Organizational Change and Power Dynamics
Added on 2020-05-16
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Running head: CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON POWERCultural influences on powerName of the student:Name of the university:Author note:
1CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON POWER The business scenario in the present age has become extremely competitive, and each andevery sector in the corporate service provider in the present market scenario has to compete withmultiple options to catch the attention of the consumer market. It has to be understood that thecompetitive business environments that is predominating the economy, the businessorganizations are needed to be one step ahead at all times. Hence, in order to thrive or survive inthe changing tides of the economy, the organizations have to go through a process of continualchange or transformation1. However, it has to be mentioned that the importance of these re-orientation based changeprograms is ultimate undoubtedly. Although any large-scale change program requires long termand strategic sustainable effort from the different stakeholders associated with the corporatebusiness. In has to be mentioned that the effort from different stakeholders is often interlinkedwith the power they can exert on the process. Organizational power and its utilization has adirect link to the change implementation and it has to be mentioned that the acceptance andmanifestation of power depends on the national culture of the country2. This assignment willattempt to discover the influence of power on the change programs, comparing the Australiannorms with that of Singapore. Firstly, the essay is going to discuss the different manners thatpower manifestation influences the change implementation process followed by the advantagesand disadvantages of the same, secondly the essay is going to compare and contrast the nationalcultures of Australia and Singapore taking the assistance of Hofstede cultural dimensionanalysis, concluding with a final verdict of the argument. This essay will focus on a very novelaspect of change resistance, the owner manifestation and the cultural influence on it, which will1Chory, Rebecca M., and Alan K. Goodboy. "Power, compliance, and resistance."The SAGE handbook ofcommunication and instruction(2010): 181-1992 Gover, Laura, and Linda Duxbury. "Making Sense of Organizational Change: Is Hindsight Really20/20?"Journal of Organizational Behavior39, no. 1 (2018): 39-51.
2CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON POWERdiscover new variables of the change resistance and how it can be overcome. This essay will nottake into account other confounding factors other than the national culture and its impact onpower manifestation in change processes.Power can be described as one of the most basic and fundamental elements of humancivilization which has time and again, shaped and reshaped the human society. Power can be ofvarious kinds, be it political, social or physical, there is a significant impact of all kinds of powerdynamics on any kind of human dynamics. It has to be mentioned in this context that even in thecorporate scenarios, there are different types of power dynamics at play, and each of the powermanifestation impact profound effects on the decision making and business process management,especially in case of people management and transactions3. On a more elaborative note, acommon misconception regarding the manifestation of power in organizational context is thatpower is force for the different individual to get what they want. Rather, as mentioned by theauthors, regardless of the scenario being corporate or not, the power basically emanates from aposition or designation of authority, and this authorative power can both be a positive or negativeinfluence of the rest of the staff. It has to be mentioned in this context that the organizationalchange is most frequently and subsequently influenced sector by the institutionalization of powerand its impact on the different stakeholder groups4. There are different types of power and each of power manifestation techniques have beencategories into five bases of power. The very first kind of power is the coercive power, where theauthority makes use of some kind of threat for the rest of the staff to fall in line. The second baseof power is the reward- based power that utilizes the allocation of incentives or other rewards in3Lunenburg, Fred C. "Power and leadership: an influence process."International journal of management,business, and administration15, no. 1 (2012): 1-94Thomas, Robyn, Leisa D. Sargent, and Cynthia Hardy. "Managing Organizational Change: NegotiatingMeaning and Power-resistance Relations." 22, no. 1 (2011): 22-41
3CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON POWERorder to motivate the employees in any of the responsibilities or tasks. The rewards can be ofvarious different types like increments, appraisals or promotions. The third category of power isthe referent power, this originates out of the interpersonal relationships that the employeescultivate among each other and in certain cases with the hierarchy of the organization. The fourthpower is the expert power, which can be associated with any individual having grater knowledgeand understanding or expertise over any matter5. And lastly, the most important and relevantpower in the context of organizational change is the legitimate power which is the most exertedkind of power in the corporate setting. The legitimate power can also be defined as the positionalpower. As mentioned above in the essay, the impact of a particular designation or position isextreme; and even in this case the positional power exerted by any individual in the hierarchy ofthe organization, is one of the key driving force of the change implementation and managementprocess6. In support of this school of thought, legitimate or the positional power is the most basicpower that has a significant impact on the successful implementation of the change process. Thispower exertion can come from anywhere; according to the article, in case of any organizationalchange, exertion of the legitimate power can come from CEOs, managerial hierarchy, changemanagers, business process analysts and consultants, work and employee councils7. However, ithas to be mentioned that the impact of the power on the facilitation of the change dependsheavily on the organizational culture and the national tradition of the country. It has to bementioned that the execution of power in the organizational sector has both its advantages anddisadvantages, whereas, in the positive sense, the utilization of the positional power to facilitate5Pierro, Antonio, Bertram H. Raven, Clara Amato, and Jocelyn J. Bélanger. "Bases of social power, leadershipstyles, and organizational commitment."International Journal of Psychology48, no. 6 (2013): 1122-11346Espedal, Bjarne. "Understanding How Balancing Autonomy and Power Might Occur in LeadingOrganizational Change."European Management Journal35, no. 2 (2017): 155-637Beerli, Monique J. "Legitimating Organizational Change through the Power of Quantification: Intra-Organizational Struggles and Data Deviations."International Peacekeeping24, no. 5 (2017): 780-802
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