Reframing Organizations, 5th ed.

Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents Chapter 11 Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents

Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents Organizations as Arenas Wal-Mart as agent and arena Ross Johnson Barbarians at the Gate Organizations as Political Agents Ecosystems I Ecosystems II Pfeffer and Salancik The External Control of Organizations

Organizations as Arenas Arenas shape: Rules of the game Players Stakes Bottom-up Political Action Labor unions and civil rights movements Political Barriers to Control from the Top U.S. Department of Education scenario: initiatives often lost to political opposition despite new resources and top-down support

Organizations as Political Agents Organizations exist in ecosystems Organizations depend on environment for resources support Organizations needs the skills of a politician: develop agenda, map environment, manage relationships with allies and competitors, negotiate Ecosystem “Organizational field” in which competitors and allies co-evolve

Ecosystems Business Ecosystems Public Policy Ecosystems Apple  IBM  “Wintel” General Motors and General Electric Public Policy Ecosystems Federal Aviation Administration Schools Business-government ecosystems Pharmaceutical companies, physicians and government Fedex lobbying clout

Ecosystems II Society as Ecosystem Business, public and government What is and should be the power relationship between organizations and society? Are organizations “instruments of market tyranny” or largely shaped by larger social and economic forces? Jihad vs. McWorld

Pfeffer and Salancik, The External Control of Organizations Organizations are controlled more than they control their external environment Organizations are “other-directed” Struggle for autonomy and discretion in the face of constraint and external control Confront conflicting demands from multiple constituents Organizations’ understanding of environment is often distorted, imperfect Dilemma: alliances essential to gain influence, but reduce autonomy by increasing dependency and obligations

Conclusion Organizations are both arenas for internal politics and political agents with their own agendas, resources, and strategies Arenas house contests, shape ongoing interplay of interests and agendas Agents exist, compete and co-evolve in larger ecosystems (“organizational fields”)