Acquisition of Absolute Power Through Politics
ACQUISITION OF ABSOLUTE POWER THROUGH POLITICS: EMERGENCE OF ‘COTERIE’ IN ABC COMPANY
“Powers tend to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Lord Acton (1887)
Introduction:
Power is an integral invisible force which permeates throughout an organization. We can only feel the power and see the way other people react and behave when the power is used on them. The purpose of my essay is to show how Power and politics are played in my organization and how these are affecting the organization. To drive home this point in my paper I intend to critically analyze the issue related to power and politics in the context of my experiences of working within the ABC Company. I shall undertake this analysis through drawing wide range of relevant theories and concepts related to power and politics. My organization ABC is a leading media company in Bangladesh. Its head office is in London but it is operating its activities independently in Bangladesh. The Country Director (CD) is the head of this company. As he is not a technical person, so Head of the Production’s (HOP) decision is to count which program should go for broadcast or on air. Before going for broadcast all the programs are needed to be approved by London office.
Identifying the source of power in ABC
Media has its own power so senior managers in ABC are socially powerful and it is in their characteristics to control people. From the first day of my joining I noticed that the CD was a kind of ‘Machiavellian’ type of manager who would do only what would serve his interest (Machiavelli, 1961). I know that “Power in workplace is inevitable” (Pfeffer, 1992, p. 30), so I was just waiting to see in which form and way it would occur. Though as Head of Admin I was the one who was supposed to make the policies but my CD already instructed what should be in the policies. I found that ultimately he had kept all the powers in his hand so that he could manipulate.
I found that the CD always
“Powers tend to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Lord Acton (1887)
Introduction:
Power is an integral invisible force which permeates throughout an organization. We can only feel the power and see the way other people react and behave when the power is used on them. The purpose of my essay is to show how Power and politics are played in my organization and how these are affecting the organization. To drive home this point in my paper I intend to critically analyze the issue related to power and politics in the context of my experiences of working within the ABC Company. I shall undertake this analysis through drawing wide range of relevant theories and concepts related to power and politics. My organization ABC is a leading media company in Bangladesh. Its head office is in London but it is operating its activities independently in Bangladesh. The Country Director (CD) is the head of this company. As he is not a technical person, so Head of the Production’s (HOP) decision is to count which program should go for broadcast or on air. Before going for broadcast all the programs are needed to be approved by London office.
Identifying the source of power in ABC
Media has its own power so senior managers in ABC are socially powerful and it is in their characteristics to control people. From the first day of my joining I noticed that the CD was a kind of ‘Machiavellian’ type of manager who would do only what would serve his interest (Machiavelli, 1961). I know that “Power in workplace is inevitable” (Pfeffer, 1992, p. 30), so I was just waiting to see in which form and way it would occur. Though as Head of Admin I was the one who was supposed to make the policies but my CD already instructed what should be in the policies. I found that ultimately he had kept all the powers in his hand so that he could manipulate.
I found that the CD always
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