Seeing the Empty Spaces: Towards a More Complex Understanding of the Meaning of Power in Organizations

Abstract

Power in organizations is reflected in overt decisions and behaviours and in the empty spaces of non-decision and non-behaviour. This paper presents semiotics as a means of identifying and systematically structuring multiple dimensions that combine to make up the meaning of power in a particular context. It semiotically categorizes the visible and invisible dimensions of power of two prominent leaders in American industry. The resulting deep structures show underlying differences in the way these two leaders framed the meaning of power.