Organizational Behavior describes five forms of power individuals in a group can hold over each other. These bases of power can be broken down into two categories - formal and personal (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 471). Formal power is granted by a person's ranking in an organization's hierarchy and includes legitimate, coercive, and reward powers. Legitimate power is the broadest of the formal powers and "represents the formal authority to control and use organizational resources" and implies adherence by those in subordinate positions (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472). Coercive and reward powers each focus on obtaining compliance from another individual, although they use opposite means. Coercive power is based on fear and includes the threat of removing or denying something of value from another person in the organization, while reward power seeks compliance by offering something of value in exchange for adherence to a policy or goal (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 471).
Personal power does not require formal authority of the organization and is, instead, earned by an individual's differentiating traits (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472). Personal power is recognized in the forms of expert power and referent power. Expert power is earned by those with specialized skill sets or knowledge, such as lawyers, medical doctors, and various other specialists people depend upon (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472). Referent power is maintained by people who are respected, admired, or envied by others. Individuals with referent power are able to "exert influence over others because of their charismatic dynamism, likeability, and emotional effects" on others (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472).
These five bases of power are exhibited in t...
... middle of paper ...
...tion when it comes to filing financial statements, so Employee 2 maintains a significant amount of power over the manager in this regard.
Finally, the relationship between Employee 3 and the sales department shows less obvious signs of dependency and power held by one party. Employee 3 does not have the experience or unique professional qualifications of Employees 1 or 2, but the employee does possess traits that others in the sales department admire. By selling a proposal to the sales department, Employee 3 is able to grow professionally, and the sales department expects to increase sales by enacting Employee 3's plan. In this instance, both parties have a similar degree of dependency over the other, and both are using their powers for the improvement of all involved.
References:
Robbins, Stephen, & Judge, Tim. (2007). Organizational behavior. Prentice Hall
The most common would be positional power in which a manager’s power is derived from their position in the organizations hierarchy. If the CEO tells the followers what to do it will be done without question out of respect for the power the CEO has over the organization and followers but if it’s someone lower in the hierarchy, the followers may not be as willing to do as they are asked. Another source of power would be charismatic power in which a manager’s personal qualities have a way of influencing follower either by a sense of loyalty they inspire or a history of having good insight into situations that have occurred in the past.
The notion of leadership is very often linked to the issue of power and influence. (Jedwab)
Stephen Robbins and A.J.B UBRIN think organisational behavior (OB) includes three interrelated influence and contact area of research: the behavior of the individual level, the group level and the organisational level behavior.
Power is the capacity to affect others by providing or withholding valued resources or administering punishments (Anderson & Berdahl 2002; French & Raven 1959; Keltner et al. 2003). Power and leadership are mutually dependent, but they are not identical. Power is different from associated concepts such as dominance, status, leadership, and authority. All of these may play a role to power, but power is basically the control over other people and over what happens to them (Anderson & Berdahl 2002). Power can exist without leadership, but leadership cannot exist without power, and a good leader is the one who uses power wisely and skillfully. There are five sources of power in every leader, namely coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent.
In French and Raven’s initial papers (French & Raven, 1959; Raven, 1965), they defined social influence as a change in the belief, attitude, or behavior of a person (the target of influence), which results from the action of another person (an influencing agent). Their six bases of power are widely cited in the organizational literature and they include: informational, reward, coercion, legitimate, expert and referent (Raven, B. 2008). Expert power is a personal characteristic, while legitimate, reward and coercive powers are largely prescribed by the organization (Ivancevich, et.al, p.342). In the original 1959 paper, the authors disagreed on whether “informational” should be an influence or a power resulting in only five bases of power included in the paper. Raven explains that expert power results from the target’s faith that the agent has some superior insight or knowledge about what behavior is best under the circumstances (Raven, B. 200...
Competence and intelligence are prerequisites for handling power in a healthy leader. Leaders have a responsibility to recognize and develop their own power to coordinate and uphold the work of staff members. Motivation for power, or a need to have an impact on others, is highly desirable for people with management responsibilities. Leader who understand power, its bases and it responsibilities have an advantage for getting things did through others. In exerting power, leader never needs to separate their own ethical values and morals from a situation .
What is organizational behavior? Prior to this course, I had never known that much of what is organizational behavior and in which ways it can impact the organization. Initially, over the course my knowledge about OB was expanded.
...tude in order to listen and follow his ideas and leadership. Had employee not been well liked or charismatic, it is doubtful that employee three would have been able to persuade the others to accept his ideas and follow his lead, given his short employment duration within the company.
After About four weeks of taking Organizational behaviour, we have covered a broad spectrum of subject from motivation to personality and behaviour theories has well has the process of individual learning, and how they are met in everyday business life. This essay simply summarise my understanding of the course with my personal experiences has a way in which I relate a few of the theories and topics learned in the span of these few weeks.
The University of Tulsa prepares Industrial/Organizational psychologists to deal with individual problems in the workplace. This philosophy matches my research area of interest on the effects of individual differences in the work environment. I believe that individual differences influence nearly every aspect of human behavior and interaction, including those in the workplace. By necessity, a successful manager is one who understands the potential influences of individual differences in the work environment. As an example, the management style utilized (as I have learned first hand) must match the personalities of the employees being managed. By conducting research in this area, theory relevant to motivating individually diverse employees may be developed and then applied. Of particular interest is the motivation of aging employees. The elimination of a mandatory retirement age has greatly increased the need for further research in this area.
...s. Lunenburg (2012) specify that a true leader is skilled to influence others and alter behavior through possessing all of the sources of the power (Coercive, Expert, Informational, Legitimate, Referent, and Reward) simultaneously. In most cases, the personal sources of power are more vigorously related to employees’ job contentment, organizational dedication, and performance than are the organizational power sources. The idea of power and leadership has been and will persistent to be complementary.
Power equals influence. It 's personal, too, residing within those who wield it. Sometimes a position of authority within an organization lends power to a person, but borrowed power isn 't necessarily as effective as power derived from leadership. Every organization has leaders who hold no positional authority, yet somehow wield influence, while managers who should be able to command respect flounder. Small-business owners wanting to enhance their influence and that of their managers should consider the five sources of power available at organizations. Three come with position. The other two are available to anyone.
Reward Power – This is power a leader has to reward subordinates for a job well done.
Organizational behavior is important to many organizations because it helps management understand their employees’ attitude as well as behavior while they interact with one and other at the work place. There are several aspects of organizational behavior and attitude is one that can hinder and help job performance. In the past, organizations were defined almost exclusively by the products produced or the services provided. This has changed a great deal over the years. They are now defined by the way they provide their products and services. Attitude plays a major role in and outside of the workplace as it does in most aspects in everyday life.
Norman Brinker has become known as an entrepreneur, pioneer, visionary and mentor in the restaurant industry. He has been involved in the industry for over 40 years. In the 1950’s Norman Brinker started his career in restaurants as partner in the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant chain. Here Brinker found a new love for the restaurant business.