Management tips

Top mangement teams with concentrated power are more likely to initiate strategic change because change is a result of the preferences of the powerful few rather than a broad agreement ...........

The argument is that power concentration in a top management team leads to strategic change and change that breaks the organisational momentum. Power concentration plays a significant role in shaping group dynamics (Mannix 1993).

Studies carried out on both formal and informal power sources; while the formal power is constant, the focus was directed toward informal power stemming from social capital. An individual holds social capital to the extent that others feel obliged to act favourably to him or her as a result of prior interactions (Colean 1988). Social capital is built on the norm of reciprocity in exchanging favours, and thus can be accumulated when an individual with the ability to recognize opportunities to extend favours also has resources and motivation to do so. Exchange of favours is central in managerial work and career management, but all managers are not equally well positioned to accumulate and exploit social capital.....Length of tenure is thought to be a good indicator of social capital because executives with longer tenure have had more time and opportunities to develop interpersonal relationships (Pennings, 1994) and to build obligations by helping peers and promoting subordinates (Miller 1991).


Source: Organization Studies, Sage Publication, Vol 28, 2007, lssue 8, p 1203
www.egosnet.org/os









The principles of planning in England and Wales


Following a series of consultations, the most significant overhaul of the English and Welsh planning system for a decade became law in May 2004. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act made several key changes to the previous planning process, the affects of which are intended to:

- Make the planning system faster by simplifying the way decisions are made
- Enable local communities to get more involved in decision-making and the planning process
- Prioritise ‘sustainable development', which means maintaining economic growth, protecting the environment and using natural resources sensibly
- Make it easier for councils to free up land for regeneration through ‘compulsory purchase orders'

The most important change for campaigners is that the public now has a much more prominent role in setting the planning agenda and deciding what kind of place their area is to become.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A1939944#principles