IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v13y1966i4pb186-b193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Power Comparability--Its Contribution to a Theory of Firm Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • William R. Sherrard

    (Department of Industrial Management, School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

  • Richard D. Steade

    (School of Business Administration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona)

Abstract

Although the importance of the interdisciplinary approach to the study of business is well recognized as a means of exploring and applying the knowledge and methodology of social and behavioral science to business activity, the surface has barely been scratched as far as our knowledge of the determinants of business policy and action is concerned. This paper expands, in table form, a model of power measurement developed by a political scientist (Robert A. Dahl), and then applies this power measurement table to business decision making at the board of directors level. We feel that the usefulness of power comparison lies in allowing one to discern which individuals or groups influence decision making in the firm, which, in turn, determines at least the formal basis of firm behavior. In a separate section of the paper the effect of a firm's organizational structure on an individual's power is discussed. This is followed by a discussion of the limitations and contributions of "power comparability" to a theory of firm behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • William R. Sherrard & Richard D. Steade, 1966. "Power Comparability--Its Contribution to a Theory of Firm Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(4), pages 186-193, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:13:y:1966:i:4:p:b186-b193
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.13.4.B186
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.13.4.B186
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.13.4.B186?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:13:y:1966:i:4:p:b186-b193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.