Evolution of Organizational Power

Abstract

The surrounding reality undergoes dynamic transformation, which has a substantial impact on the functioning of the organization. One of its important aspects is the organizational authority and forms of its exercise. Therefore, the research problem, undertaken in the article, boils down to the question: what is the direction of changes in the way of organizational governance from birth of management science to the present day? In order to find the answer, the deductive method was used. In contrast, the analysis of the research problem was carried out by adopting two dimensions of power. In the first dimension, the power is treated as a social influence exerted on members of the organization, in the second—as the scope of control over the relationship with the organization's close stakeholders (customers, suppliers, and competitors). Their distinction was emphasized in the structure of the article, firstly in separate parts by presenting the chronology of the occurred changes, then by building up the justification separately for each of them of a pragmatic approach to governance of the organization at the present time. Changing of the dominant character of workers from low-skilled workers into knowledge workers triggered a need to redefine the attitudes of superiors towards seeing the workers in the category of capital necessary for the development of the organization. In turn, the direction of evolution of relations with the environment has been determined by the disappearance of borders between the organization and the environment, which resulted in the need for openness with regards to entering into temporary (instead of the previously long-term) inter-organizational forms of cooperation, thus in the change in tactics of making impact on the stakeholders of the organization. The article's considerations lead to the conclusion that the evolution of organizational authority moves towards its progressive dispersion and the associated autonomy of organizational behaviour. The growing independence of employees and limited opportunities to maintain control over the close environment are forcing organizations to accept uncertainty and the temporariness of measures taken, and to redefine the essence, scope, and modalities for organizational governance. Moreover, they lead to being guided by pragmatic values such as trust and credibility. This situation also leads to the conclusion that the research into developments in the field of organizational governance is important from the point of view of the need to adapt to new and complex ways of its exercise, to respond to the demands of the situation and the expectations under its influence. Introduction  The issue of power is inextricably linked to the organization, as it is constituted by a group of people pursuing an aim together and having sufficient resources for its implementation (Aldrich, 2008). One of the key