Robert Moses Summary

Abraham Lincoln famously remarked that “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” The power belongs to those who want to get the top position in organizations with personal qualities, such as leadership, humility, ambition, etc. In this book, Jeffrey Pfeffer examines how to get the power from the individuals’ perspective to make and implement decisions by considering various situations. Also, he describes that power is a positive mechanism in managing the organizations effectively since he has also viewed it as obtained common profits or gains through collectively working together. Such opinion of him about power is diametrically opposed to our common norm that power connotes a conservative …show more content…
Admittedly, Robert Moses was a single person and no one could replace him because of his personal traits, such as energy, strength, full initiative, and incredible drive. To achieve and hold a degree of power, however, I believe that Moses’ twelve positions served as a catalyst for linking him to various kinds of bonds and contracts which allowed significant securing human, legal, and financial resources. His various positions played a dominant role for building a new relationship to mobilize the crucial resources and allies of his plan and for utilizing established social networks as well as for supporting his power. At first glance, Pfeffer might seem to recount that obtaining and melding necessary development resources for a project are fundamental to contribute to the success of the business and to consolidate a leader’s power and position through the rise and corruption of American tycoon, Robert Moses through historical events and his bold and brash characteristics, however, it clearly reveals that networked relationships are the medium through which the sources advocated by the power are formed and …show more content…
In this essay, I would like to explain Pfeffer’s viewpoint and numerous factors about owning the power by focusing on the network because it is one of my research interests and I thought that it is the greatest merit of this volume. However, clearly, a further point that requires emphasis involves the concept of “Network” itself. Pheffer did not mention how intercorporate simultaneous communicative relations in having an influence on the retention of power. As Pheffer explained the loss of power at the end of his book, the power from the core of the network can be distributed or diminished instantly through a new collaboration or a different competitive network in the organization. Having made these remaining points about the network, it is to be hope that this book will be a step toward a richer and more inclusive understanding of the reality of the power