Personnel power thrives precisely where formal rules are weakest

Evidence

If one does not relate these points to increases in production, as research in organizational sociology does, but rather to increases in power, one can then ask whose power really profits from increasing reciprocities. How do power opportunities between superiors and subordinates change under such conditions, if the complexity of their possible relationships increases? Obviously the ability of the superior to absorb complexity is narrowly limited. Since precisely this is the source of the subordinate’s power, one must suppose that each increase in complexity alters the power relationship in favour of the subordinate, with the result that the more complex an organizational system, the less susceptible it is to leadership. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 799 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Rationalized personnel systems may become too complex for superiors to exploit.; Power cannot self-realize but depends on societal-structural conditions for legitimacy; Rising organizational complexity shifts power toward subordinates. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 799 (+2 more)

Related

• Rising organizational complexity shifts power toward subordinates. (similarity 0.92)
• Organizational decentralization reduces power to mere veto power that informal networks then compensate for. (similarity 0.85)
• Withholding cooperation becomes power under high interdependence (similarity 0.84)
• Power catalyzes action chains that reduce the complexity of coordinating many parties (similarity 0.82)
• Rationalizing personnel rules destroys the predictability power depends on (similarity 0.81)
• Rationalized personnel systems may become too complex for superiors to exploit. (similarity 0.80)
• Personnel power weakens when formal rulebooks govern job assignment (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Rationalized personnel systems may become too complex for superiors to exploit. #complicates (0.70)
• Rising organizational complexity shifts power toward subordinates. #complicates (0.60) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 799
• Power cannot self-realize but depends on societal-structural conditions for legitimacy #expands (0.50)
• An ultimate power to decide generates its own norms and cannot be trusted #expands (0.40)