Power and Conflict

Abstract

When someone is prevented from doing as they wish, they often talk in terms of power. They feel that in this situation or that decision they are powerless to alter things now and perhaps in the future. They complain of a lack of power in relation to both other people and what they see as ‘the system’. On the other side of the coin people can be encountered boasting of the amount of power they do have over people or events. Power can also exist when no one speaks of it at all. This chapter begins with a few examples of different situations in which people are parties in power relationships, and then proceeds to analyse and discuss important aspects of power in organisations.