Organizational Behavior & Leadership

8/11/2019 Organizational Behavior & Leadership

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In 1959, social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven identified 5 bases of

power and can be separated into two distinct groups, positional and personal.

Positional power includes:

Legitimate In each of these cases, organizational structure

provides the basis of legitimate power. mplo!ee 1"s mar#eting

manager, mplo!ee $"s accounting manager and mplo!ee %"s

sales manager all have legitimate power a&orded them via their

positions in the corporation.

Reward 'he abilit! of o&er another something tangible in

e(change for something wanted )*ind'ools, 1999+$1-.

(ercising the legitimate power a&orded him/her b! position,

mplo!ee 1"s manager is using the !earl! bonus for receiving a

superior rating on their ne(t evaluation as a reward for wor#ing

overtime. 0ther e(amples of reward power include raises,

promotions, and even compliments.

Coercive egative in nature, coercive power generall!

involves the use of threats and punishments when a goal or

directive is not met. 2arel! is this form of power appropriate in

an organizational structure. 3owever, it could be inferred that

mplo!ee 1"s mar#eting manager"s reminder of the !earl! bonus


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for superior ratings is an e(ample of economic coercive power.

Personal power includes:

Referent+ 2eferent power is the power of charisma. 2eferent

power is most often seen in a charismatic individual who e(cels

in ma#ing others feel comfortable in his or her presence and is

dependant upon the inclination of others to wor# harder for

someone the! admire. 4 classic e(ample, mplo!ee % is well

li#ed, charismatic, positive and people appear to be drawn to

his/her personalit!. mplo!ee % uses this power to convince

others with more e(perience, not onl! to run with his/her new

idea, but that he/she should lead this new program despite

his/her short tenure and lac# of team lead e(perience )*4.org,

.6..

Expert+ (pert power is the power of s#ill and #nowledge. If

!ou have s#ills and #nowledge that enable !ou to outperform

others or do a tas# that no one else can, it"s li#el! people in

authorit! are going to listen to what !ou have to sa!. In this case,


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being the onl! certi7ed public accountant )the degree of

dependanc! in the accounting department gives mplo!ee $ the

abilit! to essentiall! write his/her own schedule )the power

relationship. sing the legitimate power

a&orded the accounting department"s manager position, this

re8uest is granted.

'hus, one not need to be in a position of authorit! to have power

)Petress, , .6..

In 19%, 2ichard merson made the determination that dependanc! is

the basis of power )2. merson, 19$. ;ollowing his logic, power has

a inherentl! reciprocal relationship with dependanc!. In each of these

sceanarios, the situation is uni8ue. ;or e(ample, mplo!ee 1 is

motivated not b! the mar#eting manager )legitimate but rather b!

the bonus )reward which, once received, satis7es a want )vacation.

mplo!ee $"s s#ill set and


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him/her to, not onl! to succeed in the adoption of his/her new wa! of

doing things but also, to ta#e the lead in adopting his/her new idea.

=iven that each of these situations is uni8ue to each individual, this

would suggest that the degree of dependanc! does indeed pla! a role

in the creation of the nature of the power relationship.

>ibliograph!

*ind'ools )1999+$1- ;rench and 2aven"s ;ive ;orms of Power,

2etrieved ?/%/1- from:

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/[email protected]

Petress, ).6. Power: 6e7nition, '!polog!, 6escription, (amples,

and Implications, 2etrieved ?/%/1- from:

http://uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/Power6e7nitions'!polog!(amples

.pdf
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htmhttp://uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/PowerDefinitionsTypologyExamples.pdfhttp://uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/PowerDefinitionsTypologyExamples.pdfhttp://uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/PowerDefinitionsTypologyExamples.pdfhttp://uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/PowerDefinitionsTypologyExamples.pdfhttp://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htm


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*4.org )6. '!pes of Power, 2etrieved ?/%/1- from:

http://c.!mcdn.com/sites/www.uuma.org/resource/collection/9B6+%$+-?+41;9%;1/'!pesofPower0rgsA.pdf
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.uuma.org/resource/collection/09E8DC6B-0E32-4E67-AC19-AE44B1F93EF1/TypesofPowerOrgs_.pdfhttp://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.uuma.org/resource/collection/09E8DC6B-0E32-4E67-AC19-AE44B1F93EF1/TypesofPowerOrgs_.pdfhttp://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.uuma.org/resource/collection/09E8DC6B-0E32-4E67-AC19-AE44B1F93EF1/TypesofPowerOrgs_.pdfhttp://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.uuma.org/resource/collection/09E8DC6B-0E32-4E67-AC19-AE44B1F93EF1/TypesofPowerOrgs_.pdf

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Organizational Behavior & Leadership