Who Gets Power--and How They Hold onto It: A Strategic-Contingency Model of Power
Author(s)
Salancik, Gerald R.; Pfeffer, Jeffrey
Abstract
This article will argue that traditional “political” power, far from being a dirty business, is one of the few mechanisms available for aligning an organization with its own reality. However, institutionalized forms of power – what we prefer to call the cleaner forms of power: authority, legitimization, centralized control, regulations, and the more modern “management information systems” – tend to buffer the organization from reality and obscure the demands of its environment. Most great states and institutions declined, not because they played politics, but because they failed to accommodate to the political realties they faced. Political processes, rather than being mechanisms for unfair and unjust allocations and appointments, tend toward the realistic resolution of conflicts among interests. And power, while it eludes definition, is easy enough to recognize by its consequences – the ability of those who posses power to bring about the outcomes they desire.
