ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the evolution of social power research. It discusses potential shortcomings of existing power research for understanding of organizational behavior. The chapter explores how some of the most widely established conclusions about the effects of power may change once organizational realities are taken into consideration, ranging from the intrapersonal level, to the interpersonal level and the organizational level. It discusses ways to systematically incorporate organizational complexities into the study of social power and recommend fruitful avenues for future research. Although there is merit in understanding power dynamics in more general or context-independent settings, scholars of organizational behavior are tasked with understanding the decisions and behaviors within the organizational context. A related problem is that experimental power studies may suffer from the use of confounded manipulations that can give rise to third-variable effects and demand characteristics. The typical laboratory study sample used in past social power research may not accurately represent the characteristics of a typical organizational workforce.
