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Any book or article recommendations on the subject of how power is created and traded in organizations? I'm fascinated by the subject but don't know the first t

Any book or article recommendations on the subject of how power is created and traded in organizations? I'm fascinated by the subject but don't know the first thing about it. (Like many engineers.)

eitally 11y ago
Start with Sun Tzu. :) Some people have an aptitude for diplomacy and it comes naturally. Others don't. Some are completely turned off by the entire concept that quality work can't stand on its own. Intuiting and playing the power dynamics in an organization is a critical skill for managers especially (and in particular if they want to set their teams up for success). You can read all the theory and case studies you want but if it doesn't come naturally and/or you don't have opportunities to practice, it's going to be tough to make inroads. You can almost imagine it like the current US presidential nomination process. All the candidates are shit, on both sides, but astute folks know it only matters a little bit because there are plenty of smart people behind the scenes who actually pull the strings and make the important decisions. Those are the career diplomats, who are supported by specialist analysts, who are in turn receiving data and insights from technical staff. One of the easiest ways to "improve" in this area is to start by trying to figure out what the corporate BD strategy is (as well as the entire industry sector), then try to learn what individuals' agendas are, and finally connect the dots and figure out what critical role you or your team can play in the context of the bigger pictures. That's business. Business is not the same as making things. Business is the practice of instilling confidence and trust in other people, ultimately convincing them to give you money for something they find valuable.
- sean_the_geek 11y ago
  well said! I consider that I fit into "Some are completely turned off by the entire concept that quality work can't stand on its own" group and want to move to "Intuiting and playing the power dynamics in an organization is a critical skill for managers especially.." group. Sun Tzu it is :)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
gavazzy 11y ago
Modern Organizational theory (coalitions, bounded rationality, etc): https://www.coursera.org/course/organalysis https://www.coursera.org/course/organalysis
ucaetano 11y ago
It was a tricky class, a lot of it wasn't about explicit rules or frameworks, but reading chapters of biographies and other books, and identifying the sources of power and how they were used. We didn't have a specific book, and it was a very unique class, my favorite after competitive strategy (essentially applied game theory). Some of the readings were on Robert Moses, LB Johnson, the movie 12 Angry Men (Henry Fonda version), etc. Essentially you can take any good biography of a powerful person and try to proactively identify the sources of power they had, how they harnessed and yielded it, and what impact it had. It requires some suspension of disbelief, since power is usually seen as negative, so you need to be a bit cynical while doing it (just don't be cynical in real life, nobody likes an asshole). You can do the same in you job (that was actually the final paper): who holds power (and which type of power) over you? Why? Where do they source their power from? Skill? Reputation? Formal authority? What power do you have? Over whom? Why? Where do you get it from? This was one of those classes where it would be hard to replicate the same learning by yourself. The other one was negotiations.
- CPLX 11y ago
  "The Power Broker" biography of Robert Moses is a truly exceptional look at the intersection of interpersonal and organizational power.
  - ucaetano 11y ago
    That was the one we read.
  - cushychicken 11y ago
    I've started on it but have yet to finish it. Excellent, but very dense and cerebral. I'll have to try another go at it.
- tixocloud 11y ago
  It's one of those topics that fascinated me as well although I didn't take a specific class on it. It's really interesting to learn that power sometimes doesn't fully come from the top and that even lower level employees can wield significant power.
exelius 11y ago
The textbook we used for my organizational power class was Machiavelli's "The Prince" (yes, I'm being serious). Just replace any instances of murder/beheading with firing and it's a good parallel to the corporate world.
- stuxnet79 11y ago
  "The Prince" is essentially ground zero for political science. A must read.
vinceguidry 11y ago
Our society has a difficult time talking about power. You're better able to get actionable advice from experienced people in an intimate setting, like a classroom, than you will be able to from books. Which is why an MBA may work better in this regard. A good way to learn is to pay close attention to the way managers talk about it. Movies like Office Space and The Office cut close at the truth, but don't quite get you there. They're dramatizations, moving at the speed of narrative, whereas real situations move at the speed of conversation. One of the key things to remember is that qualifications have very, very little to do with it. The main thing they're looking for is for other people to like you. "Like you" is manager-speak for the sort of respect that will get them to take you seriously as a manager. If you ask them to do something, will they do it? Even if it has nothing to do with their job duties? That's a quality of a good manager. Second, they need to need your services and they need to get it at the right price. They once tapped me to hire a junior engineer under me. I could not find anyone willing to work for the prices they wanted to pay, so I couldn't move up. Eventually they decided to switch technology stacks rather than acquire human capital. During these talks, it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it with the benefit of hindsight, there are aspects of that experience that clearly show why there's so much coded language around this process and how I screwed things up by not understanding the language and expectations beforehand. I regret nothing, as I've got way better options than middle management at a non-technical firm.
- restalis 11y ago
  "it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying." I wonder if that is only a personal conclusion (about the very existence of the mentioned manager's secret social play to not be confirmed by other of your fellow managers), if that is something real but limited to the circle of the company you were employed (so the manager's secret play being nothing but a part of company's culture), or if that is something (almost) universal that is worth writing more about. It would be extremely useful to get more bits if it's the later.
  - ucaetano 11y ago
owlee 11y ago
"Pitch Anything" by Oren Klaff.

Any book or article recommendations on the subject of how power is created and traded in organizations? I'm fascinated by the subject but don't know the first thing about it. (Like many engineers.)

eitally 11y ago

Start with Sun Tzu. :) Some people have an aptitude for diplomacy and it comes naturally. Others don't. Some are completely turned off by the entire concept that quality work can't stand on its own. Intuiting and playing the power dynamics in an organization is a critical skill for managers especially (and in particular if they want to set their teams up for success). You can read all the theory and case studies you want but if it doesn't come naturally and/or you don't have opportunities to practice, it's going to be tough to make inroads. You can almost imagine it like the current US presidential nomination process. All the candidates are shit, on both sides, but astute folks know it only matters a little bit because there are plenty of smart people behind the scenes who actually pull the strings and make the important decisions. Those are the career diplomats, who are supported by specialist analysts, who are in turn receiving data and insights from technical staff. One of the easiest ways to "improve" in this area is to start by trying to figure out what the corporate BD strategy is (as well as the entire industry sector), then try to learn what individuals' agendas are, and finally connect the dots and figure out what critical role you or your team can play in the context of the bigger pictures. That's business. Business is not the same as making things. Business is the practice of instilling confidence and trust in other people, ultimately convincing them to give you money for something they find valuable.

sean_the_geek 11y ago
well said! I consider that I fit into "Some are completely turned off by the entire concept that quality work can't stand on its own" group and want to move to "Intuiting and playing the power dynamics in an organization is a critical skill for managers especially.." group. Sun Tzu it is :)
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

gavazzy 11y ago

Modern Organizational theory (coalitions, bounded rationality, etc): https://www.coursera.org/course/organalysis https://www.coursera.org/course/organalysis

ucaetano 11y ago

It was a tricky class, a lot of it wasn't about explicit rules or frameworks, but reading chapters of biographies and other books, and identifying the sources of power and how they were used. We didn't have a specific book, and it was a very unique class, my favorite after competitive strategy (essentially applied game theory). Some of the readings were on Robert Moses, LB Johnson, the movie 12 Angry Men (Henry Fonda version), etc. Essentially you can take any good biography of a powerful person and try to proactively identify the sources of power they had, how they harnessed and yielded it, and what impact it had. It requires some suspension of disbelief, since power is usually seen as negative, so you need to be a bit cynical while doing it (just don't be cynical in real life, nobody likes an asshole). You can do the same in you job (that was actually the final paper): who holds power (and which type of power) over you? Why? Where do they source their power from? Skill? Reputation? Formal authority? What power do you have? Over whom? Why? Where do you get it from? This was one of those classes where it would be hard to replicate the same learning by yourself. The other one was negotiations.

CPLX 11y ago
"The Power Broker" biography of Robert Moses is a truly exceptional look at the intersection of interpersonal and organizational power.
- ucaetano 11y ago
  That was the one we read.
- cushychicken 11y ago
  I've started on it but have yet to finish it. Excellent, but very dense and cerebral. I'll have to try another go at it.
tixocloud 11y ago
It's one of those topics that fascinated me as well although I didn't take a specific class on it. It's really interesting to learn that power sometimes doesn't fully come from the top and that even lower level employees can wield significant power.

exelius 11y ago

The textbook we used for my organizational power class was Machiavelli's "The Prince" (yes, I'm being serious). Just replace any instances of murder/beheading with firing and it's a good parallel to the corporate world.

stuxnet79 11y ago
"The Prince" is essentially ground zero for political science. A must read.

vinceguidry 11y ago

Our society has a difficult time talking about power. You're better able to get actionable advice from experienced people in an intimate setting, like a classroom, than you will be able to from books. Which is why an MBA may work better in this regard. A good way to learn is to pay close attention to the way managers talk about it. Movies like Office Space and The Office cut close at the truth, but don't quite get you there. They're dramatizations, moving at the speed of narrative, whereas real situations move at the speed of conversation. One of the key things to remember is that qualifications have very, very little to do with it. The main thing they're looking for is for other people to like you. "Like you" is manager-speak for the sort of respect that will get them to take you seriously as a manager. If you ask them to do something, will they do it? Even if it has nothing to do with their job duties? That's a quality of a good manager. Second, they need to need your services and they need to get it at the right price. They once tapped me to hire a junior engineer under me. I could not find anyone willing to work for the prices they wanted to pay, so I couldn't move up. Eventually they decided to switch technology stacks rather than acquire human capital. During these talks, it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it with the benefit of hindsight, there are aspects of that experience that clearly show why there's so much coded language around this process and how I screwed things up by not understanding the language and expectations beforehand. I regret nothing, as I've got way better options than middle management at a non-technical firm.

restalis 11y ago
"it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying." I wonder if that is only a personal conclusion (about the very existence of the mentioned manager's secret social play to not be confirmed by other of your fellow managers), if that is something real but limited to the circle of the company you were employed (so the manager's secret play being nothing but a part of company's culture), or if that is something (almost) universal that is worth writing more about. It would be extremely useful to get more bits if it's the later.
- ucaetano 11y ago

owlee 11y ago

"Pitch Anything" by Oren Klaff.