Organizational Change

Those Who Challenge ‘Power’, Come to Know How Power Works. Have You been there?

Complaints processes in organizations can highlight this.

illustration by the author

“Knowledge of the emptiness of policy is an intimacy with workings of power.” Those who challenge ‘power’, come to know how power works. Have you been there? I have.

It’s a bizarre counter-intuition in “higher education” (& other sectors). Feminist scholar Sara Ahmed, author of the 2021 book “Complaint” frames it well:

“So many complaints about problems within [higher education] institutions are resolved in ways that reproduce the problems.

Many complaints end up being complaints about how complaints are handled.

Many complaints made within institutions end up being complaints about institutions.”

Sara Ahmed’s book on complaints processes.

Or, there is no complaint — a retreat into the abyss of organizational silence.

I know of one post-sec institution that churned through close to 20 senior leaders (or more), in about 2 years. Several have reached out through social media…