Transcript Chapter 2

Reframing Organizations, 4th 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
 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
 Scarce resources and differences make
conflict the central dynamic which makes
power the most important asset
 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
 Agents of social control
 Seek to maintain authority; their position depends
on it

Partisans are subject to authorities’ decisions;
they will support or question authority
depending on decisions affect their interests
 Recipients of control from authorities
 Support authority when satisfied, but may
challenge when not
Sources of Power
 Position power
 Control of rewards
 Coercive power
 Information and expertise
 Reputation
 Personal power
 Alliances and networks
 Access and control of agenda
 Framing: control of meaning and symbols
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 invasion and 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
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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