often seek to avoid making decisions or obscure them, often to avoid accountability for courses of action that are subsequently • seen as misguided.” Decision making Linstead & Fulop 2009: 669

18. Traditional decision-making theories and ‘choice’Decision making: a response to a situation requiring a choice. Linstead & Fulop 2009: 671

19. Types of ‘choice’ Linstead & Fulop 2009: 672

20. Types of decision processes Linstead & Fulop 2009: 671

21. Models of decision Making Examines the role of powerful decision making groups (‘dominant coalitions’) and why many decisions are really ‘non-decisions’ Source: Thompson and McHugh 2009,Table 18.1: 273-4

22. The rational decision model Assumptions • Problem clarity • Known options • Clear preferences • Constant preferences • Maximum pay-off • No time or cost constraints • Outcome will be rational Implementation of decision (Bratton et al. 2010: 411;Linstead & Fulop 2009:674; Nelson et al. 2012:150 )

23. Bureaucratic / administrative model Assumptions Managers: • Select the first satisfactory alternative Are comfortable making decisions without determining the alternatives • Make decisions by short cuts or heuristics (managers make decisions on what has worked in the past) • Satisfice – because of cost of ‘best choice’ Decision made on ‘best in the circumstances’ (Bratton et al. 2010: 411;Linstead & Fulop 2009:676; Nelson et al. 2012:151 )

24. Garbage-candecision model Difficulty • Failure to account for the political activity of participants who encourage conditions of organised anarchy, or who exploit them for particular advantage. Implementation of decision (Linstead & Fulop 2009:683)

25. Politicaldecision model Difficulty • The pluralist approach does not explain how decisions can be made or avoided in organisations because of the influence or pressure of external groups who may form part of a dominant coalition. Implementation of decision (Linstead & Fulop 2009:685)

26. ‘Z’ Model of Decision Making

27. Pfeffer’s Four Organisational Decision-Making Models

28. Escalation of Commitment Source: Nelson et al. 2012:151

29. Techniques of decision making (Linstead & Fulop 2009:Table 14.1: 677)

30. Influences of Decision Making Individuals differ in risk behaviour Enablers and barriers to creativity 4 stages: Preparation Incubation Illumination Verification Ability to make judgment about a situation based on a ‘hunch’. (Source: nelson et al. 2012: 153)

31. Group Decision makingSynergy = 1 + 1 = 3 Nelson et al. 2012: 157

32. Levels of organisational decision-making behaviour

33. Negative factors arising from group cohesiveness Source: Thompson and McHugh 2009:375

34. Symptoms of Groupthink • Leads to discounting warnings and negative information. • An illusion of unanimity emerges • Self-censorships of any deviation from group norms. Leads members to be convinced of the logical correctness of what they are dong and ignore the ethical or moral consequences of decisions. Belief in the inherent morality of the group Wood et al. 2010 : 103

35. Avoiding Groupthink • Leaders need to be reflexiveto assess their behaviour and stay impartial Source: Thompson and McHugh 2009:375

36. Group Polarisation Source: Nelson et al. 2012:160

37. Minimising Bias and Errors in Decision Making Structured team decision-making process of pooling the collective knowledge of subject experts Bratton et al. 2010 :425

38. References • Bratton, J, Sawchuck, P, Forshaw, C, Callinan, M, & Corbett, M 2010, Work and Organization Behaviour, 2nd edn, Palgrave MacMillan, UK. Chapter 15: Decision Making and Ethics, pp.407-432 • Clegg, S, Courpasson, D and Phillips, N (2007) Power and Organisations, London: SAGE. • Edwards, P and Wajcman, J (2005) The Politics of Working Life, OUP: Oxford. • Fleming, P and Spicer, A (2007) Contesting the Corporation: Struggle, Power and Resistance in Organisations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Haslam, SA, 2004, Psychology in organisations: the social identity approach, 2nd edn, Sage London. Chapter 6: Group decision making, pp.99-119 • Knights, D (2009) ‘Power at Work in Organisations’, in Alvesson, M, Bridgman, T and Willmott, H (eds) The Oxford handbook of Critical Management Studies, Oxford: OUP. • Linstead S, Fulop, L, Lilley, S 2009, Management and Organization: A critical text, 2nd edn, Palgrave MacMillan, London. Chapter 14: Decision making in organisations, pp. 667-708 • Nelson, DL, Quick, JC, Wright, S,& Adams, C 2012, OrgB Asia-Pacific Edition, Cengage, Sydney. Chapter 10: Decision making by individuals and groups, pp. 148-164 • Thompson, P, & McHugh, D, 2009 Work Organisations: A critical approach, Palgrave Macmillan, London. Chapter 24: From groups to teams, pp. 369-387