Managers’ Power and Its Sources in Managing People in Multicultural Teams: The Results of Interviews with Czech, Portuguese, and French Managers

Abstract

The aims of the article are to describe how Czech, Portuguese, and French managers define the concept of “power,” to identify the sources of power they use, and to demonstrate the impact of their power on managing their culturally diverse teams. The research problem focuses on finding the answers to the questions: How do Czech, Portuguese, and French managers understand the term “power”? What sources of power and ways of exercising it do they use in practice? What areas of people management are affected by managers’ power? The research methods consist of a literature review and individual in-depth interviews with managers conducted in 2022. The theoretical part defines the term “power,” and describes the sources of managers’ power and their ways of exercising it. The research part reports the results of the interviews with the managers.

The study demonstrates the importance of managers’ power and its impact on people management in multicultural workplaces. The results of the interviews reveal that the managers accurately define the term “power” and frequently use its most common sources: legitimate and reward power. According to the managers, in workplaces with culturally diverse employees their power exerts a significant impact on people management.