Koch Brothers Power Plays
Introduction
The Koch brothers, Charles and Bill, are known for their vast wealth and their conservative political views. But they are also known for their power struggle for control of Koch Industries, the family business. The two brothers have been locked in a battle for control of the company for years, and it shows no signs of abating. In fact, the fight has become so heated that it has spilled over into the political arena, with each brother taking opposing sides on key issues. The fight began in the 1980s, when Charles took control of Koch Industries after their fathers death. Bill was not happy with this arrangement, and he soon began to agitate for a greater role in the company. The two brothers feuded for years, with each side taking potshots at the other in the press. The fight came to a head when Bill publicly called for Charles to step down as CEO of Koch Industries. However, Charles had developed quite a support network and coalition of leaders and decision makers to support his rule. Charles is often seen as ruthlessbut he has also demonstrated more legitimate power in terms of having a major role to play in the business of Koch Industries, whereas Bill was seen more as merely a hanger-on who had a position by virtue of his last name only. This paper will describe the brothers sources of power, their influence tactics, and ultimately what led to Charles to victory in their power struggle against one another.
Sources of Power
One of the most important factors in the Koch family was trust: if you earned it, you had great influence and power. Luthans (2015) echoes this sentiment when he notes that trust building matches the principles of empowerment (p. 325). When Bill and Charles began to bump heads at Koch, it was Bill who lost trustquite simply because it appeared that he was challenging his brother just to challenge him; i.e., that there was not really any good reason to go against him other than that he wanted to oppose him. Bills source of power could therefore be called coercive. He wanted to use force and pressure to have and maintain power (Haneberg, 2012). That worked for a while for him, but when he lost the trust of others his coercion stopped having any effectand he lost power.
Charles, on the other hand, had a better source of power: it was legitimate for the reason that he actually had a major and important role as a leader in Koch Industries: he made decisions and people depended on him and his use of right reasonwhich support sound decision making (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). Not only this, but Charles also had expert power as a knowledgeable and experienced leader: he had an excellent view of strategy and understood the business, which helped secure his legitimate power as a source and tied it to his expert power as a source. But like Bill he could also used coercive power, since as a person of authority he had the power to remove someone from a post, and so on. In fact, he removed Bill because Bill demonstrated a lack of compliance with the...
…does one have? Can it be used well? One has to look at the reality of the situation and not be deceived by ones own pretension. Bill was too full of himself to realize how weak his position was. Charles fought like a general, building up coalitions, and surrounding his enemy on enough sides so that his opponent eventually realized how weak he was and that he would have to surrender inevitably.Conclusion
In 1967, Charles Koch took over as CEO of his fathers company, Koch Industries. Under his leadership, the company grew to become one of the largest privately held businesses in the world. However, in 1980, Charless brother Bill was also given a stake in the business. The two brothers quickly began to butt heads over the direction of the company. In 1983, after a particularly heated argument, Bill was ousted from Koch Industries. Charles then consolidated his power by appointing himself chairman and CEO. He has since been credited with transforming Koch Industries into a global powerhouse. However, some have criticized him for his ruthless business practices and his political influence. In recent years, Charles has become one of the most powerful and influential figures in American politics. His funding of right-wing think tanks and political campaigns has helped to reshape the Republican Party in his own image. And his support for conservative causes has made him a hated figure among liberals. There is no doubt that Charles Koch is a controversial figure. But there is also no doubt that he is a masterful businessman and a savvy political operator, who has been able to build coalitions…
References
Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Chapter 13.3: The power to influence. OrganizationalBehavior. Flatworld Knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Organizational%20Behavior.pdf Haneberg L. (2012). Chapter 5: Positively using your power. The ASTD ManagementDevelopment Handbook: Innovation for Today's Manager. Alexandria, Va: American Society for Training & Development. [EBSCO eBook Collection]Luthans, F., Luthans, K. W., & Luthans, B. C. (2015). Chapter 10: Power and Politics.
Organizational behavior: An evidence-based approach. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, pp. 280-287.
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