Browsing by Subject "dyadinen valtateoria"

The topic of this Master's Thesis is the manifestations of power and dominance in superior-subordinate relationship. The aim is to identify verbal and nonverbal communication behaviours that constitute dominance in these relationships. The central concepts are control and countercontrol attempts identified by Dyadic Power Theory (DPT). Destructive communication in work settings, supervisor-subordinate relationship and power and dominance are the key dimensions of the research's theoretical background. The data used is a secondary data, originally collected by the LEAR research project. The project looked into the phenomenon of leadership by fear in Finnish organizations. The data consists of narratives of how workers have been intimidated at work. 89 narratives were selected for this research. The analysis was followed through by using qualitative content analysis methods. Control and countercontrol attempts identified by DPT were used as a base for the analysis. The findings demonstrate that control attempts were mostly supervisors' attempts to control the subordinates. Five control categories were identified: Restricting professional participation, information as control, mental and physical subjection, threatening, extended control, and emphasizing one's own competence. According to the analysis, countercontrol attempts were rarer. A few categories were identified, however. Countercontrol attempts were manifested through direct defence, third-party defence, and by controlling the employment. The research was conducted in a special relational context of conflict and fear. It should be considered how the low-quality supervisor-subordinate relationship affects the manifestations and the quality of control and countercontrol attempts. Power and dominance have mainly been researched in communication and interpersonal research by using quantitative research methods. More qualitative research is needed, especially in Finland.