Conversational Empowerment

1. Conversational Empowerment Ryan W. Quinn & Bidhan Parmar University of Virginia March, 2008 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cabcalvinandhobbes.tripod.com/ChPictureGallery/calvin_winter.gif&imgrefurl=http://cabcalvinandhobbes.tripod.com/ch_picturegallery.htm&h=195&w=161&sz=5&hl=en&start=199&tbnid=8y9mJVAHNu3w4M:&tbnh=104&tbnw=86&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcalvin%2Bhobbes%26start%3D180%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-29,GGLG:en%26sa%3DN

2. How do organizational actors become empowered? • What is empowerment? • A psychological state (Spreitzer, 1995)? • Inclusion/participation (Blau & Alba, 1982)? • Emancipation from technologies of production and discipline (Foucault, 1972)? • A move from power over to power with (Follett, 1941)? • How does empowerment happen? • Decentralization and delegation (Spreitzer, 1995)? • Integrating networks (Blau & Alba, 1982)? • Innovation (Clegg, 1989)? • Transcending dualisms (Follett, 1941)? http://l-u-k-e.co.uk/images/stupendous.gif

3. Conversational Empowerment • A communicative process through which actors transform the organizational narratives they enact from narratives in which others exercise power over them to ones in which they exercise power over others, power with others, or the power to choose for themselves. • Narratives: themed, social, and temporal texts we use to organize our experience, understanding, and action in organizations.

4. Contributions • Explains how actors use communicative actions to empower • Integrates and differentiates psychological and structural views on empowerment • Suggests ways to expand psychological empowerment to include structural considerations • Expands structural empowerment to include narratives and actors at multiple levels • Introduces domination as empowerment

5. Literature Review • Bartunek & Spreitzer (2006) review • Empowerment as inclusion (e.g., McGregor, 1960) • Agency criticism (Conger & Kanungo, 1988) • Psychological empowerment (Spreitzer, 1995 + hundreds of citations) • Construct: Competence, Self-determination, Meaning, Impact • Antecedents: decentralization, delegation, self-esteem... • Consequences: innovative behavior, upward influence… • Criticisms: “Feeling empowered is not being empowered” (Jacques, 1996), “Where is the power in empowerment (Boje & Rosile, 2001) http://images1.fanpop.com/images/photos/1300000/Calvin-and-Hobbes-calvin-and-hobbes-1395577-1024-768.jpg

6. Visualizing Spreitzer Psychological Empowerment CONTEXTS Action Meaning ACTOR JOB ORGANIZATION

7. Power • Power as causality (Hobbes) - A need for force suggests weakness, not strength. • Power is not “held” by individuals, it is exercised more or less skillfully and more or less intentionally in the negotiation of meaning across social networks. Power is essentially communicative. • Meanings privilege some actors over others, and legitimated meanings leave these privileges unquestioned. Legitimacy is a continuum.

8. Psychological Empowerment Power ACTOR 1 • Historical perspective (from Hobbes): Power is causality. • However, a need for force suggests weakness rather than power. • Power is not “held” by individuals, it is exercised more or less skillfully and more or less intentionally in the negotiation of meaning across social networks. Power is essentially communicative. Action (text) CONTEXTS Meaning Meaning Meaning ACTOR 1’s JOB ACTOR 2 Action (text) ORGANIZATION ACTOR 3 • Meanings and contexts privilege some actors over others, and legitimated meanings leave these privileges unquestioned. • Legitimacy is a continuum. Action (text)

9. Narrative • Exists as both institutional texts and individual texts, used to make sense – any text with temporality can be understood as narrative • Orchestrates activity, experience, and understanding by emplotting action and conferring morals • Organizations are enacted narratives • Power is found in the imposition of narratives, narrative identities, and in subject-object relationships • Narrative is situational; which narrative has meaning depends on current relevance and application • Narrative is fractal

10. Visualizing Narrative Texts Psychological Empowerment Structural Empowerment NARRATIVE CON-TEXTS CAPITALISM LIFE ACTOR 1 Action (text) Meaning Meaning Meaning JOB ACTOR 2 ORGANIZATION Action (text) ACTOR 3 Action (text)

11. Communicative Actions • Actions create texts that construct reality • Made sense of by actors; intent cannot be known • Organizes reality in narrative: • Manipulation, Competence, Performance, Sanction

12. Forms of Empowerment • Emancipation • Narrative transformation from power under to power to • Domination • Narrative transformation from power under to power over • Collaboration • Narrative transformation from power under to power with

13. Empowering Accomplishments • De-legitimation • Problematizing: introducing premises and disconnecting them from legitimate narratives • Innovation • The recognition and declaration of a new narrative for that social domain • Legitimation • Introducing premises tied to legitimate narratives and then removing them http://www.calvin-und-hobbes.com/chwp39l.jpg

14. Communicative Actions in Empowerment

15. Discussion • Communicative actions: • Goes beyond influence tactics to the conversational exercise of power • Reframes narration and argumentation • Psychological Empowerment: • Temporary • Levels of analysis • Social networks • Structural empowerment: • Empowerment across narratives • Actors are not necessarily duped • Provides a way to examine skillful empowerment • Domination, submission, having a good story to tell