Implicit power theories and power-sharing
Overview: This research concerned the resistance of the powerful to share their power (wealth, information, access, authority, etc.) in the face of the need for social change. Our first study investigated the effects of people’s implicit theories of power in organizations (unarticulated beliefs about the nature of organizational power) on their willingness to share power with subordinates (Coleman, 2004). In this study, we found that managers have two different implicit theories of power (IPTs): 1) the belief that organizational power is a scarce resource and as such should be horded and accumulated, and 2) the belief that organizational power is an expandable resource and that sharing power with others is not a loss, but rather can result in an increased ability to achieve one’s goals. The two competing views of power were shown to affect manager’s decisions whether to share or withhold resources, as well as the degree to which they involved employees in decisions about work processes. Subsequent research found additional support for the model. In a study conducted in China (Tjosvold, Coleman, & Sun, 2003), participants portraying managers in an organizational simulation were found to share more power (information and assistance) with subordinates when they were led to believe that their organization had a history of approaching organizational power as an expandable resource than when it was portrayed as traditionally viewing and approaching power as a scarce resource. More recently, two studies found that differences in the accessibility of IPTs (their salience) predicted competitive vs. cooperative orientations between managers and employees and affected managers’ willingness to share information, time, and attention (Coleman, under review).Publications from this project
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Coleman, P. T. (2009). A tale of two theories: Implicit theories of power and power-sharing in organizations. In D. Tjosvold and B. van Knippenberg (Eds.), Power and Interdependence in Organizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Coleman, P. T. Implicit theories, interdependence, and power sharing: Mindsets as a barrier to empowerment. Under review with Journal Social Psychology.
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Tjosvold, D., Coleman, P. T., & Sun, H. (2003). Effects of organizational values on leader’s use of information power to affect performance in China. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 7, 152-167. Abstract The traditional idea that power is limited … Continue reading →