Organizational influence systems as a function for strategy building: An applied study in Jordanian economic sectors

Abstract

The study aims to identify the reasons driving internal and external entrepreneurs to use their power to produce the intended effects in organizations, and how this power affects the methods of building strategies they seek to use, based on Mintzberg’s theoretical assumptions. The research was conducted in 90 large Jordanian companies operating in finance, industry and service sectors. Data were collected from 204 managers using a questionnaire with a high degree of validity and reliability. Analysis and interpretation of the results proved that much of the organizational power held by the head of a company and top management was due to the dominance of the personal, bureaucratic, centralized and formal control systems. As a result, the classical tendency to build strategy in the planning and integrative forms was firmly established, and the participatory and democratic methods in their bargaining and adaptive forms retreated. Based on the results, the researched companies were recommended to design balanced power structures to shift the methods of strategy building from the classical tendency represented by the control of top management and external coalition to the modern tendency represented by integrating workers in democratic ways.