Management as Power and Politics in Projects

Birgit Helene Jevnaker () and Johan Olaisen ()
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Birgit Helene Jevnaker: BI Norwegian Business School
Johan Olaisen: BI Norwegian Business School

Chapter Chapter 4 in Reimagining Sustainable Organization, 2022, pp 75-92 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter, we explore what impact do micropolitics and power have upon the conduct of project management in an organization? Drawing on interviews with project managers of four oil and gas firms, we discuss how the informal power and micropolitics played a massive role in the projects, and personal and relational knowledge appeared to achieve the expected project results. Power and micropolitics were regarded as necessary skills and tools for a successful project manager. A democratic and consensus-oriented culture opens for power games and micropolitics rather than hedging them. Compared to more hierarchical organizations, informal micropolitics and power mean a high potential to prolong and complicate decision processes and significantly reduce efficiency. The theoretical implication is a general model for power and micropolitics, while the practical implication understands how crucial informal power and micropolitics are in projects.

Keywords: Power; Micropolitics; Project management; Power games; Power model; Influence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-96210-4_4

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-96210-4_4

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