Reframing Organizations, 3 rd ed.

Chapter 9 Power, Conflict, and Coalitions

Power, Conflict and Coalitions Assumptions of the Political Frame Organizations as Coalitions Power and Decision-Making Authorities and Partisans Sources of Power Distribution of Power: Overbounded and Underbounded Systems

Power, Conflict and Coalitions (II) Conflict in Organizations Moral Mazes: The Politics of Getting Ahead

Assumptions of the Political Frame Organizations are coalitions Enduring differences among coalition members Allocation of scarce resources Conflict is central process and power most important resource Goals and decisions arise from bargaining, negotiation and jockeying for position

Organizations as Coalitions Coalitions rather than pyramids Organizational goals are multiple and sometimes conflicting because they reflect bargaining involving multiple players with divergent interests

Power and Decision-Making Gamson: Authorities and partisans Authorities make binding decisions Partisans are subject to authorities’ decisions; they will support or question authority depending on decisions affect their interests

Sources of Power Position power Information and expertise Control and rewards Coercive power Alliances and networks Framing: control of meaning and symbols Personal power

Distribution of Power: Overbounded and Underbounded Systems Overbounded: strong, top-down control, conflict is tightly-regulated (e.g., Iraq under Saddam Hussein) Underbounded: weak authority, chaotic decision-making, open conflict and power struggles (Iraq after collapse of old regime)

Conflict in Organizations Conflict is natural and inevitable: organizations can have too much or too little Political frame focuses on strategy and tactics for dealing with conflict Forms of organizational conflict Hierarchical conflict Horizontal Cultural

Moral Mazes: The Politics of Getting Ahead Getting ahead is a political process involving conflict for scarce resources Assessment of individual performance often depends on subjective judgments Does advancement depend on doing good work or doing what is politically correct? Organizations can’t eliminate politics, but they can influence the kind of politics they have

Conclusion The political frame sees a very different world from the traditional view of organizations Traditional: organizations are hierarchies, run by legitimate authorities who set goals and manage performance Political view: organizations are coalitions whose goals are determined by bargaining among multiple contenders Politics can be nasty and brutish, but constructive politics is possible and necessary for organizations to be effective