Organization Theory and Behavior - Research Proposal

Total Length: 2014 words ( 7 double-spaced pages)

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The Philadelphia mayor, and any mayor in general, must be characterized by
power at a certain level. Public administration employees usually hold
great power, and mayors make no exception, on the contrary.
In our case, the mayor's sources of individual power are:
. The power to reward, to control the rewards process within the
organization
. The power to sanction other employees
. The mayor's formal position within the organization
. Personal charisma
. The mayor's authority as an expert
. The mayor's personal drive for power
. Self confidence

The organizational sources of power include elements of the
organizational system and extremely important management situations that
grant certain employees or groups of employees a relatively high ability to
influence others. One of the most important organizational sources of power
resides in controlled resources. The more directly a person controls more
resources, like human resources, financial resources, technical resources,
or information, deciding upon their allocation, the greater the influence
that person has on its subordinates.
Another organizational source of power consists in the formal
authority and competence that a person holds. This authority resides in the
rights that a person has in making decisions and taking actions. In other
words, the higher the job, the greater the power a person can benefit from.
In the MOVE situation, it is more than clear that the Philadelphia
mayor benefits from a great amount of power. His power comes from both
individual and organizational sources. On official level, the mayor holds
the greatest power within his organization. Even more, his power can be
used further than his organization, as the mayor can use its power to
change things in his community.

Stuck Writing Your "Organization Theory and Behavior -" Research Proposal?

Actually, this is the job he is paid to
perform: exerting the power invested in him in order to neutralize the
problems that his community is dealing with.
But in this case, the mayor did the exact opposite thing. In the first
phases of the problem's development, he did not use his power in any way,
because he did not take any actions, which would have been quite easy for
him. It is quite hard to determine exactly why the mayor did not act upon
the problem from the beginning, allowing this problem to develop, to go out
of hand, and to follow the course of action described in the case study.
In my opinion, the mayor refused to take serious measures from the
beginning because he underestimated the situation. He probably considered
that the problem would not develop more than it had already. Even more, the
mayor probably considered that the problem will diminish in time. This
means that the mayor was characterized by incompetence.

Reference list:
1. Henry Mintzberg (2008). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Retrieved July 5, 2008 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mintzberg%27smanagerialroles#The
oryonOrganizationalForms.
2. Fiedler contingency model (2008). Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. Retrieved July 5, 2008 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiedlercontingencymodel.
3. Mintzberg, Henry. Developing Theory about the Development of
Theory. Retrieved July 5, 2008 from
http://www.mintzberg.org/pdf/devtheory.pdf.
4. Antoine, Patrich. Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership.
Retrieved July 5, 2008 from
http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/btopics/works/Fied
.htm.….....

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