Network Theories of Power – What are the assumptions about power in Social Business ?

I recently finished watching a 60 minute recording of a lecture by Manuel Castells (from USC) on Network Theories of Power which is part of a series of lectures on network theory put on by the Annenberg School at USC (March 2010).  This was a fascinating presentation if you have the time to review it (see below).  I think it has some concepts in it that could inform our ongoing discussions about ‘Social Business’ and power in organizations including how do hierarchical networks relate to more egalitarian networks. 

From a related 2011 article that he wrote:  A Network Theory of Power

Power in the networked society is exercised through networks.

1. Networking Power: the power of the actors and organizations included in the networks …over human collectives and individuals who are not included in these global networks.
2. Network Power: the power resulting from the imposition of the rules of inclusion
3. Networked Power: the power of social actors over other social actors in the network. Some people are more influential than others.
4. Network-making Power: the power to ‘program’ specific networks according to the interests and values of the programmers, and the power to switch different networks following the strategic alliances between the dominant actors of various networks.

While he is focused on power and networks in society, I think that much of his theories and ideas can be applied to organizations as well.  Some of his underlying conclusions; “power relationships are key fundamental relationships in a networked society” and “There is always power and counter-power in society”.  He also discusses the key roles that people hold in these networks including the gatekeepers that decide on the rules that are imposed on people who want to join/participate in a network and the key people who can ‘switch’ the purpose and goals of a network based on a few dominant players.  Even though this recording is a couple of years old, it seems especially pertinent with the recent happenings in the world. 

One of the reasons I think this is important for us is the implications for organizations as we move in the direction of relying on the non-hierarchical networks for the creation of value.  Influence is shifting from the top-down power that has governed organizations towards other forms of influence.  In some of our consultant training we refer to the types or sources of influence as:

• Position Influence – using people’s tendency to respond to individuals in higher positions
• Coercive Influence – the capability to punish, reprimand or discipline others
• Reward Influence – the ability to dispense reward, something positive or desirable
• Information influence – possessing information or knowledge not available to others
• Expert influence – based on the skill or expertise which others may hold in high regard
• Personal influence – individual personality, charisma and the relationships you create

The first few above are quite often dependent on the level of authority in a hierarchy.  The last few are available to anyone and very difficult to control from above.

What Manuel is saying is that there will always be questions of power, so how do we see this power shift in organizations happening over the next couple of years and what are the steps that can make this transition as smooth as possible.  I think that this is one of the fundamental questions we face.  There are people who have been successful in the old paradigm who will see this as very threatening.  As employees begin to exercise their influence in the networks, there will be back-lashes. 

How do we include this as part of our organizational change strategy and approaches?  How will this affect our leadership development?  Any large company needs some form of hierarchy (IMHO) so how do we incorporate a new ‘balance of powers’ into our ideas of governance?  I think we need to be thoughtful about this if we want to minimize the amount of turmoil in organizations.  

(citation for the article above:  Castells, M. 2011 Apr 8. Network Theory| A Network Theory of Power. International Journal of Communication [Online] 5:0. Available: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1136/553 )

Visual Thinking and Literacy

I had an opportunity to attend a weekend workshop a couple of weeks ago on Visual Thinking & Literacy that was hosted by my local school district.  It was the first time that I participated in a workshop that had a person scribing the topics as they were happening on a large chart on the wall (see attached image).  This session was of particular interest to me since I am visually oriented and make sense of things by trying to create a chart or image.  I was also really pleased to have my daughter attend with me.  She is a newly-minted elementary school teacher and is working with 5th-6th graders in a local school. 

There were a number of key-note sessions on topics of general interest and then the tough choices of selecting which break-out sessions to go to.  One that I attended was by Cliff Atkinson who wrote the book called Beyond Bullet Points on the use of tools like Powerpoint.  He was talking about telling a story and how to use the tools in really powerful ways. 

One of the most entertaining speakers was Karl Gude who spoke on Information Design & Storytelling.  Karl was the information design director for Newsweek for 10 years and now teaches at Michigan State University (where my daughter just graduated from).  Unfortunately, many of the examples he used in the session as things NOT to do looked exactly like charts that I make.  Oh boy, some bad habits to break.  One of his statements that really hit home was, “people will perceive everything you do as information” so if you use certain colors and squares instead of circles, the audience interprets that as information.

On a more practical side, I attended one breakout session presented by a couple of folks from the company that developed Camtasia and Snagit on how to avoid things that distract viewers when creating screencasts that had specific tips and techniques.  Overall it was a very refreshing / fun day.  It gave me some ideas for improving my own presentations but also a peak into how school teachers are trying to incorporate these new tools into their toolbox.