Positive Power Dynamics
How to improve the upholding of Positive Power Dynamics in an Organization ?
Some Strategies or measures within the Conflict Transformation Framework
Summary of Virtual presentation on May 11, 2024 for the training programme of Executive Members of Nonviolence Advocates Association at Creative Art Studio, Farato , The Gambia.
M. K. Gandhi
Young India , 8-1-1925
Power is basically looked upon with suspicion and considers it a sinister one.1 The approach of M. K. Gandhi2 was also on similar lines. In each and every organization there is a power structure. It is believed that it is essential for the orderly functioning of an organization or an association. Even in organizations and associations working for nonviolence and peace there is a power structure. Only a very few organizations are working without having any power structure or mechanism and use consensus decision making processes for its functioning. Such organizations which I have come across have a Gandhian lineage and tenor. 3 The concept of power is a relative one. Some sort of power is available to everyone irrespective of the fact he/she holds an office, position or title.
Where does the power come from?
There are two perceptions. The first one is “outside –in”. It means power is conferred or bequeathed to a person or group of persons by someone else. It may come in form of positions, titles and so on. Such persons exercise their authority and influence the life of others positively or negatively. Another perception is “inside-out.” Here power is looked upon ability within us . Rick Miller author of the book Be Chief: It’s a Choice, Not a Title focuses on "inside-out" power in his writings.
Graphic designed by Michael Black/black sun
Courtesy :https://www.thindifference.com/2018/09/the-power-inside-each-of-us/
In a blog of Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan 6 on the occasion of 163rd birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore quoted one of his utterances on Mahatma Gandhi “ When Mahatma Gandhi came and opened up the path of freedom for India, he had no obvious medium of power in his hand, no overwhelming authority of coercion. The influence which emanated from his personality was ineffable, like music, like beauty. Its claim upon others was great because of its revelation of a spontaneous self-giving.”. I think here Tagore is speaking about what Rick Miller called “inside-out” power. You may agree with me that this power is far superior than "outside in power" and it produced miraculous results in history of fight for humanity and freedom both in South Africa and India led by Gandhi.
I have been asked to deal with the question of how to improve the upholding of Positive Power Dynamics in an Organization. Further, whatever strategies that can be used in this connection should be within the Conflict Transformation Framework. Even though Gandhi did not use terms and concepts like Conflict Transformation he was a forerunner or precursor in this field. That is why in a presentation way back in 2020 for Generation Nonviolence - The Gambia7 I said “Gandhi was constantly engaged in restructuring the unjust structures through non-violent methods and techniques of action. In this process, he saw the potential for positive change in each and every conflict. Instead of treating conflicts as threats or challenges, Gandhi considers them as opportunities for peaceful and radical socio- economic and political transformation. Thus he removed the notion of negativity associated with conflict and changed the very notion of conflict. He dealt with conflicts from a positive or constructive angle and made the latent conflict visible without resorting to violent means. Gandhi had an uncanny knack of stirring latent conflicts and using the momentum gained in the process to address larger questions of freedom, injustice and oppression.” Those who would like to learn more about Conflict transformation theory may read John Paul Lederach's work The Little Book of Conflict Transformation.8 Though we focus on Conflict transformation Framework, I think a brief mention of mainstream theoretical understanding on the subject is in order.
In the late 1950s, John R. P. French and Bertram Raven (1959) analyzed the complexities of power. According to them the processes of power are pervasive, complex and often disguised in our society. Further they define power in terms of influence and influence in terms of psychological change. French and Raven’s theory of social influence and power is limited to influence on the person, P, produced by a social agent, O, where O can be either another person, a role, a norm, a group, or a part of a group. By the basis of power they mean the relationship between O and P which is the source of that power. They identified five bases of power viz. : “ (a) reward power, based on P's perception that O has the ability to mediate rewards for him; (b) coercive power, based on P's perception that O has the ability to mediate punishments for him; (c) legitimate power, based on the perception by P that O has a legitimate right to prescribe behavior for him; (d) referent power, based on P's identification with O; (e) expert power, based on the perception that O has some special knowledge or expertness.” 9 On the bases of these distinctions they arrived at following hypotheses.
“1. For all five types, the stronger the basis of power the greater the power.
2. For any type of power the size of the range may vary greatly, but in general referent power will have the broadest range.
3. Any attempt to utilize power outside the range of power will tend to reduce the power.
4. A new state of a system produced by reward power or coercive power will be highly dependent on O, and the more observable P's conformity the more dependent the state. For the other three types of power, the new state is usually dependent, at least in the beginning, but in any case the level of observability has no effect on the degree of dependence.
5. Coercion results in decreased attraction of P toward O and high resistance; reward power results in increased attraction and low resistance.
6. The more legitimate the coercion the less it will produce resistance and decreased attraction.”10
In the course of time scholars have added a number of sources. However, French and Raven’s framework continue to remain as the foundation for further additions.
Power dynamics in an Organization
Power is a part and parcel of any organization. In order to understand the real working of an organization it is necessary to know the nature and dynamics of power and its very structure. In fact power dynamics determine the relationships and interactions between people within an organization and outside. Power dynamics of an organization shows the way in which power is distributed among its members and how it is exercised by them for the benefit of an organization. Each employee is expected to be given sufficient authority necessary for the performance of his/her assigned duties in an organization. Power dynamics is centered on formal authority given to persons to exercise power legitimately. But in practice it also includes informal ways in which power is exerted without having any formal authority.
Steps for upholding Positive Power Dynamics
In order to create a peaceful and comfortable work environment it is necessary to ensure distribution of power among its members in a decentralized manner rather than concentrating it on a particular individual. The general experience is that the concentration of power in one single individual often leads to a dominant and suppressed relationship resulting in abuse of authority. Further it creates fear, resentment and conflict among its members and it may even lead to resistance. Eventually it affects morale and performance of the whole team.
Those who are heading organizations should develop ways and means to address these negative power dynamics and transform conflicts and build consensus to foster a healthy and productive work environment. It calls for greater involvement of all members ensuring participatory decision making and implementation of programmes to achieve the set goals of an organization. Power should be neutralized in such a manner to ensure some level of autonomy to each and every person working in an organization. Everyone should feel that his /her voice is heard, and has a specific role and contribution in achieving the set goals. This shared power dynamic creates a sense of ownership and ability for self determination in the best interest of an organization.
Treating each member of the organization with respect and being considerate irrespective of their position in organizational hierarchy is a positive power dynamic that boosts interpersonal relations of the whole team.
Those who are leading the organization must have trust in team members even if some actions of the members may not be able to create the desired results. It creates a sense of responsibility among members providing further scope for learning from experience and adopts more innovative ideas. The team members initially should be given tasks which involve lesser risks and when they gain experience tougher tasks should be assigned. In this process everyone is empowered and qualifies themselves for difficult tasks.
For developing and upholding positive power dynamics a relational work culture is essential. It creates a feeling of connectedness with other members of the team and sense of security and safety. It helps to harness the collective strength of the whole team.
To ensure positive power dynamics in an organization a proper mechanism should be developed to constantly monitor and evaluate the progress of the team and be ever ready to review and adjust the power dynamics to address and resolve issues. Based on evaluation, constructive feedback and opportunities for training should be given wherever necessary. It is also equally important to reward and celebrate achievements to boost the morale of team members.
As we are using the conflict transformation framework, all the issues we are facing due to negative power dynamics should be considered as opportunities for transforming those conflicts into positive ones. Conflict is part and parcel of life and it is unavoidable but the method we should use is the method of nonviolence. It is hoped the executive members of Nonviolence Advocates Association carry this message in their respective workplaces and will become effective instruments in the propagation of nonviolence in the process of creating just and peaceful society.
References
1.Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton that the same moral standards should be applied to all men including political and religious leaders since “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” See https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/lord-acton-writes-to-bishop-creighton-that-the-same-moral-standards-should-be-applied-to-all-men-political-and-religious-leaders-included-especially-since-power-tends-to-corrupt-and-absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely-1887
2.“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.” -John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton
3.“I look upon an increase of the power of the state with the greatest fear, because all the while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality, which lies at the root of all progress.” [ M. K.Gandhi’s “Interview with N.K Bose, 1934; reproduced in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG), VOL, 65, p. 318.]
4.. Communities of Ark founded by Lanza del Vasto in Europe and other parts of the world uses a consensus decision making process.
5. Rick Miller identified five key enablers of power . They are :1. Discipline is an orderly pattern of behavior that increases both clarity as well as the likelihood of a desired outcome.2. Support is the act or process of promoting the interests or causes of another that increases influence.3. Insight is the power or act of seeing intuitively that comes with self-understanding and increases energy.4. Values are the foundation of relationships and of confidence.5. Creativity is the ability to bring into existence. Alignment of creative choices amplifies power and increases impact. See https://www.thindifference.com/2018/09/the-power-inside-each-of-us/
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickmiller/2018/10/25/what-is-power-really/?sh=156281db42a7
6.https://jbmlrcgs.blogspot.com/2024/05/163rd-birth-anniversary-of-gurudev.html Tagore and Gandhi : The beauty of in-depth debates
7.See the handbook written by Siby Kollappallil Joseph on the theme Satyagraha as Gandhi’s Approach to Conflict Resolution . It was made available to the participants of the online course of Generation Nonviolence - The Gambia June 19, 2020 to July 12, 2020. This was offered when the author was working as the Dean of Studies and Research, Institute of Gandhian Studies, Wardha, India.
8.John Paul Lederach,The Little Book of Conflict Transformation (New York :Good Books , 2014)
9.John R. P. French, Jr., And Bertram Raven, The Bases of Social Power http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/the_bases_of_social_power_-_chapter_20_-_1959.pdf
10. Ibid.
About the Author
Dr. Siby K. Joseph is Director, Sri Jamnalal Bajaj Memorial Library and Research Centre for Gandhian Studies, Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan, Sevagram,Wardha- 442102, Maharashtra (INDIA) Email: directorjbmlrc@gmail.com https://sevagramashram.org.in https://nonvpi.in/
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