I hate politics and I firmly believe that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that the real devil isn't power-- the real problem is our skittishness around it. Rosabeth Moss Kanter summed it up very well, when she said:

It is easier to talk about money-- and much easier to talk about sex-- than it is to talk about power. People who have it deny it; people who want it do not want to appear hungry for it; and people who engage in its machinations do so secretly.

We all use it. When you stand taller to scare away the 5 foot nothing geek impressing your girl, or disdainfully rattle off big words to the new dude in office, or even when you withhold coveted telephone numbers from your friend- unless you get to pick the movie for the evening. We seem to have an inbuilt radar to detect what we have that others don't. And those amongst us, who get what they want, know how to use this radar well.

It sounds mean. But there is a school of thought that believes that this is adaptive, especially in the organizational setting.

When companies face uncertainty, the units and departments which can cope with the current organizational crisis rise in power. For instance, if an organization is facing a large number of lawsuits, the legal department is sure to gain prominence. Gradually, their influence might even extend beyond legal matters, onto decisions about product design and advertisements. As they gain power, they get greater control on resources-- solidifying their power base further.

In itself, this raw exercise in power actually gives the organization the ability to come up with the most effective solution to environmental demands. However, as Sancik and Pfeffer¹ observed:

...power tends to take on institutionalized forms that enable it to endure well beyond its usefulness to an organization.

Its a compelling perspective-- and has significant implications for the HR & OD work group.

In the days of yore, when the management was king, people felt lucky just to be employed and markets were protected by government regulations-- the relevance of HR was only administrative and never critical in nature.

In today's world of talent wars however, HR and OD do perform critical functions-- and that would explain their growing prominence. Nevertheless, we are fighting years of institutionalization; trying to redefine the "admin" legacy that we're stuck with. And unless we understand that, and own our power, truly seeing ourselves as performing functions immensely intrinsic to the companies' survival-- we can keep whining about not being taken seriously, and its unlikely to take us any place good.

Not only can this insight help HR leverage itself better, it can also help them function better. For instance, next time you try and mediate conflict between two individuals, roles or departments-- instead of trying to set up coffee dates between them-- try and be mindful about what one unit in the equation possesses that the other doesn't. The big secret about power is that it loses most of its punch when you can get people to talk about it. Get each party to show their hand, and real conversation might begin to flow.

1: Salancik G.R. and Pfeffer J. (1977). Who Gets Power- And How They Hold on to it: A Strategic-Contingency Model of Power. Organization Dynamics. American Management Association, New York.

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