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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2010

Edited by
Dean Tjosvold  and
Barbara Wisse
Dean Tjosvold
Affiliation:
Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Barbara Wisse
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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Summary

The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.

Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Lord Acton, Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1898

Power pervades everyday life in organizations and society and can be highly constructive but also very destructive. The powerful overcome adversities to unite and liberate countries; the powerful also suppress and demoralize. Power can mobilize us to rescue people from tragedies but also to bring havoc. Power helps us get things done that we cannot do alone, for good and for evil. It affects our dealing with crises but also our everyday activities. Power is inevitable in our organizations: the issue we confront is to understand when it is constructive and when it is destructive.

Power plays a key role in organizations and groups, indeed in all social contexts. Organizations – with their hierarchical structure, interdependent relationships, and the potential goal incompatibilities of the parties – are major arenas where power processes occur. Chapters in this book explore the positive and negative faces of power and interdependence in organizations; they identify opportunities and threats. Together the chapters advocate the need to manage power in order to take advantage of it and guard against its destructiveness.

The need to manage power crosses all boundaries; we need knowledge developed worldwide to help us manage power constructively.

Type
Chapter
Information
Power and Interdependence in Organizations , pp. 1 - 14
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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References

Argyris, C. and Schon, D. A. (1978) Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
French, J. R. P.. and Raven, B. H. (1959) The bases of social power. In Cartwright, D. and Zander, A. F. (Eds.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167), Ann Arbor, Mich.: Institute for Social Research.Google Scholar
Hurwitz, J. I., Zander, A. F., and Hymovitch, B. (1968) Some effects of power on the relations among group members. In Cartwright, D. and Zander, A. (Eds.), Group dynamics (pp. 291–297), New York, N.Y.Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Kipnis, D. (1976) The power-holders, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McClelland, D. C. (1970) The two faces of power. Journal of Affairs, 24, 29–47.Google Scholar
McClelland, D. C. (1975) Power: The inner experience, New York, N.Y.: Irvington Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
Solomon, L. (1960) The influence of some types of power and game strategies upon the development of interpersonal trust. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 61, 223–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tjosvold, D. (1967) The American Revolution pamphleteers: Conservators of seventeenth century English radicalism. Senior thesis, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J.

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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Dean Tjosvold, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Barbara Wisse, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
  • Book: Power and Interdependence in Organizations
  • Online publication: 19 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511626562.002
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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Dean Tjosvold, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Barbara Wisse, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
  • Book: Power and Interdependence in Organizations
  • Online publication: 19 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511626562.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Dean Tjosvold, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Barbara Wisse, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
  • Book: Power and Interdependence in Organizations
  • Online publication: 19 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511626562.002
Available formats
×