Seven Types Of Power In Yukl's Sporting Goods Store

Yukl (2012), Sporting Goods Store illustrated seven types of power: reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, expert power, referent power, information power, and ecological power. Bill Thompson exemplifies five of the seven types of power which are legitimate power, reward power, expert power, information power, and ecological power.

Legitimate power refers to when an individual conform to terms because he/she believes the agent has the right to make the request and that target individual has the obligation to comply (Yukl, 2012). Bill exemplifies legitimate power. He was just promoted from store assistant manager to store manager. As a store manager, he is taking on the task to increase profit performance through the sales activities

This individual believes the agent controls important resources and rewards desired by the individual (Yukl, 2012). Bill has little input when it comes to rewarding his employees as he is not able to increase their salary per say but he is able to suggest some sort of raise; essentially, his judgment could possibly help raise the salary of his employees. This would be considered an influence in the way of rewarding employees for good performances. Due to this factor, employees strive for personal

As the store manager, Bill is responsible for controlling the environment amongst his employees, increasing the level of motivation, and influencing attitudes and behaviors in the workplace.

As noticed in this case, Sally spends too much time socializing (poor customer service) as opposed to keeping customers content. An influence tactic Bill could use is this situation would be proactive influence. “These tactics have an immediate task objective, such as getting the target person to carry out a task, change the procedures used for a current task, provide assistance on a project, or support a proposed change.” (Yukl, 2012). This could be seen in Sally’s situation because Bill was promoted to increase the profit performance of the ski department. Another tactic Bill can implement in this situation is the use of rational presentation. Rational presentation uses explanation, and logical facts and data to show that a request is relevant for attaining task objectives. Doing this, Bill can approach Sally, talking to her about how important customer service is, as it would keep customers satisfied rather than frustrated. Also, Bill can use the consultation tactics. This is carried out when the target person (Sally) is invited to participate in planning how to carry out a proposed change (Yukl, 2012). Bill should get Sally and team to implement ways to better