1.september - Organization and power

Organizations

• An organization is basically a group of people who come together and coordinate their activities to achieve something.

• Although most of us “know an organization when we see one,” the diversity and complexity of organizations and their activities is difficult to capture in a single formal definition.

• As a result, multiple, sometimes contrary, conceptions of organizations exist, each one highlighting particular features of organizations, but necessarily providing only partial and incomplete views.

• “Organizations are social entities that are goal-oriented; are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems, and are linked to the external environment” (Daft, 2004)

  • an organization is a structured group of people who coordinate their activities to achieve goals while interacting with the outside world.

• Organization is “a system of consciously coordinated personal activities or forces” (Chester Barnard)

  • An organization exists when people consciously cooperate and coordinate their activities

• Organizations are arenas of power where discursive struggles take place (Maguire & Hardy, 2006)

  • not neutral places where everyone simply works together toward the same goal.

  • Organizations are also places where people struggle for power and influence over decisions and meanings.

• Or authors deny the existence of ‘organizations’ and prefer to talk of processes of ‘organizing’ (Tsoukas & Chia, 2002)

  • Instead of seeing an organization as a fixed thing, we can see organizing as something people continuously do.

 

Theorizing on Organizations and Power

It is not about theory versus practice (as used in everyday language), but about:

• Informed knowledge claims

  • A theory helps us make an argument or claim about how something works, based on knowledge, evidence, research, and concepts.

• General structure of character of events

  • Theory is not only interested in one individual event. It tries to understand patterns or broader structures.

• Deepen our understanding

• Conceptualization - A concept is an idea that helps us understand something.

• Forms: explanatory, interpretive, emancipatory

A theory is:

• “a set of interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining and predicting the phenomena”

• A theory is a group of connected ideas and concepts that help us understand, explain, and sometimes predict why and how something happens.

Theory and Conceptual Models

• Social identity is a person's sense of who they are based on their group membership(s). Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family, soccer team etc.) which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem.

• Social identity means how people see themselves based partly on the groups they belong to.

Grounded theory is a complex iterative process.

The research begins with the raising of generative questions which help to guide the research but are not intended to be either static or confining. As the researcher begins to gather data, core theoretical concept(s) are identified. Tentative linkages are developed between the theoretical concepts and data.

Management

• A hierarchy of controlling people and things - focuses on the actual running of a business organization

• Management is the practical activity of organizing, coordinating, and controlling people and resources to run an organization.

• Managment is the oractical activity of running an organization. Coordintaing people and recources, making decisions, organizing work and trying to achieve goals.

• What managers do

Managerialism

• An ideology that legitimizes the power of managers and camouflages domination

• The important part is that managerialism can make this power seem natural, necessary, and neutral, rather than something that should be questioned

• Managerialism can hide the fact that managers have power over other people by presenting management decisions as simply rational or necessary.

• Managerialism is an ideology. It goes beyond the practical need for management and argues that managerial metods are the best in organizing not only business but other areas of society also.

• The belief that management should dominate how organizations and socety run

1) What is the difference between management and managerialism?

Management and managerialism are connected, but they mean different things. Management is the actual work of running an organization. It includes things like organizing work, making decisions, coordinating employees, and making sure that the organization reaches its goals. Managerialism, on the other hand, is a way of thinking about how organizations and society should be run. It is the belief that management and managerial methods are the best and most effective way to organize things. Managerialism therefore gives managers a lot of importance and power. It also makes management seem neutral and based on facts, even though management decisions can involve power and different interests. The main difference is therefore that management is the practice of managing, while managerialism is the belief that management should be the main way of organizing and controlling organizations and society.

2.What are the five elements of managerialism as an ideology?

1. Superiority: Private sector methods are superior (to public sector, community organization, etc.

   • Managerialism assumes that business/management techniques are the best way to organize things. So private companies become the model that other organizations should follow.

2. Control: Picturing an optimistic future that can be managed and controlled

   • Managerialism believes that the future can be planned, measured, predicted, and controlled through good management.

3. Right to govern: Management as the sole institution able to administer companies (not elected leaders or councils)

   • Managerialism argues that professional managers should have the authority to run organizations.

4. Rationality: Presents management as technical, rational, value-neutral, and universally applicable

   • Managerialism presents management as if it is basically a science or technical skill.

5. Measurement: Seeks to convert human behavior into measurable and monetized elements (organizational behavior)

3. What is the purpose of any business organization in view of managerialism?

According to managerialism, the main purpose of a business organization is to make money and create economic value. This means that organizations are mainly judged by things such as profit, productivity, growth, efficiency, and shareholder value. Managers therefore focus on making the organization work as efficiently and successfully as possible. The problem is that other things can become less important when they do not directly help the organization make money. For example, employees’ well-being, social responsibility, environmental concerns, or having a say in decisions may be pushed aside if they are seen as getting in the way of financial performance. Workers can also be treated mainly as resources that help the organization reach its goals, rather than as people with their own needs and interests. From a critical perspective, this is one of the problems with managerialism: financial success becomes the main goal, while people and other concerns can become secondary.

What is the role of numbers in managerialism, and why might this cause dehumanizing dynamics?

Numbers are very important in managerialism because they help managers measure and control people and organizations. For example, managers can use numbers to measure productivity, sales, working hours, profits, or employee performance. Numbers can make decisions seem more objective because they appear to give clear and factual information. However, this can also become dehumanizing because people are reduced to numbers and performance results. An employee might be seen as a productivity score instead of as a person with feelings, needs, ideas, and problems. Many important things, such as stress, creativity, care, relationships, and job satisfaction, cannot easily be measured with numbers. When these things are ignored, people can become treated more like machines or resources. Numbers can therefore make it easier for managers to compare, rank, reward, and control employees. The problem is not numbers themselves, but when numbers become more important than the people behind them.

New Public Management (Melo, 2025)

New Public Management (NPM) became a common model for reforming public organisations around the world. Its basic idea is to make public organisations and the people working in them more business-like and market-oriented. This means focusing more on performance, costs, efficiency and measuring results.

• Public services are divided into separate units. Large public organisations are split into smaller units that are managed separately and are responsible for their own results.

• More competition and outsourcing. Public services can be provided through competitive contracts, outsourcing or private companies instead of being provided directly by the government.

• More private-sector management practices. Public organisations adopt management ideas from businesses. There is less focus on traditional hierarchy and long-term jobs, and employees are expected to have a more business-like mindset.

• Doing more with fewer resources. Organisations are expected to reduce costs and increase productivity. This can mean stricter work rules, greater pressure on employees and less job security.

• A stronger management culture. Management becomes more important in public organisations. More management positions are created, and managers gain more status and influence.

• More measurement and control. Employees and organisations are increasingly judged using clear targets, numbers and performance measures. This can reduce professional freedom because workers have less control over how they do their jobs.

• More focus on results than procedures. Traditional public administration focuses strongly on following rules and procedures. NPM focuses more on the results and outputs that an organisation produces.

 

1.What is new public management?

• An approach to organising and managing th epublic sector that became popular from the 1980. It applies ideas from the private sector and the market to public organisations. The main goal is to make public services more efficent, cost effective and competative. Instead of relying only on traditional bureaucracy and rules.

• New Public Management (NPM) is an approach to managing public organisations that became popular from the 1980s onwards. It developed because traditional public organisations were often seen as too slow, expensive and bureaucratic. NPM tries to make public organisations, such as hospitals, schools and government departments, work more like private businesses. It focuses on improving efficiency, reducing costs and achieving better results. Instead of only following rules and procedures, organisations are expected to show what they achieve. NPM also introduces business ideas into the public sector, such as competition and customer choice. Managers are given more responsibility for making decisions and improving performance. Employees and organisations are often judged by targets and numbers that show how well they are doing. The main idea behind NPM is that using business methods can make public services work better. However, public organisations are different from private businesses because they also have to consider things like equality, fairness and the needs of society. This means that making public services more efficient does not always mean that they provide better services for everyone.

2.What are the key practices and structures of new public management?

The key practices of New Public Management focus on making public organisations work more like businesses. One important practice is managerialism, which gives managers more responsibility for making decisions and improving results. Another is performance measurement, where employees and organisations are judged using targets, numbers and statistics. NPM also focuses on reducing costs and using resources more efficiently. Competition is encouraged between organisations to improve the services they provide. Governments may also use outsourcing, which means paying private companies or other organisations to provide services that were previously managed by the public sector. Another practice is dividing large public organisations into smaller units, each with its own managers and responsibilities. These managers are expected to reach certain goals and show good results. Together, these practices aim to make public organisations more efficient, flexible and responsible for their performance. The main change is that organisations are no longer judged only by whether they follow the correct rules, but also by how well they perform and whether they achieve their targets.

3.What are its unitnended consequences

Although New Public Management aims to improve public services, it can also create problems that were not originally intended. One problem is that employees may feel pressured to meet targets instead of focusing on the quality of their work. For example, a healthcare worker may have to see more patients in less time, leaving less time to care for each person. NPM can also lead to more monitoring and control, which gives employees less freedom to use their own professional judgement. Another problem is that organisations may focus too much on numbers and results. Important things such as care, trust and personal relationships are difficult to measure, but they still matter in public services. Competition and outsourcing can also make public services harder to organise because different organisations may struggle to work together. In addition, treating citizens as customers can make organisations focus more on efficiency and customer satisfaction than on wider public needs, such as fairness and equality.

Tunnel vision – emphasis by management on what can be quantified

• Suboptimization – focus on the achievement of local objectives at the expense of the organizational-wide objectives

• Myopia – focus on short-term objectives at the expense of long-term targets

• Measure fixation – emphasis on the measure itself and in achieving success as identified by the measure, rather than on the objective associated with the measure

• Misrepresentation and misinterpretation – inability to understand data complexity or deliberate manipulation of data

• Gaming – managers can consciously underperform as a way of obtaining easier targets in the future, given that targets are usually based on past performance

• Ossification – the rigidity and excessive focus on performance can lead to organizational paralysis

• Unintended consequences… because the public and private sectors have structural differences.

Organizing Power and Resistance (Mumby & Plontikof, 2019)

• Main tension: Under capitalism, organizations try to increase productivity and get more from workers to stay competitive. This creates power and resistance.

• Power & resistance: They always go together. When management creates new forms of control, workers resist, which can lead management to create new forms of control.

• Forms of control: Behavioral control → Taylorism → Normative control → Ideological systems → Governmentality

• Behavioral control: Direct control through rules, supervision, monitoring, and punishment.

• Taylorism: Work is broken into tasks that can be measured and controlled.

• Normative control: Control through workers’ values, feelings, identity, and company culture.

• Ideological systems: Organizational ideas and beliefs become accepted as normal and natural.

• Governmentality: People are encouraged to control and manage themselves.

• From despotic to hegemonic: Control moves from direct force and orders toward getting workers to accept organizational goals and control themselves.

Various transformations of work and its power dynamics during 20th/21st century

• Power as Coercion: Direct forms of power to keep workers at their tasks: punch clocks, scientific management, surveillance (shaping organizational behavior)

  • → resistance through sabotage/ strikes

• Power as Consent: Indirect forms of power through strong cultures, targeting people’s thoughts, feelings and actions (ideological control systems)

  • → resistance at the level of meaning: irony, cynicism, jokes

• Power as Governmentality: Neoliberalism transforms the relationship between self and organizations; entrepreneurial individuals seek self-actualization through work

  • → power dynamics productive in all areas of life, hence difficult to resist (also precarization)

Fordism (1950s-1970s) and Neoliberalism (1980s-today?)

Fordism (1950s-1970s)

• Industrial mass production, bureaucracy and standardized tasks

• Centralized, hierarchical management structure

• High wages to encourage mass consumption by workers

• Stable, long-term employment, social security systems

Neoliberalism (1980s-today?)

• Markets and managerialism prioritized over regulation and leadership by experts/owners.

• Decentralized, flexible organizations and precarious labor.

• Emphasis on individual responsibility and efficiency.

• Privatization and shrinking welfare roles for the state

1.According to the authors, what is the capitalist incentive for transforming the labor process and through what means? How does this encompass dialectic dynamics between power and resistance?

The main reason capitalism keeps changing the way work is organized is to increase productivity and profit. Companies want workers to produce more, faster, and at a lower cost. One way of doing this is to change the labor process through new technology, machines, management methods, and different ways of organizing work. These changes can also reduce workers’ control over how they do their jobs. However, workers are not simply passive. Because they have their own needs, skills, and interests, they often resist attempts to increase control over their work. This creates what the authors call a dialectic between power and resistance, meaning that power and resistance constantly affect each other. Management introduces new ways of controlling workers, workers resist them, and management then develops new ways of responding to that resistance. So, resistance is actually part of what causes capitalism and management to keep changing. The authors therefore argue that the development of capitalism cannot be understood without also looking at workers’ resistance.

2.According to Foucault (1994), what are the two meanings of the word ‘subject’?

The first meaning is being a subject to someone else, meaning that a person is controlled or dependent on another person or authority. For example, a worker can be subject to their manager because the manager has the power to give orders and control their work. The second meaning is being connected to your own identity. This means that people understand themselves in a certain way and develop ideas about who they are, what they should do, and how they should behave. These two meanings are important because power does not only come from outside of us. Other people or organizations can control us, but we can also start to control ourselves because of the way we understand who we are. For Foucault, therefore, power can shape both how other people treat us and how we understand and manage ourselves.

3.How would you explain ‘Power as Coercion’ in your own words? Based on the article, what were some concrete means or tools through which control was exercised over workers (in the past)? And how did workers (try to) resist this form of controls

Power as coercion is the most direct form of control. It means that workers are made to behave in a certain way through orders, rules, supervision, punishment, or the threat of punishment. In the past, organizations used tools such as punch clocks to control when workers started and finished work, company spies to watch workers and union supporters, and technology to control the speed and way work was done. Taylor's Scientific Management also gave managers more control by breaking work into simple tasks and deciding how workers should perform them. The goal was to increase productivity while reducing workers' control over their own work. Workers did not simply accept this control. They could resist by slowing down their work, refusing certain demands, going on strike, supporting unions, or even damaging equipment. This shows that power and resistance are connected. Whenever organizations tried to increase control, workers often found ways to push back against it.

4.Why can it be argued that ‘Power as Consent’ can work both top-down and bottom-up? What are the implications of that for resistance?

Power as consent can work top-down because managers and organizations create values, ideas, and rules about what a “good employee” should be. Through things like corporate culture, teamwork, communication, and company values, management tries to make employees accept the organization's way of thinking. However, it can also work bottom-up because employees actively take these ideas and give them their own meaning. They do not always accept the company's culture exactly as management intended. They can change, question, or even make fun of the meanings that management tries to create. This is important for resistance because resistance does not always have to mean openly fighting against management. Workers can resist through humour, jokes, irony, cynicism, or creating their own alternative meanings. For example, employees might use the company's own language or values to criticize management. This means that even when organizations try to get workers to agree with them, employees still have the ability to interpret and change those ideas.

5.According to the authors, how does power operate in twenty-first century neoliberal capitalism? Try to explain the concept of ‘governmentality’ as well as possible in your own words.

Power in twenty-first-century neoliberal capitalism works less through direct orders and more through encouraging people to control and manage themselves. This is what Foucault calls governmentality. Instead of an organization simply telling workers exactly what to do, people are encouraged to see themselves as responsible for their own success, performance, development, and future. Workers are expected to constantly improve themselves and think of themselves almost like a business. For example, instead of a manager constantly checking an employee, the employee may feel responsible for improving their skills, reaching targets, building their career, and staying competitive. This can make people feel free because they seem to have more choice and responsibility. However, this freedom can also create pressure because people feel that if they fail, it is their own fault. The authors therefore argue that modern power often works by making people manage themselves. Control becomes less visible because people themselves take on the responsibility for meeting the demands of work and the market.