Power 5

In the last byte, we looked at a few guidelines for the judicious use of power. In today's byte, we look at a new type of power - Information Power.

Information Power could be defined as - the power derived through the access to and control over important information.

An example: Let us assume the case of a CEO's personal secretary. He or She would have the information about the CEO's schedule that would help other get an appointment with the CEO.
 

The central crux of an individual's information power is the person's position in the communication network in the organization - both the formal and informal one.
 

Managers could not just pass on information they receive to their subordinates, but also filter it based on the influence the information might have on the subordinate. This could give interesting "spins" to the whole information.
 

Information power need not always be interpreted as a downward flowing power. It could also be an upward flowing power - ex: In a manufacturing plant the operators could feed in information that would drive the managerial decision making at higher levels.