ah--a serendipitous moment has arrived. Winfried, I've been thinking
about Mary Parker Follett's lectures on power as it applies to
competition, and then you wrote this. I'd like to share some of her
definitions with you, and see if they might enhance or add to what has
been discussed here before.
She goes into some length to examine what power is and isn't. She then
offers this definition. "Power might be defined as simply the ability to
make things happen, to be a causal agent, to initiate change." She
discusses the "urge to power" as an urge to create reactions (get
recognition, influence, etc). She defines control "as power exercised as
means toward a specific end," and authority "as vested control." She then
goes on to exclude strength from the definition of power, pointing out the
power wrought by weakness in many spheres of activities.
Follett then talks about what she calls, "power-over." This is "the power
of some person or group over some other person or group." She then
advocates "power-with," as "a jointly developed power, a co-active, not a
coercive power."
Finally, she debunks the idea of empowerment in the following statement.
"As a summing up of this question of conferring or sharing power, I should
say that if we have any power, any genuine power, let us hold on to it,
let us not give it away. We could not anyway if we wanted to. We can
confer authority; but power or capacity, no man can give or take. The
manager cannot share his power with division superintendent or foreman or
workmen, but he can give them opportunities for developing their power.
Functions may have to be redistributed; something the manager does now had
better perhaps be left to a division superintendant, to a foreman, even to
a workman; but that is a different matter; let us no confuse the two
things . . . More power, not division of power, should always be our aim,
more power for the best furtherance of that activity, whatever it may be,
to which we are giving our life."
Okay--summarizing a dozen pages doesn't do her justice, but it sets the
ground for my thinking (and my point, if I have one).
It seems to me that the nature of competition concerns power-over.
Power-over for the right to procreate. Power-over for the right to wear
the gold medal. Cooperation or collaboration are manifestations of
power-with. Indeed, the more power-with one brings to the cooperation,
the more power there will be in the cooperative effort.
Backroom Operations are a method of insidious control. Frontroom
operations are a more benign method of control. Both are manifestations
of "power exercised as means toward a specific end." Backroom Operations
are usually power-over. Frontroom may (or could be) power-with.
Finally, Follett preaches the need to develop capacity for power among
workers before they are able to exercise authority and responsibility.
This (to me) is the essence of personal mastery, and team learning
mandates the application of power-with, in order to develop and nurture a
powerful learning organization.
Of course, we learn from others' behavior to confuse power with authority
and control. This is why so many attempt to manifest power in its'
control form. The consequences are often terrible (in families, schools,
businesses, governments). Without personal power, though, authority and
control are the only means to coerce reactions.
It is interesting to consider the number of people who come into the
workplace without the capacity for power. In their mind (their mental
model) all power is derived from authority. If they only knew that all
authority is derived, instead, from power. Among those people, who might
be deemed incompetent (in their technical, social, interpersonal or basic
educational skills), are people who haven't developed their capacity for
these things. Among those who are deemed worthwhile to the organization,
they may not have developed their capacity for learning. At some point,
though, the frontroom operations for long-term success will include the
development resources for both learning and power.
Anyway, Winfried, I appreciate your forebearance in letting my piggyback
on your thoughts. I hope you recognize the honor that I pay them with such
a long posting as this.
walk in peace,
Doc
ps. for those of you who are already familiar and conversant with Follett's
work, please bear with me. I'm wallowing in her magnificent ideas for the
first time. It's too bad that she isn't recognized as one of the primary
contributors to the 5th Discipline Fieldbook--for her ideas are everywhere
throughout it.
--Thresholds--developing critical skills for living organizations Richard C. "Doc" Holloway Olympia, WA Please visit our new website, still at <http://www.thresholds.com/> <mailto:learnshops@thresholds.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>