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Traditional Approaches Of Power And Control

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“ARE TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO POWER AND CONTROL RELEVANT TO CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT” The Oxford dictionary defines management, as the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. Businesses have a set structure on how they operate, however, they did not just come up with it on the spot. Many of these structures were formulated in the past and now implement due to the fact that they work. This essay aims to explore how traditional approaches, in relation to power and control in businesses, are applicable to businesses in the current day and age. It talks about the responsibility of the manager to use their power to make sure that the objectives of the organisations can be met. It will talk about what power is and what types of …show more content…

He argued that managers should place emphasis on finding the best way to do a set task and then to implement it for everyone to follow. Essentially, this would mean that the manager would be in control of his human labour and has the necessary power to tell them what to do and how to do it. The philosophy was that if all staff followed one way, they could be more efficient, and thus be able to get more work done. If more work was done, then the set objectives could be achieved at a faster rate, which, In turn, could result in positive performance of the business. This relates to Fayol’s second principle which is that the manager has the right to use their power and authority to act in a way that ensures they are carrying out their own managerial responsibilities (Rodrigues 2011). Since power refers to the capacity of an individual to influence others, managers would have needed to devise ways on how to use their power to get things done. One potential way is for the manager to be highly regarded in the organisation, meaning they are one of the best managers in the organisation. French and Raven (1959) called this a form of expert power, where the individual has knowledge that is valued by the business. It is believed that these individuals could have a higher influence, on others, in the organisation than those with other forms of power (Podsakoff & Schriesheim 1985). However, this does not mean

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