Power
Power. The use of authority to control a group of people. It is the actor’s ability to manipulate opinions, emotions, and behaviour of groups, even against their will (Hardy, 1995; Hardy & Clegg, 1996). It is seen everywhere in organisational forms, from managers, to team leaders. But perhaps one of the most obvious use of power through businesses is government legislations. The government uses positional power to control and possess relevant sources such as managers, in order to get groups to do as they want (French & Raven, 1959). An example of government power in the workplace is through gender mainstreaming. Traditionally, men ruled the business world. Big business was their business. Emphasis was put on hiring white, straight, male individuals for high leadership jobs. The New Zealand government tried to change this behaviour in the late 1900 's by making new legislations that encouraged equal rights within the work place. As a result many developmental organisations are undertaking gender mainstreaming. Interestingly however, analysis on gender mainstreaming shows that gender and development influenced company’s aren’t actually implementing gender and development approaches in practice. Has New Zealand organisations developed a resistance to this power change that the government has enforced on them?
Since the 19th century the New Zealand Government has been undertaking initiatives to make workplaces, attractive, innovative, and productive to all people. In 1972 an equal pay Act between men and women was established within New Zealand (Fursman,2006). Women were guaranteed the right to equal pay for equal work in all sectors in the workplace. Also during the 1990 's the New Zealand bill of rights Act announced that there was to be no discrimination against women (Fursman,2006). Labour market conditions in New Zealand continue today to be more favourable for women workers. Robust economic growth along with flexibility in job opportunities within the
Since the 19th century the New Zealand Government has been undertaking initiatives to make workplaces, attractive, innovative, and productive to all people. In 1972 an equal pay Act between men and women was established within New Zealand (Fursman,2006). Women were guaranteed the right to equal pay for equal work in all sectors in the workplace. Also during the 1990 's the New Zealand bill of rights Act announced that there was to be no discrimination against women (Fursman,2006). Labour market conditions in New Zealand continue today to be more favourable for women workers. Robust economic growth along with flexibility in job opportunities within the
References: Alvesson,M.,&Deetz,S.(1995). Critical theory and post-modern approaches in organisational studies. In Clegg.S, Hardy.C, & Nord.W,. (Eds.)Hand book of organisational studies. London:Sage. Axeirod,D.(1992). Getting everyone involved: How one organisation involve its mplyees, supervisors, and managers in redesigning the organisation. Journal of Applied Behaioural Science. 28, 499-509. Beck,W.(1993). The Processes and Limitations of Dogon agricultural Knowledge. And Anthropological Critique of Development: The Growth of Ignorance. London, Routledge. Boonstra,J. & Vink,M. (1996). Technological and organisational innovation: A dilemma of fundamental change and development. European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology. 5, 351-376. Byrne,B.,Marcus,R.(1996). National Machineries for Women in development: Experiences, Lessons and Strategies for institutionalising Gender in Development Policy and Practice. BRIDGE; Development- Gender Report No.36. Sussex, BRIDGE. Chin,R., & Bene,K.(1976). General strategies for effecting changes in human systems. In Bennis.W, Bennes.K, & Corey.K.(Eds). The planning of change. (3). New York: Holt. Rinehart & Winston. Cockburn,C.(1994). Play of Power: Women, Men and Equality Initiatives in a Trade Union. Anthropology of Organisations. London, Routledge. Deal,T. and Kennedy.(2000). Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. Cambridge, Persues Publishing. Derbyshire,H.(2002). Gender Manual: A Practical Guide for Development Policy Makers and Practitioners. Social Development Division Breifinf. London, DFID. Emery,M. (1993). Participative design for participative democracy. Canberra, Australia: Center for Continuing Education, Australia National University. Female Labour Market Outcomes.( 2008). Influencing Workplace Change: the New Zealand Experience. Department of Labour. French,J.,& Raven,B.(1959). The bases of social power. In Cartwright.D.(Ed.), Studies in social power. Ann Arber, MI: Institute for Social Research Fursman,L.(2006) Goetz,A.(2004). Reinvigorating Autonomous Feminist Spaces. IDS Bulletin: Repositioning Feminisms in Development. 35(4): 137-140. Greiner,L. & Schein,V. (1988). Power and organisational development: Mobilizing power to implement change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Hardy,C.(1995). Power and politics in organisations: Introduction. In Hardy.C (Ed.) Power and politics in organisations. xii-xxv. Aldershot,UK:Dartmouth. Hardy,C., & Clegg,S.(1996) Some dare call it power. Administrative Science Quarterly. 16, 216-229. Hassard,J. (1990). Ethnomethodology and Organizational Research: An introduction. The Theory and Philosophy of Organizations: Critical Issues and New Perspectives. London. Routledge. Kardam,N.(1995). Conditions of Accountability for Gender Poplicy: The organisational, Political and Cognitive contexts. IDS Bulletin. 26(3):11-22. Khan,Z.(2003).Closing the Gap: Putting EU and UK Gender Policy into Practice. London, One World Action. Lukes,S.(2005).Power:A radical View. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Longwe,S.(1997). The Evaporation of Gender Policies in the Patriarchal Cooking post. Development in Practice. 7(2); 148-56. Mills,A.(1988). Organisation, Gender and Culture. Organizational Studies. 9(3):351-369. Sillitoe,P.(1998). Research Methods in Social Relations. New York. Holt Rinehard and Winston. Standing,H.(2004). Gender, Myth and Fable: The Perils of Mainstreaming in Sector Bureaucracies. IDS Bulletin: Repositioning Feminisms in Development. 35(4):82-88. Woodford-Berger,P.(2004). Gender Mainstreaming: What is it (about) and should we continue doing it? IDS bulletin: Repositioning feminisms in development. 35(4):65-72. Wright,S.(1994). Culture in Anthropology and Organisational Studies. Anthropology of Organizations. London. Routledge. Zaltman,G. & Duncan,R.(1977). Strategies for planned change. New York: Wiley.