Little Book of Big Management Theories, The, 2nd Edition

THEORY 89

HANDY NEGATIVE POWER

Use it only in extreme circumstances but always be on the lookout for it from unhappy staff.

Charles Handy (1932–) is an Irish author/philosopher who specialises in management and organisational behaviour. He is perhaps best known for his book on organisational culture The Gods of Management. He has also written about the concept of negative power which can be defined as:

‘A person’s ability to stop things happening’.

Usually negative power is associated with those who have very little power. For example in the 1960s/70s if you were working ‘on the track’ screwing a bolt onto a car as it slowly moved passed your station you had virtually no power in the organisation. But, if you dropped a spanner in the ...