Power in Organizations

Abstract

This critique of Goltz and Hietapelto's operant model of power suggests:

•	The definition of power and leadership are too narrow.
•	Powerful leaders rarely manage performance through operant contingencies.
•	The opportunity to manage the behavior of others is rarely the reinforcer controlling the behavior of the powerful.
•	The aversiveness of control by the powerful is rarely the basis for resistance to organizational change.
•	Much behavior-analytic extrapolation from the Skinner box is unwarranted.
•	Much behavior-analytic theorizing is uncomfortably close to the hypothetico-deductive theorizing about which Skinner warned us.

Key Words:

• Power
• leadership
• resistance to change
• behavior analysis
• contingencies
• theory
• rule-governed behavior