European Government-Controlled Enterprises: An Organizational Political View
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"The 'leaders' who sit on top of organizations are not a monolithic group. Rather, each individual in this group is, in his own right, a player in a central, competitive game. The name of the game is politics: bargaining along regularized circuits among players positioned hierarchically within the organization."3 The organizational process perspective says nothing about this game.4
*Renato Mazzoliniis Associate Professor at the GraduateSchool of Business of Columbia University. He received his MBA and his Ph.D. from the Stanford University Business School. He is the author of European TransnationalConcentrations and of Governmentcontrolled Enterprises as well as of numerous journal articles. He has been Visiting Professor at the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France.
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Several authors have criticized the process perspective.5 Here, the main criticism is the neglect of the specifics of the role of key individuals in decision making. Little is said in this perspective about the process of leadership formation itself. Whatever ascendancy this perspective attributes to the top management of an organization, it takes it as a given without attempting to uncover the mechanisms responsible for top management taking one position and not another. It conceives of leadership as a black box-the internal dynamics of which it is not able to explain. The Organizational Politics approach sees the actions of a firm as political resultants: Resultantsinthe sense thatwhathappensis notchosen as a solutionto a problem but ratherresultsfromcompromise,conflictandconfusionof officialswithdiverse interestsand unequalinfluence;political in the sense thatthe activityfromwhich decisions andactions emergeis best characterizedas bargainingalongregularized channelsamongindividualsof the [organizationsinvolved].6 The relevant individuals are those who have a bearing on such a political gamefor GCEs, top managers, staff people attached to top managers, executives in charge of accomplishing the plans of action; key members of the Cabinet, their staff people, major members of Parliament, civil servants; and relevant outsiders (such as, union leaders). An individual's stand (his attitude concerning a given issue) depends on his perception of the problem (which in turn depends on his position in the organization and his own personality traits) and the stakes involved (what he has to gain or lose fromthe outcome of the situation). An individual's power "is an elusive blend of at least three elements: bargaining advantages, skill and will in using bargaining advantages and other [individuals'] perception of the first two ingredients."7 Individuals with different stands can resolve their conflicts only by arguing and bargaining among themselves. Decisions emerge out of the give and take among individuals: Sometimesone groupcommittedto a course of actiontriumphso
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