While we teach, we learn.

↓

In this issue of my MBA journey, you'll read about power in organisations—a more interesting topic than I had thought. I also added personal insights and further reading on how to learn more effectively and time-efficiently.

What is power and its purpose?

Within organisations, power is the capacity of an individual, team, or department to influence decisions, actions, and behaviours of others to achieve their goals. It's not just giving orders; it's the ability to get things done.

First, we can distinguish between formal and informal power: Formal power comes from an individual's designated position in the organizational hierarchy, granting them authority over others (e.g., managers). Informal power arises from an individual's expertise, charisma, or ability to build relationships, allowing them to influence others beyond their formal authority.

Second, we need to understand what power is. There are three contrasting approaches:

1. Power as a possession (Pfeffer), which we can accumulate, hold and use. According to French and Raven (1959, 1993) there are six bases of power:
   1. Coercive Power: The ability to punish or withhold desired resources.
   2. Reward Power: The ability to offer rewards or positive outcomes.
   3. Legitimate Power: Authority granted by a person's posi​tion in the hier​archy.
   4. Expert Power: Power derived from specialized knowledge or skills.
   5. Referent Power: Personal charisma or being a respected role model.
   6. Information Power: Power derived from access to information that other people do not have access to, and using it to influence a situation.
2. Power as a property of social structures (Lukes), where power is woven into everything, embedded in social and organisational structures. It is present in organisational culture, rules, policies and procedures, values and behavioural norms. This form of power is less visible and often accepted as “the natural order of things”.
3. Power as productive (Foucault), where power is considered a positive force that can create a new reality. This view argues that power is a relationship, linked to knowledge, and involves observing and judging people against organisational norms, standards, and rules (disciplinary power).

Why do people (want to) gain power?

1. Having power relates to a long and healthy life. The more control people feel they have over their working lives, the lower their mortality rate.
2. Power can produce wealth. Some in power, like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, never trade power for wealth, but there is always potential to do so.
3. Power is part of leadership and necessary for getting things done. Therefore, it's often a motivator for what it can provide in terms of self-esteem or possessions, or for the goal of achieving power itself.

Understanding different perspectives helps us analyse power dynamics within organisations, shaping decision-making, resource allocation, and organisational effectiveness. And they greatly influence our role in organisational politics.

If you are interested in the tactics of organisational politics, reply to this email with “politics” and I'll write an extra issue on this topic.

I just realised what power I hold in my various roles and how I use them—consciously or perhaps even unconsciously. Now, with this in-depth understanding of power, I am more aware of how I’m using it and how it is being used around me.

Have you considered this?

How to learn better, faster.

The impulse to include this side note came from Dr. Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University and one of my favourite authors, known for Deep Work and Slow Productivity. In his conversation with Stanford Professor Dr. Andrew Huberman, he shared his personal learning strategies from high school and university, emphasizing the effectiveness of active recall.

According to productivity expert Ali Abdaal, “active recall involves retrieving information from memory through, essentially, testing yourself at every stage of the revision process. The very act of retrieving information and data from our brains not only strengthens our ability to retain information but also improves connections in our brains between different concepts.”

After recalling my success preparing for aptitude tests and exams,I've adopted this learning and teaching style again. I’ll update you in one of the next issues of the MBA Journey. 😉

And then there’s another way to make learning more effective: by teaching. I opened this email with a quote from Roman philosopher Seneca, in which he refers to what we have come to know as the “protégé effect”. Studies have proven that student teachers score higher on tests than self-learners. Read more on Psychology Today. Whenever you are learning something, teach it to someone else at the same time.

See what I’m doing here? 😉

Anyway, that’s it for today.

Thanks so much for reading and being with me on this journey.

Next will probably be an issue about organisational culture—a topic that I am really looking forward to, as it can significantly impact virtually any company.

Until then!