2: Power and Control

This part of the book is about power and control. What do these terms mean? The practice of control presupposes the possession of power. When people within the organisation exercise control over others it is because they have the power to do so. To control is to affect, intentionally, the behaviour of others. Wilson (2010, p. 310) cites Edwards’s earlier research (1981), depicting three strategies of control:

So far so simple, but of course control can be more subtle, and power can be well hidden. There may be, for instance,

Power requires dependence. If employees are dependent upon a specific manager for preferment, for overtime, for promotion or ultimately for employment itself, that manager – no matter how irrational, unreasonable or even malign – is in a position of power. Added to this, Legge (2005, pp. 61–62) refers to the importance of ‘control myths’ which are based on assumptions about, for instance, gendered or ethnic characteristics. These assumptions may of course be entirely groundless but are still powerful tools in the hands of those in control when based on assumed characteristics of women or men, or of older/younger people, or of people with disabilities. Indeed, when these assumptions are shared by those in a subordinate position, through socialisation and constant reinforcement at work and even at home, then control is complete. The powerless, their worth undermined, are co-opted into their own subjugation – as in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ which is referred to later in this chapter.