The following essay is a discussion on the five power bases (which are coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent), and the relationship between dependency and power. For each one of the power bases and the aforementioned relationship I will develop a thesis. The setting with which the theses are to be mined is a theoretical scenario where there is a company that creates marketing programs for the real estate industry: this company will be identified henceforth as Company A. Within Company A there are three employees; Employee 1 has worked in the marketing department for 12 yrs, Employee 2 is the only certified public accountant (CPA) in the accounting department, Employee 3 works in the sales department and has been with the corporation for a little over a year. The dynamics between these employees, their peers and managers create the framework wherein the theses are to be developed.
The first employee to be considered is Employee 1. As previously mentioned this employee has worked for the corporation for 12 years, and is working in the marketing department. In this department, employees who earn a superior rating on their yearly performance evaluation receive a large bonus at the end of the year. The marketing manager encourages employees to work beyond the requisite 40 hours a week by reminding them of the yearly bonus for receiving a superior rating on their next evaluation. In response to the possibility of a bonus, Employee 1 often comes into the office on weekends or stays late to ensure the work is complete and accurate, in the hope of being able to pay for a vacation that would be unaffordable otherwise. In this scenario, the marketing manager’s ability to review employee’s performance for an evaluation is the...
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...dependence. Further he postulates: The greater B’s dependency on A, the greater the power A has over B. In the scenario provided we can clearly see two instances of dependency; first is Employee 1’s dependency on his manager, second is the accounting manager’s dependency on Employee 2. Employee 1 is dependent on his managers submitting a superior rating on a yearly performance review: without it Employee 1 will not receive a substantial bonus. The effects of the dependency is exhibited in Employee 1’s willingness to work weekends and stay late hours to ensure the work is complete and accurate, all of which is encouraged by his superior. In regards to accounting manager dependence on Employee 2, the manager is fully dependent upon Employee 2’s skill set and certification; to the point where Employee 2 has leveraged his/her power base onto a altered 4 day work week.
Legitimate power, also known as positional power is power derive from occupying a formal position in an organization such as a CEO or being a key member of a leadership team
There are many theories pertaining to the nature of power in society. In modern society, it is important to identify where and when power is exercised, who benefits and who suffers from it being exerted upon them. In this tradition, it is useful to examine the managerialist perspective.
As the Cold War began to wind down, many foreign policy and international relations experts, scholars and public intellectuals raced to synthesize new paradigms on what the new World Order would look like on the eve of the 21st century. First in a speech in 1993, then in an article published by the well-regarded Foreign Policy magazine titled “The Clash of Civilizations?”, Dr. Huntington argued that interactions between nations in the international arena, would largely begin to form along cultural and civilizations boundaries. He names eight civilizations with distinct A more powerful speculative theory in the realm of current and near-future international relations systems is the one advanced by Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye in “Power and Interdependence.” This paper will discuss the main thesis and arguments by Huntington, display which arguments are weak or insufficient, then discuss why the idea of complex interdependence is a more valid and powerful systems level analysis tool for our time. #FINISHED
Raven, Bertram, and John French. Jr. "Legitimate Power, Coercive Power, and Observability in Social Influence ." Sociometry Vol. 21.No. 2 (1958): 83. Web. 2 Aug 2010. .
in any group of people, and there will be struggle to achieve it--be it a
McShane and von Glinow determine that the first three powers - legitimate, reward, and coercive power - are granted to persons through the organization or co-workers, whereas the two other powers – expert and referent power - depend on the “power holders own characteristics” (301). The first source of power that can be assigned to members of the organization is Legitimate Power, which is defined as an “agreement among organizational members that people in certain roles can request certain behavior of others” (302). This source of power generally results from different roles in the organization (hierarchy). Like the manager can expect his or her employees to do what he or she requires. Another source of power that can be given to employees is Reward Power, which is defined as “the person’s ability to control the allocation of rewards valued by others and to remove negative sections” (302). Reward power offers incentives and is the opposite of the third source of power, which is Coercive Power. Coercive power is the last source of power that is assigned to people and involves “the ability to apply punishment” (303). The fourth source of power is Expert Power, which does not originate from the position but rather from within the person. Expert power is “the capacity to influence others by possessing knowledge or skills that others value” (303). For instance, an employee can develop expert power when gaining important knowledge for the organizations that others would also like to have. The fifth source of power that does not depend on the role or position of an employee, but on the person’s own characteristics is Referent Power, which is defined as “the capacity to influence others on the basis of an identification with and respect for the power holder” (303).
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Power is the ability to obtain, retain, and motivate people and to organize informational and material resources to accomplish a task( Leadership, n.d). Power is central to the leadership process in the development of a manager’s self-confidence and willingness to support staff members ( Schmidt & Wilkinson, 1990). The desire for power is universal. From this vantage point, power should be accepted as a natural part of any individual organization. Power is not evenly distributed among individuals or groups, but every individual has some degree of power.
Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. The most important aspect of power is dependence; a person’s power increases if someone is dependent on them, or if they have something the other needs. Some people have power that they don’t use or may not even know they have.
The concept of industrial relations involves the interaction of employers and employees, for that reason without power and authority will be a lack of direction and control over the system of industrial relations. Authority frequently comes from the duties and responsibilities delegated to a position holder in a bureaucratic structure whilst Power is the possession of authority, control, or influence by which a person influences the actions of others, either by direct authority or by some other, added intangible
Empowerment is another feature of post bureaucracy. It represents organizations awarding power and authority to those lower in the organizational hierarchy (Knights & Willmott, 2007). To some extent empowerment could be beneficial to a organization because empowerment would allow the workers to work...
Power is defined in the course study notes as the “ability of individuals or groups to get what they want despite the opposition”. Power is derived from a variety of sources including knowledge, experience and environmental uncertainties (Denhardt et al, 2001). It is also important to recognize that power is specific to each situation. Individuals or groups that may be entirely powerful in one situation may find themselves with little or no power in another. The county Registrar of Voters, who is my boss, is a perfect example. In running the local elections office, she can exercise the ultimate power. However, in a situation where she attempted to get the county selected for a desirable, statewide pilot project, she was powerless, completely at the mercy of the Secretary of State. Power is difficult to measure and even to recognize, yet it plays a major role in explaining authority. In organizations, power is most likely exercised in situations where “the stakes are high, resources are limited, and goals and processes are unclear” (Denhardt et al, 2001). The absence of power in organizations forces us to rely on soley hierarchical authority.
L.Nelson, J. C. Interpersonal Forms of Power. In J. C. L.Nelson, Principles of Organizational Behavior: Realities and Challenges.
Legitimate Power – This is power that comes from holding a position within an organization