Power in the \u2018Organisation\u2019: A Soft Systems Perspective

Frank Stowell

doi:10.1007/s11213-020-09541-w

Abstract

All systems must adapt in order to survive, this is as true for a business organisation as any other system. A business exists in a turbulent environment and in order to maintain its relationship with its environment its managers have to adapt it to the circumstances. The effect of the present pandemic is an example with some staff working from home, active blended learning in the education sector and social distancing have all created an urgency to accommodate the unprecedented consequence of the situation. To effect the necessary changes that these circumstances have generated means exercising some form of power to change operating procedures. Change creates uncertainty, the threat of the reallocation of resources, delegated power, redundancies and a change in group relationships. This produces a feeling of insecurity in those within the organisation often resulting in resistance to the proposals in an attempt to maintain the status quo. They are faced with adapting or resisting to these changes. Whilst systems models of organisational behavior provide ideas about organizing and managing an enterprise these are of limited value because of the unpredictability of change. The ubiquity of communication technologies and the rise of virtual methods of working add to the pressure for change creating a climate of anxiety. Organisational power can no longer be framed by the measures once taken for granted. To this end I adopt a soft systems perspective to explore the impact of change upon an organisation and how those within react as they attempt to cope with its impact.

Highlights

In 2020 the world experienced a devastating pandemic that has and is changing interactions both within and between nations
It is self-evident that to meet these challenges changing the way that they operate is necessary. Those that work within will have to adapt to the new processes and new ways of working. Change brings with it insecurity which often manifests in some form of resistance and the employment of ‘power’ by those affected in an attempt to adjust the situation into one where they feel less threatened
Organisational power can no longer be framed by the measures once taken for granted

Summary

Introduction

In 2020 the world experienced a devastating pandemic that has and is changing interactions both within and between nations. There are many influential and feted accounts of organisational power developed from this perspective and I acknowledge Pfeffer’s examples of individual strategies for dominance but what I am highlighting is not ambition, but the kind of situation that ordinary individuals might face in their working environment In such cases the use of personal power is more about job security than malevolent plotting. Putting to one side examples that rely upon the indoctrination of individuals into a particular world view, such as blind support for a football team or to an ideology (this is a topic requiring a paper of its own), what remains seems to be another sort of power This is a ‘personal’ power and applied in situations where an individual might feel threatened by change and forms some sort of defence or in some cases it is used as a form of self-promotion. I suggest thinking of soft power in terms of a metaphor reflects its abstruse nature and might prove useful

A Metaphor for soft Power

Findings

Conclusion