Power
- Submitted by: ranelahmed
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- Date Submitted: 12/20/2010 03:24 AM
- Pages: 11
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“With Seniority comes power!”
Introduction
Since industrialization was introduced all working practices were designed by people in managerial positions and therefore legitimate power and position authority existed. Power was top down and had more status in high positions but in today’s changing environment power is part of our everyday lives and is involved with everything we do; whether it is at work, home or social events. Power was first introduced by Nicollò Machiavelli in the 16th century and was continued by Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century. Both theorists talked about politics and the contrasts between the two theorists represent the two main thoughts of power.
This essay looks at power in three different ways the first defined by Dahl (1957) as the ability to get others to do what you want against their will. This relates to Hobbes casual thinking of power as hegemony; his view of power is centralised and focuses on sovereignty which is associated with the one dimensional approach of power and Weber’s domination of legitimate power.
The second view of power is exercised by Machiavelli who sees power in organisations decentralized and views power as a means and not a resource. Bacharach and Baratz’s (1962) view of power is based on decentralised power which is associated with the two dimensional approach of power and is related to Luke’s three types of authority.
The third view of power is through the postmodern perspective where power exists in strategic roles and is seen as a web of power relations that are influenced by Foucault (1977), whose writing developed the discussion of the concepts of power and identified that those who possess power and locate power lose the importance of power.
The essay explores the sources of power by French and Raven (1968) and concludes that power does not derive only from senior positions and instead sees power part of our everyday lives which we are either conscious or unconscious of it.
Sources of power
To...
Introduction
Since industrialization was introduced all working practices were designed by people in managerial positions and therefore legitimate power and position authority existed. Power was top down and had more status in high positions but in today’s changing environment power is part of our everyday lives and is involved with everything we do; whether it is at work, home or social events. Power was first introduced by Nicollò Machiavelli in the 16th century and was continued by Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century. Both theorists talked about politics and the contrasts between the two theorists represent the two main thoughts of power.
This essay looks at power in three different ways the first defined by Dahl (1957) as the ability to get others to do what you want against their will. This relates to Hobbes casual thinking of power as hegemony; his view of power is centralised and focuses on sovereignty which is associated with the one dimensional approach of power and Weber’s domination of legitimate power.
The second view of power is exercised by Machiavelli who sees power in organisations decentralized and views power as a means and not a resource. Bacharach and Baratz’s (1962) view of power is based on decentralised power which is associated with the two dimensional approach of power and is related to Luke’s three types of authority.
The third view of power is through the postmodern perspective where power exists in strategic roles and is seen as a web of power relations that are influenced by Foucault (1977), whose writing developed the discussion of the concepts of power and identified that those who possess power and locate power lose the importance of power.
The essay explores the sources of power by French and Raven (1968) and concludes that power does not derive only from senior positions and instead sees power part of our everyday lives which we are either conscious or unconscious of it.
Sources of power
To...