CPCM week 2
Main Approaches Within Critical Theories:
Theory | View of Power | Key Assumptions |
Labor Process Theory (Marxist) | Power is oppressive, controlled by capital owners to exploit labor. | Capitalist structures maintain worker dependence; power is tied to economic control. |
Foucauldian Perspective | Power is diffused through knowledge, discourse, and surveillance. | Power is productive (not just repressive); institutions shape how individuals see themselves. |
Critical Management Studies (CMS) | Power is a mechanism of inequality and social reproduction. | Organizations reinforce dominance based on class, gender, race, etc. |
Feminist & Poststructuralist Views | Power is encoded in discourse and identity formation. | Workplaces structure gender norms and racial hierarchies; power operates in subtle, everyday ways |
Main Approaches Within Normative Theories:
Theory | View of Power | Key Assumptions |
Contingency Theory | Power is a resource distributed based on environmental demands. | Organizations structure themselves to match external conditions; power is functional. |
Resource Dependency Theory | Power is a control mechanism over scarce resources. | Those who manage dependencies hold power; external constraints shape power dynamics. |
Institutional Theory (Traditional) | Power is the result of legitimacy within formal structures. | Organizations conform to external norms to gain stability; power is derived from institutional approval. |
Pluralism & Stakeholder Theory | Power is distributed among multiple actors. | Power relations exist between competing interests but can be balanced through negotiation. |
Key Differences Summarized
Feature | Normative Theories (Structural) | Critical Perspectives (Institutional) |
Definition of Power | A neutral force used to manage organizations. | A mechanism that sustains inequality and control. |
Source of Power | Formal structures, positions, and resources. | Institutions, ideology, and discourse. |
Role in Organizations | Maintains efficiency and stability. | Shapes norms, identities, and social order. |
Power Dynamics | Functional—used to adapt to environments. | Political—used to maintain dominance. |
View on Resistance | Power is legitimate; resistance is disruptive. | Power is contested; resistance is ongoing. |
Example Theory | Contingency Theory, Resource Dependency. | Foucauldian Power-Knowledge, Labor Process Theory. |
One Dimensional View of power
Dahl-1957
A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something B would not do otherwise. In the pluralist approach… an attempt is made to study specific outcomes in order to determine who actually prevails in community decision-making. It is important to consider the pluralist view concerns themselves with concrete & observable behaviour.
Furthering the idea…. The focus on observable behaviour in identifying power involves the pluralist studying decisions-making as their central task.
Criticism
It is overly narrow in its focus, resulting in only a focus on observable conflict & decision-making processes, neglecting the more subtle & indirect ways power can be exercised. Like shaping people influences. One dimensional assumes objective interests.
The two-Dimensional view
Power has two sides, the first side is like what are dimensional or pluralists see it as. The second side is more coercive than domination. " A person or group consciously or unconsciously creates or reinforces barriers to the airing of policy conflicts.
In my words:
Two- Dimensional power is the abillity to prevent someone from making public their policy conflicts.
The three dimensional value of power
The "Bias of the system"- the coercive force helping people decide their actions is not sustained by an individual. But more likely by a socially constructed & culturally patterned behavour of groups which may manifest by actions.
That is to say coercive ability is not created by an individual action but more by individual action and social construction
