Intraorganizational power in high technology organizations

This study seeks to better understand the relative power of subunits within high technology organizations. It follows the path of Perrow's (1970) classic study of power which found sales to dominate traditional industries. As expected, R&D was perceived as the most powerful department among all subunits in the high-tech firm. This finding is also supported by both of our proposed theoretical models of power: Resource Dependency and Strategic Contingencies. Contrary to the importance placed on the human aspect in the high-tech industry. Human Resources and Administration was not perceived to possess as much power as such a subunit warrants. Finally, a consistent finding throughout this research was the low level of power assigned to Customer Service.