Concepts of Organizational Power and Intra-Organizational Coalitions Within The Scope of Knowledge Intensive Organizations

Abstract

Knowledge  is one of the main components of new economic structure that is called as knowledge era and it is one of the hot topics of social sciences. Knowledge intensive organizations, which have showed up naturally as a result of this era and which  have been using knowledge both as an input and as an output, have revealed a different organizational structure than the past eras. Overcoming the uncertainties is the essence of organizational survival and it is one of the main issues emphasized in the organizational researches.This is also valid for the knowledge intensive organizations. According to ‘Strategic Contingency’ approach which is uttered by Hickson et al. (1971), the organizational units which play a critical role in overcoming uncertainties can use organizational power. Within the scope of knowledge intensive organizations, the individuals/groups/units that play critical and irreplaceable roles while overcoming uncertainties can be seen as power users. Moreover, these components of an organization which have heterogenic structure can live symbiotically and one of them can play the role of the dominant one in this coalition. In this paper, some theoretical propositions are tried to be inferred within the concepts mentioned above. The aim of the paper is to reveal theoretical assumptions concerning knowledge intensive organizations and to play a leading role for the studies on these issues.

Keywords

• Knowledge,Knowledge Intensive Organizations,Organizational Power,Strategic Contingency,Organizational Coalitions

Bilgi Yoğun Örgütler Öznesinde Örgütsel Güç ve Örgüt İçi Koalisyon Kavramları

Abstract

Bilgi çağı olarak adlandırılan ve yeni ekonomik düzenin ana bileşeni olan bilgi konusu son dönemde sosyal bilimlerin en çok araştırılan konuları arasında yer almaktadır. Bu çağın doğal bir sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan, bilgiyi hem bir girdi hem de bir çıktı olarak kullanan ve “Bilgi Yoğun Örgütler” olarak adlandırılan örgüt tipleri, bir önceki üretim ekonomisinden farklı bir yapı ortaya koymaktadır. Örgüt kuramlarında altı çizilen ve örgütsel hayatta kalmanın ana unsuru olan belirsizlikle baş edebilme bilgi yoğun örgütlerin hayatta kalması içinde değişmez bir kıstastır. Hayatta kalmanın yanında, Hickson ve diğerleri (1971) tarafından “Stratejik koşul bağımlılığı kuramı” olarak adlandırılan yaklaşımda, belirsizlik mücadele de etkin oynayan rol örgütsel oluşumlar, örgüt içindeki gücü kullananlar olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bilgi yoğun örgütler öznesinde; belirsizlik ile mücadele eden, bunu yaparken ikamesi zor işlevleri yerine getiren birim/grup/bireyler örgüt içindeki gücün kullanıcıları olarak değerlendirilebilir. Ayrıca, heterojen bir yapıdan oluşan söz konusu oluşum her ne kadar farklı görüşlere sahip olsa da bir arada yaşabilmekte ve örgüt hakim koalisyon rolünü üstlenmektedirler. 

Keywords

• Bilgi,Bilgi Yoğun Örgütler,Örgütsel Güç,Stratejik Koşul Bağımlılığı Kuramı,Örgütsel Koalisyon

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