1) To analyze power plays within and between organizations, a framework must be built starting from the sources of power and how it is wielded bilaterally and through networks. 2) Power is derived from various sources like authority, social influence, resources, expertise, and persuasion, and is proportional to the discretion one has in utilizing the source of power. 3) Total power is calculated by considering the inherent capabilities that provide power, the discretion one has in wielding that power, the number of targets impacted, and the direction and degree of impact on sources and targets.

1. “Running an Agile Fortune 500 Company”
Aditya Yadav, aditya.yadav@gmail.com
http://www.adityayadav.com
*

2. *
*A Typical Global Company
*Fortune 500/1000
*200 Divisions
*40 Countries
*25000 Employees

3. @ Acme Inc.
*

4. *
*Original Question “How do we analyze the
Power Play in our organization and across
organizations?”
*The Correct Question - “We would have to
build a framework to do that by starting from
the sources of power and building it up for bi-
lateral power plays and power networks. Allow
me help you get started.”

5. And The Philosophy Behind The Answer
*

6. *
1. (Direct) Authority or Delegated authority (for example in the democratic process)
2. Social class (material wealth can equal power)
3. Resource currency (material items such as money, property, food)
4. Personal or group charisma (including public opinion)
5. Ascribed power (acting on perceived or assumed abilities, whether these bear
testing or not)
6. Expertise (ability, skills) (the power of medicine to bring about health; another
famous example would be "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" –
Desiderius Erasmus)
7. Persuasion (direct, indirect, or subliminal)
8. Knowledge (granted or withheld, shared or kept secret)
9. Force (law) (violence, military might, coercion).
10. Moral persuasion (including religion)
11. Operation of group dynamics (such as public relations)
12. Social influence of tradition (compare ascribed power)
Ref: Wikipedia

7. *

8. *
* Rule: If Source of Power is constant ‘k’ then Power Wielded is proportional to
‘Discretion’. Corollary: No Discretion => No Power!!!
* Other Relevant Terms: Unaccountable, Transparent, Repercussions, Recognizable,
Abuse
* Example Statement: It’s a Powerful Gun!!!
* Yes! The Gun is a source of power but it has no discretion of its own… hence a Gun by
itself is not powerful at all… the person who controls the Gun derives as much power
from the Gun as per the capability of the gun ‘k’ and the %age of discretion he has to
use it any way he feels like i.e. Power = k*discretion
* Is the Army powerful? That answer to that depends on the Independence and Discretion
of the Army! Assuming the US army is completely controlled by the US government =>
the Army could be very capable but it’s the Govt that’s very powerful. There are some
armies in the world (No naming names here!!!) which can do anything in their country,
even overthrow governments and run the country… They are really powerful.
* The minions!!!
* If individuals have little or no discretion then the ‘System’ they are a part of is
powerful not them. If both the system and the individuals have great discretion
individually and collectively… both the Individuals (part of the system) and the system
itself are very powerful. Ofcourse assuming the inherent capability at their disposal is
huge.

9. *
*Intuitively if Power can heavily impact a lot of
Targets it amplifies the Power…
*So let targets be ‘t’
*And proportion of impact be ‘i’ 0-100%
*Gives Power = k x discretion x t x i

10. *
* If the Source affects the Target, Direction d = +1
* If the Target affects the Source, Direction d = -1
* Balance would imply d = 0
* Lets start thinking Fuzzy here -1<d<+1
* Power = k x discretion x t x i x d
* Bottomline
* If ‘k’ be capabilities and Pk be power derived from capability
‘k’ (12 of which are mentioned on Slide #6)
* Total Power = Σ (Pk) = Σ (k x discretionk x tk x ik x dk)
* It might make sense to Normalize ‘k’ on a dimensionless
scale of 1-100 for the experiment and the population under
study

11. *
*Power = Force * Velocity
*Work/Energy = Power * Time
*Power = T * ω
*T = torque
*Ω = angular velocity
*Power = I * V = I^2 * R = V^2/R where V = I*R
*I = current
*R = resistance
*V = voltage

12. *
Aditya!!!