A Theory of Power and Organizational Processes

Every organization depends upon the persistence of stable lines of integration around which action is centralized and maintained. In social organization, these lines of integration rest on certain bases of social power. "Social power has been variously identified with prestige, with influence, with eminence, with competence or ability, with knowledge (Bacon), with dominance, with rights, with force, and with authority" (1). In pursuit of our theme we take social power to be the inherent or the acquired ability to perform acts that change the course of human events. Although social power may be latent or manifest, symbolic or physical (2), its bases are described as those conditions in society that determine the results of organizational processes. Such conditions include: Status, the power attributed to or exercised by social rank or class and their component qualities including income, property,