Table Of ContentVarda Muhlbauer · Wes Harry Editors
Redefi ning
Management
Smart Power Perspectives
Redefining Management
Varda Muhlbauer • Wes Harry
Editors
Redefining Management
Smart Power Perspectives
Editors
Varda Muhlbauer Wes Harry
Netanya Academic College University of Chester
Netanya, Israel Cass Business School
City University of London
Cheshire, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-69208-1 ISBN 978-3-319-69209-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69209-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960276
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Contents
1 Introduction ............................................... 1
Varda Muhlbauer and Wes Harry
2 The Power of Change and the Need to Change Power: Changing
Perception of Power in the Organizational Setting ............... 9
Roni Laslo-Roth
3 The Dynamic of ICT and Smart Power: Implications
for Managerial Practice ..................................... 31
Howard Kline and Peter Stokes
4 Economic Growth, Management, and Smart Power .............. 47
Andrew J. Schein
5 New Ways of Working: From Smart to Shared Power ............ 65
Laurent Taskin, Michel Ajzen, and Céline Donis
6 Positive Psychological Capital: From Strengths to Power ......... 81
Edna Rabenu
7 Mapping Smart Power onto the Cardinal Virtues
and Cross-Cultural Leadership Dimensions .................... 107
Erich C. Fein, Bernard McKenna, Iris Bernobic, and Ezaz Ahmed
8 Daily Creativity at Work as a Source of Well- Being
and Performance, Provided It Is Not Managed .................. 127
Annick Ancelin-Bourguignon
9 Narcissistic Leadership in Organizations: A Two-Edged Sword .... 155
Gidi Rubinstein
10 Conclusion: End Note and Future Actions ...................... 179
Varda Muhlbauer and Wes Harry
Index ......................................................... 181
v
Contributors
Ezaz Ahmed College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University,
Bedford Park, SA, Australia
Michel Ajzen Teaching and Research Assistant, School of Work and Employment
Sciences, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Annick Ancelin-Bourguignon ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pontoise Cedex,
France
Iris Bernobic School of Management, University of South Australia, Adelaide,
SA, Australia
Céline Donis Human Management and Labour Transformations Chair, Université
catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Erich C. Fein School of Psychology and Counselling, University of Southern
Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia
Wes Harry University of Chester, Cheshire, UK
Cass Business School, City University of London, London, UK
Howard Kline City University of New York, Baruch College, Zicklin School of
Business; Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business, New York, NY, USA
Roni Laslo-Roth School of Behavioral Sciences, Peres Academic Center,
Rehovot, Israel
Bernard McKenna School of Business, University of Queensland, St Lucia,
QLD, Australia
Varda Muhlbauer Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel
Edna Rabenu School of Behavioral Sciences, Netanya Academic College,
Netanya, Israel
vii
viii Contributors
Gidi Rubinstein School of Behavioral Sciences, Netanya Academic College,
Netanya, Israel
Andrew J. Schein Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel
Peter Stokes Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
Laurent Taskin Professor of Human Resource and Organisation Studies, Louvain
School of Management, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium
Chapter 1
Introduction
Varda Muhlbauer and Wes Harry
The intersection of management and power has always figured in theoretical and
practical inquiries often; however, the power element played a backstage role. In
part this pushing to backstage was because power was seen in political terms or was
downplayed as an important organizational and workplace factor – not least by
those who held the power to allow or deny access to researchers. Today, sociopoliti-
cal, cultural, and academic along with popular critical engagement with power has
brought to the foreground the discourse regarding power dynamics in management.
The overall emerging focus on power-related issues in management is a welcome
development as it reflects a large academic as well as societal trend that clamors for
greater understanding of established and newer structures of power, within and out-
side organizations.
As researchers interested in the changing dynamics in the workplace and in soci-
ety, we believe the time is ripe to critically focus on the power/management nexus
and, as follows, to review more effective and progressive platforms expected in
Western democratic societies as well as sections of other societies. However, today,
we are still confronted with more questions and uncertainties than answers: what
does it mean to apply power, properly contextualized and, basically, democratic in
managerial situations? For managers it is difficult to apply more egalitarian strategies
(driven by changes in society as well as changes in laws and regulations) without
understanding the evolution in dynamics along with shifts of power in the workplace.
Such questions and situations arise with the move toward more knowledge work,
more use of intellect rather than physical skills, and mostly more respect for
V. Muhlbauer (*)
Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel
e-mail: [email protected]
W. Harry
University of Chester, Cheshire, UK
Cass Business School, City University of London, London, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 1
V. Muhlbauer, W. Harry (eds.), Redefining Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69209-8_1
2 V. Muhlbauer and W. Harry
individuals irrespective of age, sex, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other
factors in a diverse workforce. Alvesson and Willmott (2012), among the vocal crit-
ics of present-day management theory and practice, also admit that many initiatives
to revitalize management in ways leading to “the liberation of human potential from
restrictive practice rarely lead to radical change” (p. 1). The challenges to the current
ways of organizing work (especially since the financial crisis which started in 2007)
have been well documented by Streeck (2016) from the viewpoint of the radical left,
meanwhile from the British Academy’s study of the future of the Corporation, Mayer
(2017) seems to be taking a more “traditional” approach to evolution and improve-
ment. Such opposing academic stances contain important elements from political
attitudes to power, privilege, and continuity in the workplace.
How, then, can we resolve the, supposedly, dualism of managerial power and dem-
ocratic values in developed economies with a shift toward knowledge work and
increased sanctions against abuse of hard power in the workplace? For the editors and
contributors to this book, the answer can be found in the innovative construct of
“smart power” that was designed in political science and coined by Nye (2004).
Nye’s insight and analysis of the operation of international policy has led to the
launching of concepts such as “hard power, soft power, and smart power” which are
today, almost, in common daily use. In 1990, within a pioneering article on soft
power, Nye (1990) claimed that the traditional definition of power that relates mainly
to the ability to do things and to control others through the use of force is losing
ground to alternative structures of power using persuasion and incentives. Nye made,
then, the instructive distinction between power over other countries and power over
outcomes. Essentially, his argument was that the growing global interdependence that
signifies the diffusion of power among several actors is a sensible arena to develop
and apply soft or cooperative power. In later publications on the nature of power in
the twenty-first century (e.g., Nye, 2004), he emphasized that soft power cannot be
the solution to all problems and, rather, called attention to the importance of smart
power as, depending on contextual parameters, might be the more appropriate solu-
tion. The definition of smart power relates to a combination of the hard power of
coercion and extrinsic reward with the soft power of persuasion and self-motivation.
The effective use of power has been, and mostly still is, the critical element in
management (Whetten & Cameron, 2002) and maybe more so when there are
stresses and severe challenges in neoliberal and changing capitalist society. Having
that in mind, we suggest that smart power is, currently, the best strategy to achieve
organizational and managerial goals, such as performance and innovation, while
maintaining democratic values in times of rapid change. Admittedly, smart power
was originally designed to handle global developments that restricted the use of
government and military power; however, its basic negation of the more traditional
notions of hard power makes it a potential platform for the integration of effective
managerial skill together with changing values more suited to the complex organi-
zational challenges along with rewarding outcomes for the parties involved.
Evidently, while aiming to focus on and debate contemporary management/power
linkage, we are well aware that what is taken for granted almost as everyday reality in
liberal democracies might be very different for people living under alternative sociopo-
litical systems. Also there are many living in ethnic or religious enclaves with different
1 Introduction 3
values within liberal democracies, as well as separated centers of population s egmenting
rich and poor that do not have similar access to equity and democratic rights. Thus, the
macro-level cultural trends backing the incorporation of liberal values and social jus-
tice into workplaces may currently only be relevant to some privileged sectors of soci-
ety. Meanwhile highly privileged sectors of society may not feel the need to deploy soft
power as these with resources or social position can use wealth and status to apply hard
power. Consequently, the smart power option as a way to redefine power-related issues
in management is situationally determined, and its feasibility fluctuates accordingly.
Still, on the whole, the demand for democratization of work arrangements (backed by
legislation and regulation), delegitimization of abusive control, and overall use of hard
power is large enough to trigger the need to expand our understanding of how facilita-
tion of smart power into management might affect managerial outcomes along with the
well-b eing and work experience of employees and third parties including those in the
“self-employed agent” categories. From the viewpoint of management, smart power
may even be much more effective than hard or soft power.
Stretching the boundaries of conventional presentation of power in management
to include indications that are characteristic of smart power is, definitely, not easy to
achieve. Our readers can recall how slow and difficult a process is change and how
much time and energy it is likely to take to overcome entrenched resistance in order
to fully attain the transition to a new framework of power in management. This is
clearly a new conceptual, institutional, and practical territory. By way of an example,
it is often noticeable that young parents today experience difficulties in raising their
children. Most of them reject the use of harsh parental methods, but, at the same time,
they find it quite difficult to apply their authority and power when needed. These
parents are experiencing the need to apply smart power and not just hard and soft
power. Again, to reiterate what Nye said (2004), while hard strategies are deemed as
wrong and ineffective, soft power strategies cannot be adapted in all situations or
always bring the desirable outcome. Yet, in spite of the complications related to rede-
fining the management/power intersection on a smart power platform, it seems that,
at least, some shift in the power structure is unstoppable. What then explains the
almost inevitability of the transition into smart power strategies in management of
advanced economies? We suggest that the ideology and practice of management are
now caught in between at least two major sociopolitical and cultural changes: the
power of millennials entering the workforce and basic shifts in the nature of power.
Before going on to discuss the role of millennials in the workforce, we will reiter-
ate points made several times earlier. Most of the situations in which smart power
already is, and will increasingly be, applied are in the more liberal democratic societ-
ies. These societies have created or developed advanced economies. Such societies
can afford, or can adapt, to using smart power to meet the needs or desires of the popu-
lation or the type of work being offered by organizations in those environments.
For most of the world population, hard power is accepted because of a desperate
need to earning enough to pay for subsistence, or near subsistence, existence. For
the poor in rich countries; the badly educated; the displaced; those in conflict areas,
working in micro- and small enterprises, or in agency or temporary work; or young-
sters in most parts of the world, hard power, unfortunately, will be what they face.
