# Power Asymmetry By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-12-01 Organizations are marked by a pronounced power asymmetry. In the daily execution of tasks, this dynamic is so ingrained in behaviors and expectations that it is accepted without much (if any) thought. Workers are subject to termination based on managerial assessment; managers are secure from repercussions based on [[assessments]] of workers. When executing routine tasks this dynamic is taken for granted. It is only when workers and management must coordinate more closely than normal on a specific project that this power asymmetry becomes too obvious to ignore. “Special projects” sometimes emerge which require workers to cooperate more directly with management. This teaming approach provides greater proximity to management, so the power asymmetry is more apparent and subsequently more galling and intolerable. The easiest way to observe this is in terms of how the project schedule is proposed and enacted. In the beginning, everybody has assigned tasks and deadlines, and the team will work together on the effort. In execution, things tend to change. Frequently, and in theory, the workers will collect information and provide a draft. The team will then review the draft and provide comments for revisions. In the initial effort, if the workers fail to meet the deadline there are [[Consequences]] from management. However, in the review, if management fails to meet the feedback deadline, there is no recourse for the worker-members of the team to punish management. Additionally, the task starts on a basis of shared effort. In the end, this becomes a ”management task,” in which the workers were only included to do assembly work or for rhetorical justifications. In short, the power asymmetry between workers and management becomes clearer and more painful when the necessity of the task requires collaboration but the preference for managerial decision authority is retained. Power asymmetry allows one group to control the timing and sequence of information to its advantage. Project deadlines matter for the workers, not the executives. Workers provide all their information, and executives provide what information they want, when, and if they want to share it. In short, a team comprised of members with unequal power will not operate with shared governance if those with privilege retain all the power asymmetry existing between its members. Such a situation will be frustrating and disheartening to workers because it makes explicit the subjugation they try so desperately to ignore. When the situation becomes egregious one must resist. #### Related Items [[Power]] [[Asymmetry]] [[Management]] [[Work]] [[Business]] [[Organizational Analytics]]