Organization and the Signature of Power

This paper introduces the ‘signature of power’ as a framework to enhance the understanding of politics in organizational studies. We argue for an understanding of contemporary forms of power as a signature that connects and divides two constellations: juridical-political sovereignty (supreme authority) on one side, and economic-managerial government (practical regulation) on the other. These poles have analogies in organizational theory dichotomies like formal versus informal, and institution versus network. The signature of power serves as a heuristic – a discovery mechanism – that enables scholars to navigate and integrate these opposing forces without reducing them to one dominant paradigm. The framework is articulated through four analytical strategies: analytics of government (local, immanent power practices), genealogy of order (historical foundations of governing orders), archaeology of glory (rituals and symbols of supreme authority), and analytics of authority (formal organizational hierarchies and operations). These strategies and their distinct relationships provide a more coherent analytical framework for a multi-paradigm approach to understanding power relations, resistance, and organizational forms. The paper tests this analytic framework through a study of the corporation as a ‘signature of power’ that bridges economic-managerial and juridical-political forms and is shaped by historical shifts and legal innovations. Addressing potential critiques, the paper emphasizes the framework’s adaptability to resistance and its applicability to diverse organizational contexts. This conceptualization encourages intellectual plurality, fostering historically and conceptually informed insight into politics as a set of power-related organizational and institutional practices.