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The #MeToo movement against sexual harassment (SH) has sparked a sense of familiarity, and collective anger among women, highlighting it as a pervasive and common experience across the globe. The purpose of this paper is to argue that despite shared experiences and such transnational movements, the ways in which SH is actually understood and combated are likely to be different in disparate National Business Systems (NBS). Through the analysis, the authors unpack these differences by paying specific attention to the multilevel power dynamics shaping how employers and their key stakeholders understand and respond to SH in Lebanon.

Against the backdrop of the complex and inefficient Lebanese NBS, the authors adopt a cross-cultural feminist analytic framework and engage in an iterative qualitative analysis of over 208 pages of transcriptions from relevant multisector, multi-stakeholder interactive sessions. Based on the analysis, the authors propose a series of first- and second-order concepts and themes that help us to trace how power shapes local SH understandings and related efforts.

The findings highlight the simultaneous influence of power through geopolitical forces external to Lebanon (i.e. power over through North-centricism and othering; power to through comparative perspectives and SDG regulations), combined with local forces embedded within the specific NBS (i.e. power over through negative attitudes and NBS specificities; power to through positive business efforts and local multistakeholder mobilizing).

The findings demonstrate the importance of paying attention to the interaction between power, contextual embeddedness and geopolitical considerations in attempts to advance SH theorization.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the role of abstract forms of power in organizational change by exploring the role of such forms of power in the recent structural transformation of an iconic Australian Intellectual Property law firm. The research literature reflects relatively few studies on the increasing complexity of power dynamics in organizational and institutional arrangements.

The complexity of the investigated phenomena led to the adoption of three qualitative methods in order to access the specific forms of data that were perceived to be relevant to answering the research question (“How did abstract power dynamics influence the nature and outcomes of the firm’s structural transformation?”). Ethnography was used in the attempt to discern, through participation and observation, the assumptions that manifested in action and/or inaction; phenomenology in the exploration through unstructured interviews with 41 staff members and 4 clients of the firm, of their interpretation and “sense-making” of their “lived experience” of “what was going on” in the firm; and narrative enquiry in establishing a narrative of critical events, and their impact on “what was going on” in the firm, including those that had occurred over the years prior to this research initiative.

The research shows the effects of contradicting forms of abstract power (namely, hegemonic (ideological) power, dominant institutional logic and structural power) as the firm struggled to address challenges to its existence. The impact of these forms of power upon the partners’ apprehension and interpretation of the emerging challenges to the firm’s business performance remained inconspicuous throughout the period of transformation. However, these contradictory forms of abstract power insidiously created tensions within the organization which were poorly addressed, resulting in organizational dysfunction and destructive sectarian conflict. The results show that the inability of partners to discern the nature of the forms of power which were influencing their responses to the crisis was a consequence of under-developed collectively reflexive capabilities and an absence of collaborative problem-solving practices. This resulted in a negative outcome for the firm.

The research has significant implications for collective endeavor in global business operations that are becoming increasingly complex. In particular, the complexity of power relations, as insidious ideological forces supported by ubiquitous technologies threaten to subsume agentic power in ways that domesticate and neutralize it, requires the development of sophisticated forms of collective ways of “working with power” – capabilities that include the ability to demystify the abstract forms of power that can shape the experience of social realities as “inevitable and natural.” Further research into these forms of power, and the surreptitious role they play in organizational arrangements, is an important requirement. With respect to limitations, as the research is located in the interpretivist research paradigm, the issue of interpretation is problematic. A strong effort was made to limit unwitting interpretive bias but the possibility of such bias cannot be ruled out, especially as, in some cases, the data are an interpretation of prior interpretations of events and/or experiences (as, e.g., in the interview data).

Working constructively with various forms of power is becoming a critical capability within organizations. This has implications for the relational and communicative skills that underpin effective collaboration of staff and other stakeholders. Such collaboration needs to include the collective ability to make explicit through critical dialogue the surreptitious influence of abstract forms of power upon the prevailing organizational arrangements and routines. To achieve this, these forms of power have to become demystified through constructive critique of the taken-for-granted aspects of everyday organizational life. This has important implications for leadership development practices and educational programs.

Unless leaders develop the ability to make the influences of abstract forms of power more conspicuous, and develop collaborative capabilities to work with insight into their management, they run the risk of agentic power becoming subsumed and neutralized by such forms of power. This has important implications for organizational agency and, especially, for the creative agency of the individuals who work within organizations. On a broader scale, it has implications for institutional arrangements and for the critical apprehension of global ideologies.

Studies of abstract forms of power are relatively rare in the research literature. This is probably a result of the long-standing dominance of positivism, with its realist ontological assumptions and its objectivist epistemological assumptions. In exploring the influence exerted by abstract forms of power on the inability of the partners of a professional services firm to apprehend their situation more accurately, and to interpret their strategic options with greater insight, this research makes an original contribution to the understanding of the influence of abstract power dynamics in organizational change, and in organizational arrangements more generally.

This paper aims to critically investigate the past hype of internationalization of higher education institutions (HEIs) and its complex international, national and local processes under the influence of globalization.

In particular, the authors employed the knowledge–policy–power interface framework through a scoping review in order to reexamine the political dynamics among international, national and local higher education actors in driving the internationalization of HEIs in the context of South Korea between the 1990s and the 2020s. The perspective taken by this research brings much-needed nuance to the analysis by focusing on the complex dynamics of external factors and key actors and their responses in the process of internationalization.

This research found three characteristic dynamics of internationalization of Korean HEIs: uncritical acceptance of external pressures for internationalization; unbalanced formal and informal participation at the national level and different ways HEIs absorb change. In short, this research discussed how the powerful government, which has been stirred by external forces, shaped the limited knowledge discourse on internationalization while triggering power games among various HEIs. The research highlights that the characteristics of HEIs and the voices of all stakeholders should be better accounted for so that internationalization can proceed in diverse ways from the ground up to enhance and assure educational quality.

The research limits itself by analyzing the political dynamics in driving the internationalization of HEIs in the context of South Korea only through scoping review. However, the attempt to disentangle the underlying political dynamics through its original framework is worthy unlike previous more traditional models that cast policy-making as a uniform cycle proceeding rationally through the policy process regardless of the issue.

These findings enable a better analysis of the key dynamics of how HEI internationalization policies in Korea were understood, planned and implemented. Without examining the political dynamics among various factors as well as the responses of significant actors to HEI internationalization, the current challenges and remaining tasks in translating higher education policy into practice cannot be thoroughly assessed.

Most importantly, the multilayered political dynamics that come together to shape the content and directions of policies in a certain national context should be taken into account in the process of policy-making. Such recontextualization would provide a better understanding of the underlying dynamics that lead to certain consequences of and challenges in translating higher education policy into practice, especially for those who face the challenge of balancing between state-driven policies and ever-diversifying needs and demands of HEIs.

As there is a lack of understanding of the critical context of the knowledge–policy–power interface despite the significant influence of political dynamics in the process of internationalization, this research reexamined the internationalization of HEIs in Korea by providing a better understanding of the political dynamics between knowledge and power that influence the directions and contents of policy dialogues and documents.

This paper aims to investigate and explain the power dynamics involving the mother (as the founder) and the daughter (as the successor) during the business transmission process.

This qualitative research was conducted on a sample of Italian family SMEs. The adopted approach is consistent with the narration paradigm, where the biographical features of the participant are investigated to highlight the culture, value systems and other background features.

This research suggests that if the founder is her mother, the daughter faces further challenges. Findings suggest that during business transmission, it is also important to consider the cultural and contextual factors, such as gender biases, both in the family and in the workplace. This paper seems to suggest that power is important in itself, regardless of the gender of those who exercise it.

Future research should investigate, quantitatively, the same issues considered in this research, to assess the reliability and validity of the evidence discussed here.

This paper suggests how to overcome dysfunctional dynamics in mother–daughter business transmission.

Family firms are the most widespread type of firm in the world; as a consequence, systematic failures in business transmission represent a prominent socio-economical problem for policymakers and institutions.

This research shows that in family business, power is not dynamic and does not shift among family members, as suggested by previous research. Even once the mother retires, a stable power hierarchy remains within the family firm.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the applicability of the Discrete Empirical Interpolation method (DEIM) for simulating the swing dynamics of benchmark power system problems. The authors demonstrate that considerable savings in computational time and resources are obtained using this methodology. Another purpose is to apply a recently developed modified DEIM strategy with a reduced on-line computational burden on this problem.

On-line computational cost of the power system dynamics problem is reduced by using DEIM, which reduces the complexity of the evaluation of the nonlinear function in the reduced model to a cost proportional to the number of reduced modes. The on-line computational cost is reduced by using an approximate snap-shot ensemble to construct the reduced basis.

Considerable savings in computational resources and time are obtained when DEIM is used for simulating swing dynamics. The on-line cost implications of DEIM are also reduced considerably by using approximate snapshots to construct the reduced basis.

Applicability of DEIM (with and without approximate ensemble) to a large-scale power system dynamics problem is demonstrated for the first time.

This paper aims to propose, discuss and evaluate a four‐stage model of storyselling and its accompanying power dynamics, which are at the heart of coaching in organisations.

This paper is informed by a social constructionist view of coaching.

The conceptualisation of the coaching process as a series of storyselling activities highlights the power of storytelling to facilitate management development through coaching on the one hand and the potential for manipulation and abuse on the other.

The application of storytelling in organisational coaching as well as the darker and manipulative side of storyselling in the coaching process and relationships should inform future research into these important phenomena.

An analysis of the complex nature of the dynamics of coaching and the multi‐layered nature of the relationship between coach, organisation and coachee will be of benefit to practising coaches, purchasers and recipients of coaching as well as researchers interested in coaching.

The value of this paper lies in the exploration of the relatively new concept of storyselling and accompanying power dynamics in an organisational coaching context.

This study aims to examine how changes in power disparity shape in-groups and upper-level management conflict are associated with intragroup relationship and task conflict variations. It also examines how workplace conflicts relate to focal employees’ perceptions of coworker support.

Data were collected from 3,343 respondents for nine years, comprising measurements taken on six occasions in 47 departments and stores of a Canadian retailer. The relationships between, within and across levels were tested using multilevel structural equation modeling.

The results showed that higher levels of power concentration vested by a few members or a single person are associated wih higher levels of intragroup conflict than usual. Furthermore, higher levels of task and relationship conflicts at upper management levels are associated with higher-than-usual task and relationship conflicts between nonhierarchical employees. Additionally, a higher-than-usual intragroup task conflict level was associated with lower-than-usual coworker support, supporting the proposed multilevel dynamic model.

An important limitation of this study is that all variables are self-reported despite using the six-wave repeated measurements, thereby increasing the possibility of inflating some observed relationships. Future research should examine the emergence of a larger spectrum of power dispersion configurations and their role on process conflict.

Retail managers should legitimize why a high-power concentration occurs when the equal distribution of power is not possible and find ways to minimize the trickle-down effects of conflicts at upper levels on their subordinates.

This study examines the effect of variability on power configurations and conflict in upper management ranks on conflict dynamic. The findings show that a high-power concentration elicits increasing conflicts, and that there is no empirical evidence that intragroup conflict is associated with positive outcomes.

This paper focuses on the possibilities of the long‐term development of flexible working as a work‐life policy, through understanding the power dynamics between the individual and the organisation. The study presents a framework which summarises the factors influencing the employee‐employer power dynamics, and leads us to the research questions. The methodology involves triangulation in case studies in two organisations based on surveys of representative samples in each organisation (n = 243 and n = 128) and interviews with the management. Findings support the long‐term development of employee‐friendly flexible working. There is a strong desire, and a lack of polarisation of attitudes, among employees for greater flexibility. Certain employee groups with stronger negotiating power have initiated the work‐life debate, but in doing so, they have increased the power of all employees through lowering ideological barriers, and creating knowledge of new possibilities and aspirations. Favourable external pressures and changing business needs also improve the position of employees.

Collaborative systems are particular cases of multi-team systems in which several groups representing various interests meet to debate and generate solutions on complex societal issues. Stakeholder diversity in such systems often triggers power differences and disparity and the study explores the dual role of power disparity in collaborative settings. The purpose of this paper is to extend the power approach-inhibition model (Keltner et al., 2003) to the group level of analysis and argue that, on the positive side, power disparity increases the cognitive activity of the interacting groups (i.e. task-related debates), while on the other hand it generates a negative affective climate.

The authors collected data at two time points across nine behavioral simulations (54 teams, 239 participants) designed to explore the cognitive and affective dynamics between six parties interacting in a collaborative decision task.

The results show that power disparity increases cognitive activity in collaborative multi-party systems, while it hinders the affective climate, by increasing relationship conflict and decreasing psychological safety among the stakeholders.

This study provides important theoretical and practical contributions mostly for the consultation processes, as interventions might be directed at fostering the positive effects of power disparity in collaborative setting, while mitigating its drawbacks.

By extending the approach-inhibition model to the group level, this is one of the first empirical studies to examine the dual nature of the impact that power disparity has on the cognitive (i.e. positive effect) and affective (i.e. negative effect) dynamics of multi-party collaborative systems (i.e. multi-team systems).

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of a new coordinated switching strategy to improve the transient performance of a fuel cell (FC)- supercapacitor (SC) electric vehicle. The proposed switching strategy protects FCs from large currents drawn during abrupt power variations. Furthermore, it compensates the poor FC transient response and suppresses the transient ripples occurring during power source switching instants.

Coordinated power source switching is achieved using three different transition functions. Vehicle model is fractioned into computational and console subsystems for its simulation using real time (RT) LAB simulator. Blocs containing coordination switching strategy, power sources models and their power electronics interface are placed in the computational subsystem that will be executed, in RT, on one of real time laboratory simulator central processing unit cores.

Coordination switching strategy resulted in reducing transient power ripples by 90% and direct current (DC) bus voltage fluctuations by 50%. Switching through transition functions compensated the difference between FC and SC transient responses responsible for transient power ripples. Among the three proposed transition functions, linear transition function resulted in the best transient performances.

The proposed coordinated switching strategy allows the control of the switching period duration. Furthermore, it enables the choice of adequate transition functions that fit the dynamics of power sources undergoing transition. Also, the proposed switching technique is simple and does not require the knowledge of system parameters or the complex control models.