SIG 09 - OB &HRM - Organizational Behaviour and Human
Resource Management
We invite you to submit your research to explore the theme of
Transform Business for Good for the EURAM 23rd Conference.
We look forward to receiving your submissions.
T09_05 - Beyond good and evil: unravelling the bright and the dark
sides of organizational power
Proponents:
Rocco Palumbo, University Rome "Tor Vergata"; Alessandro Hinna, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"; Toshio
Araki, Kwansei Gakuin University; Saori Obayashi, Osaka University
Short description:
As social entities, organizations are not exempt from the exercise of power. Alongside a formal power, which
takes root on hierarchy and authority, an informal power based on soft determinants of influence contaminate
organizational dynamics and behaviors. The track demarcates formal (bright) and informal (dark) power and
investigate how they interact to shape management decisions and affect organizational behaviors. Power will
be investigated at different levels, including interpersonal exchanges, group processes, and interorganizational relationships. The main aim of the track is to go beyond the good and evil of organizational
power, contextualizing it to the everyday functioning of organizations.
Long description:
The exercise of power inherently permeates organizational life. Whilst it is easy to shed light on the use of
formal power, which derives from tangible sources of influence, it is more complicated to illuminate the dark
side of organizational power, which rests on intangible drivers of prestige. Far from representing alternative
and self-contained phenomena, the bright and the dark sides of power strictly interact, shaping management
decisions and organizational processes. Hence, research is needed to better understand how formal and
informal power are concomitantly used in the organization to achieve dominance and to control organizational
dynamics.
Power can be investigated across different organizational contexts. At the micro level, it is embedded in
interpersonal exchanges and characterizes the establishment of asymmetric relationships between members
of the organization. At the meso level it concerns the struggle for the achievement of prestige and prominence
of organizational groups, which contend the exercise of influence on organizational dynamics. Lastly, at the
macro level, it is related to inter-organizational relationships and to the struggle for increasing institutional
legitimacy and social acceptability undertaken by organizations. These three levels partially overlap. The micro
level sets the conditions for the exercise of power at the meso levels and is concomitantly affected by the
formality and informality of influence among different organizational groups. Furthermore, the way power is
EURAM 2023
expressed at the macro level is the result of how organizational influence is handled at the group level, whilst
meso level dynamics are immediately affected by the exercise of power at the inter-organizational level. Such
overlapping makes it hard to fully unravel the contents and the impacts of power at the organizational level,
requiring the adoption of multiple perspectives and manifold techniques to make sense of this phenomenon.
The combination of hard and soft sources of power additionally blurs our capability to comprehensively
investigate the unfolding of organizational power, undermining our awareness of its implications on
organizational dynamics and performance.
The track proposes an interpretation of organizational power which goes 'beyond the good and evil' and
combines formality and informality to obtain a thick account of how it is factually exerted. Inter alia, the track
will address the following themes:
The interplay between organizational power and organizational behaviors;
The mutual effect of structures on power and of power on structures;
The sources of powerfulness and powerlessness in organizations;
The strategies to achieve informal organizational power;
The exercise of power across organizational levels.
Keywords:
Organizational power
Powerfulness
Powerlessness
Organizational dynamics
Organizational conflicts
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people, Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 8: Decent work and economic
growth, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, Goal 10: Reducing inequalities, Goal 16: Peace,
justice and strong institutions
Publication Outlet:
International Journal of Public Administration: the proponents will discuss the opportunity to set a Special Issue
on managing power in public sector entities with the Editorial Board of the journal
International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing: The editor in chief (Helena Alves) will be asked to
consider a “fast track” for papers presented at the EURAM conference
Health Services Management Research: As the AE of the journal, Rocco Palumbo will guest edit a Special
Issue focused on organizational power in the health care domain.
For more information contact:
Rocco Palumbo, University Rome "Tor Vergata" - rocco.palumbo@uniroma2.it
AUTHORS GUIDELINES
https://conferences.euram.academy/2023conference/authors-guidelines-for-full-papers/
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https://conferences.euram.academy/2023conference/