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Abstract
This study investigates the power concept and the role of power in organizations. The “power over” approach, as a main dimension to understand power, is tried to be clarified with a historical focus. This study focuses on the power over approach, and the role of this approach on the relationships among individuals. Power over approach argues that power exists because of conflict of interest. So power is primarily about to overcome conflict of interest which occurs when people want different things and have different interests that lie in different directions. In this context, conceptual development of the power over approach, power over approach in organizations, power to approach, the distinction between these approaches and reflection of this distinction to organizational environment is explained. The role of power over and power to approaches on the conflicts among individuals and collective actions in the organizations is also discussed. It is concluded that power relations are important to overcome conflict of interest.