Jeffrey Pfeffer and Power

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. This business school's magazine summed Pfeffer's thesis in an introduction of an article about the book and its topics: "Through three decades of teaching and writing about power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has emphasized a pithy but potent concept: Politics often trumps performance." See that article here. NPR's Forum (a KQED affiliate program) plugged the book. You can find the podcast of that show, here. The Harvard Business Review keeps a blog called "The Conversation," where Pfeffer posted an entry called, "Women and the Uneasy Embrace of Power." In the article, he writes that:

The evidence shows that women are less power-oriented than men. Women have more negative attitudes toward holding power, they are less likely to pursue power-based influence strategies, they are more bothered by and disfavor hierarchical relationships, they are less motivated to dominate others, and they are less likely to take actions to attain power. Moreover, in situations such as salary negotiations, studies show that women often believe that they deserve less than similarly qualified men and are, as a consequence, likely to demand less and to press their salary demands with less vigor.

See that HBR blog post here.

The Business of Power from KQED's Forum Podcast

Michael Krasny talks with Stanford business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. Pfeffer's latest book, "Power: Why Some People Have It -- and Others Don't" explores the dynamics of power and keys to success in the business world.

Listen to the show here. See also: Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't, What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management, The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First, Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management