{"id":16,"date":"2013-11-08T15:03:30","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T15:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stthom.wpengine.com\/?p=16"},"modified":"2017-04-13T20:54:53","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T20:54:53","slug":"expert-power-information-technology-specialists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.stthom.edu\/cameron\/expert-power-information-technology-specialists\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Power &amp; Information Technology Specialists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In his classic treatise \u201cPower In and Around Organizations\u201d (Prentice-Hall, 1983), Henry Mintzberg describes three types of power in organizations \u2013 formal, informal, and expert.<\/p>\n<p>FORMAL POWER is power derived from one\u2019s rank in the organization.\u00a0 A division director has more formal power than a departmental manager and less than the corporate vice-president.<\/p>\n<p>INFORMAL POWER derives from personal influence, perhaps because of being with a firm for many years, or knowing how to avoid \u2018red tape\u2019, or having key political connections inside or outside the firm, or even from more nebulous sources like the ability to inspire trust or possessing charisma.\u00a0 Informal power is, in a sense, an illegitimate power base, but it can be very real nonetheless.\u00a0 An obvious example would be the corporate executive assistant who, while having little formal power, actually exerts considerable influence on the operation of a firm.<\/p>\n<p>Both of these kinds of power influence political life in modern organizations importantly; but Mintzberg\u2019s third kind of power, EXPERT POWER, is probably the most significant for the typical IT practitioner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>IT Expertise and Business Decision-Making<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Information technology is brimming with experts \u2013 on hardware, operating systems, databases, various application systems, networks, etc.\u00a0 Each of these experts has the capacity to influence decision-making in specific areas of technical expertise, and by extension within a business that relies upon that technology.\u00a0 This influence can be exerted for the good of the firm OR to promote the personal agendas of the technician or IT department.\u00a0 For example, IT personnel sometimes recommend the latest, most advanced computer systems for applications, even though there may not be a valid business need for the \u201clatest and greatest\u201d technologies.\u00a0 Technicians always want to work with the latest technology to maintain their own individual \u201cleading edge\u201d skills and maintain their technical pride and marketability.<\/p>\n<p>So, the potential for IT expert power to influence, and even corrupt, decision-making cannot be denied.\u00a0 Because of the underlying technology, IT experts tend to influence and sometimes even control the introduction of new business processes into a firm.\u00a0 But the question is: \u201cWho else can do it?\u201d\u00a0 Who else understands the technology and the ramifications of the technology well enough to advise management in these matters?\u00a0 The answer is, \u201cNo one.\u201d\u00a0 Consultants may help, but they tend to have their own agendas (like selling more consulting services).\u00a0 So, the only real option is to rely on internal IT staffs to make the critical choices and then to make them work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Senior Management\u2019s Dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Real IT expert power is power based in knowing better than one\u2019s peers how a mission critical system actually works.\u00a0 Its basis is technical expertise, not organizational longevity or loyalty.\u00a0 When a new system needs to be developed or an existing system falters, those who can address these needs can exert expert power.\u00a0 The more critical and complex computing and networking technologies become, the more opportunities there are for abuse.\u00a0 And IT technicians or their managers can easily further personal or departmental agendas.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, many IT professionals do not engage in this sort of manipulation, but when this does occur, others in the firm usually do not have the technical expertise or credibility to effectively challenge any such recommendations effectively.\u00a0 This can pose a serious dilemma for corporate executives and management in functional areas who must rely on their IT staffs for advice about when and how to implement and use essential information technologies to sustain competitiveness.\u00a0 This is often a very perplexing management problem.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cameron\/contributors#charlesdavis\">Charles K. Davis, Ph.D.<\/a><br \/>\nProfessor; Cameron Endowed Chair of Management &amp; Marketing<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cameron\/tag\/charles-k-davis\/\">See more posts by this author<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his classic treatise \u201cPower In and Around Organizations\u201d (Prentice-Hall, 1983), Henry Mintzberg describes three types of power in organizations \u2013 formal, informal, and expert. FORMAL POWER is power derived from one\u2019s rank in the organization.\u00a0 A division director has more formal power than a departmental manager and less than the corporate vice-president. INFORMAL POWER&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,37,9],"tags":[15,23,24,27],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-csb-faculty","category-management-2","tag-charles-k-davis","tag-henry-mintzberg","tag-information-technology","tag-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Expert Power &amp; Information Technology Specialists - Cameron School of Business Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.stthom.edu\/cameron\/expert-power-information-technology-specialists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expert Power &amp; Information Technology Specialists - Cameron School of Business Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his classic treatise \u201cPower In and Around Organizations\u201d (Prentice-Hall, 1983), Henry Mintzberg describes three types of power in organizations \u2013 formal, informal, and expert. 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