Category: MEDIA

By Priyanka Sangani

Power can be a tricky concept. Most people tend to see it as a mysterious quality that can’t really be defined. Jeffrey Pfeffer, Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, doesn’t agree.

Quiz him on what power is, and he has a ready description – power is the ability to get your way in contested situations. He says that it was primarily to clear the ambiguity surrounding it that prompted his recent book, Power: Why Some People Have It – and Others Don’t.

“Many people see power as something that exists as a mystery. I wanted to explain to people what it actually is,” he says. Power, like any other managerial skill, can be learnt; and over time, you can work towards getting better at it. He believes that power is not a bad thing, in fact, as his definition shows, it’s important when it comes to getting things done.

Understanding power is equally relevant to someone who is aspiring to it and wants to become more successful, for those who want to maintain power, as well as observers and commentators, so that they can better understand the power plays that go on. There is a lot of social science literature and research matter that can be used to understand power dynamics.

A lot of people tend to be uncomfortable with the idea of power, and Prof Pfeffer says that it often stems from the belief that the world is a just place. “People like to see the world as a place where virtuous behaviour will be rewarded. This blinds them to being as observant about their surroundings as they are required to be,” he says.

At times, this blind sightedness can result in your downfall. It’s prudent to keep your eyes and ears open and be aware of the reality around you and not lock yourself in an ivory tower, he advises.

While power is automatically linked with the top job, power struggles go on at all levels of the organisation. However, the CEO does have more to grapple with. “If you are the CEO, there are two issues that come up,” says Prof Pfeffer. “To start with, you’ve either been promoted from within or brought in from outside. Either way, you will be surrounded by people who feel that they deserve your job more than you do. It helps to be wary of these internal rivals.”

On the other hand, because you are the CEO, there will always be people fawning over you and sucking up to you. “It is easy to become overconfident and not remain as vigilant or proactive as you should be. It’s important to not let down your guard and to keep doing what got you into power in the first place. Don’t think that now that you are the CEO it’s okay to take it easy,” he warns.

On the other extreme, there have been numerous examples of people in power whose arrogance and uninhibited behaviour sowed the seeds of their destruction, something else you need to steer clear of. It’s important to know how to use the principles of power, says Prof Pfeffer.

The important thing for a person who aspires to it is to build effective networks. Prof Pfeffer recommends getting personal coaching and taking active charge of your career. Ensure that your job places you in the right positions where you have enough visibility, as well as the opportunity to do well. Getting enough exposure to people at the senior levels in your organisation is also helpful. Most of all, it takes hard work.

Prof Pfeffer, who has authored 13 books and teaches a course on ‘The Paths to Power’ is dismissive about leadership literature written by leaders. “Leadership literature written by those in leadership positions is mostly fiction. It’s feel good management literature written to make themselves look like a cross between Gandhi and Jesus Christ which tends to gloss over the bumps and power plays that have happened along the way,” he says.

The rules of the game that you are told are not necessarily the only rules that apply, he warns, and it is possible to play by these without compromising on your ethics. Prof Pfeffer has been a long time advocate of evidence-based management and says that it is possibly to apply that to learning how to deal with power.

“The best way to learn is from social science literature. There is enough material out there and you need to find the research literature relevant to the domain you are interested in,” he says. He agrees that evidence changes all the time, but still, at any given time, it is good to know what evidence suggests. “There are a lot of things going into it and if you don’t really do that and understand power dynamics, then all you are doing is wishful thinking. It’s not the truth.”

It is important for an individual to make the distinction between what’s good for her/ him versus what’s good for the organization. Numerous socio-biological studies have shown that what is good for the person isn’t necessarily good for the organization.

At times like this, he recommends going with what you know is right and good for you because the organization doesn’t really care about you over its own interests. “This kind of conflict of interest is not a new idea and at times like this, it is important to put your personal interests on top,” he says.

You also have to be willing to take risks, and do things that might make you unpopular. “People tend to worry too much about what other people will think of their actions instead of thinking about how effective they are,” says Prof Pfeffer. This often results in people taking the wrong decisions. Any final advice on how to handle power? “Everybody has a boss. Keep yours happy.”

 

Source:The Economic Times

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