PERCEIVED AND LATENT VALUE CONGRUITY AS DETERMINANTS OF INTRAORGANIZATIONAL POWER (INFLUENCE, CULTURE, CONTROL, BELIEFS)

The importance of shared values in organizations has recently come to light in the context of corporate culture. Values are considered a primary component of an organization's culture (Pettigrew, 1979). The present study examines the importance of shared values in determining intraorganizational power. In particular, the study examines the relationship between departmental value congruity with top management and departmental power. In addition, the study supplements the resource dependence and strategic contingencies theories of intraorganizational power which argue that power resides in the subunit that controls critical problems.;The findings suggest that a department's and top management's perceptions of value congruity are associated with department power. In addition, value congruity provides an incremental explanation of power beyond that provided by strategic contingencies and resource dependence. Latent value congruity or unrecognized similarity of perceptions was not significantly associated with power. Several possible explanations for the link between perceived and latent value congruity are discussed.;A field study using interviews and a survey was conducted in two organizations to investigate the role of values in determining intraorganizational power. It was hypothesized that value congruity would be associated with power and congruity of values would provide additional explanatory power beyond that provided by resource dependence and strategic contingencies.