Patterns of Management Power

The six types of power that executives in all types of organizations can put at their disposal, to use creatively, ethically, and for the benefit of the organization, its people, and themselves. Without power to direct and control people and functions in pursuit of well defined corporate goals, management is helpless. McCalley identifies six specific, distinctly different patterns of power within organizations and argues that management can and must use all of them, but creatively, ethically, and for the organization's clear benefit. Top down position power is most familiar, but it is not the only one. McCalley identifies others, their sources, patterns of their development, and how they are used - often abused–in various familiar management situations. He makes clear that managers must use authority and power to drive the energy of a dynamic organization, but must learn how to do it without creating factionalism and conflict, and without subjugating subordinates. But he also sees alternatives to power and ways managers can use these, too. He identifies and adds power enhancers to the six power patterns, shows how to control them, then how to acquire the qualities of a leader. And with that he provides surprising new insights into the mystery of why otherwise competent leaders and managers often fail. Practical, engrossing, his book is essential for executives at all levels, in all types of organizations, for teachers, and especially for their students who will soon take their own positions of power in organizations and by using power creatively and well, rise to the top. McCalley begins by identifying the six patterns of power, chapter by chapter, and then the five basic power enhancers and their use in combination with his power patterns. Part Two of the book covers the power of organizational structure, the manager, and management. McCalley goes on to inform readers how power patterns are developed into useful means to manage people, functions, problems, and how to use them as well to develop one's own management style, one that will improve others' productivity. Among the book's special characteristics is McCalley's comprehensive discussion of the impacts that every type of power, authority, influence, and leadership can have, what their basic sources are, and their structural and functional effect on the ability to manage. Also special are his examples, illustrations, the power patterns themselves, and the conclusions McCalley draws from them–all based on real experiences with real organizations, his own and those of others.