The third face is ideological power. Although not without critique (Edwards, 2006),
this is the least observable and concerns the power to shape and manipulate people’s
preferences. Lukes argues that ideological power is overarching and effectively shapes
and places constraints on the first and second faces of power. In employment, ideological
power can ensure that employees accept or desire management-led practices that
may be contrary to their own interests. Examples include various corporate culture or
quality management initiatives that espouse the virtues of empowerment as a source of
influencing employee attitudes to win their ‘hearts and minds’ (Willmott, 1993).
Managerial claims about seeking to satisfy the so-called psychological contract for
employees may be viewed as an ideological form of employer control and manipulation
(Cullinane and Dundon, 2006). Sisson (2012: 187) likens ideological power to Walton
and McKersie’s (1965) use of ‘attitudinal structuring’ during bargaining and consultation
interactions. For example, information and consultation are processes that influence
employee expectations and outcomes. Communicative dialogue may be a source
of power by limiting worker perceptions of what they might gain from management
during a consultative or bargaining interaction. Thus by manipulating worker attitudes
as to what may be legitimate or common knowledge, managers can promote communication
channels as some sort of de facto consultative voice systems, implying a degree
of power-sharing that is in reality constrained. Beyond the workplace, a similar continuous
discourse promulgated by many employers and politicians depicting the role of
employment regulation as not interfering with management’s right to manage has