Modernist Conception of Power, Control and Conflicts

In modern conceptions of power, control and conflicts, the modernists build the hierarchy of authority and focus on the knowledge, experiences, skills and abilities of the individual to handle the organizational conflicts and problems. The managers have the full authority and responsibility to do planning, scheduling and organizing work to develop the process and system of the company. “The decision-making is rational only under highly restricted conditions.” (Simon’s theory, (1957,1959), March and Simon (1958)). Within the organizations, the decision makers sometimes face disagreement, not enough resources, interdependence and conflicts. When these happen, the one with the more powerful position dominate the others and make the decision process. Therefore, the decision makers do some negotiations for their interests to be taken account. The modernist conception of power and control aims for the development of the organizational productivity and usefulness by controlling the system.

There are modernist theories of control to get the maximum cooperation from every individuals of the organization. As the organizations are made up of individuals with different backgrounds, cultures, interests, personalities, skills, knowledge, etc., therefore the conflicts between the individuals are inevitable. To prevent from having conflicts within the organizations, the individuals should follow the theories of control.

Bureaucratic theory is for the individuals to follow the rules, regulations and procedures stated from higher managing department. This theory makes sure to attain the standard and quality of the production and the system of the organization. Another theory of control is Agency theory, which makes sure that the agent has the full interest of the principles. Agency theory shows that the owner should establish the contract with the agent, keep surveillance to the agent and gather the information whether or not the agent is meeting the requirements and then