Power refers to the ability to influence others and make them act according to one's wishes. Leadership differs from power in that leaders use power to achieve group goals through compatibility and downward influence, while power focuses on gaining compliance through dependency and lateral/upward influence. There are two bases of power - formal power that comes from positions in an organization through coercive, reward, and legitimate powers, and personal power that comes from expertise and respect/admiration through expert and referent powers.
Power refers to the ability to influence others and make them act according to one's wishes. Leadership differs from power in that leaders use power to achieve group goals through compatibility and downward influence, while power focuses on gaining compliance through dependency and lateral/upward influence. There are two bases of power - formal power that comes from positions in an organization through coercive, reward, and legitimate powers, and personal power that comes from expertise and respect/admiration through expert and referent powers.
Power refers to the ability to influence others and make them act according to one's wishes. Leadership differs from power in that leaders use power to achieve group goals through compatibility and downward influence, while power focuses on gaining compliance through dependency and lateral/upward influence. There are two bases of power - formal power that comes from positions in an organization through coercive, reward, and legitimate powers, and personal power that comes from expertise and respect/admiration through expert and referent powers.
that A has to influence the behavior of B, so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes. – The ability to get someone to do something you want done. – The ability to make things happen in the way you want. – Power may exist but not be used. It is, therefore, a capacity or potential. Dependency : B’s relationship to A when A possesses something that B requires
Contrasting Leadership and Power :
Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals. Leaders achieve goals, and power is a means of facilitating their achievement. Leadership Power – Focuses on goal – Used as a means achievement for achieving goals 1 – Requires goal – Requires compatibility follower with followers dependency
– Focuses – Used to gain
influence lateral and downward upward influence • Research Focus : • Research Focus – Leadership : styles and – Power tactics relationships for gaining with followers compliance Bases of Power :
A) Formal Power: Formal power is based on
individual’s position in an organization. It can come from the ability to coerce or reward, or from formal authority.
1) Coercive Power :
– The coercive power base is being
dependent on fear. – It rests on the application, or the threat of application, of physical sanctions such as the infliction of pain, the generation of frustration through restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic physiological or safety needs. – At the organizational level, A has coercive power over B if A can dismiss,2 suspend, or demote B, assuming that B values his or her job. – Similarly, if A can assign B work activities that B finds unpleasant or treat B in a manner that B finds embarrassing, A possesses coercive power over B.
2) Reward Power :
– The opposite of coercive power is reward
power. – People comply because doing so produces positive benefits; therefore, one who can distribute rewards that others view as valuable will have power over those others. – These rewards can be anything that another person values. – Coercive power and reward power are actually counterparts of each other. a. If you can remove something of positive value from another or inflict something of negative value upon him/her, you have coercive power over that person. b. If you can give someone something of positive value or remove something of negative value, you have reward power 3 over that person.
3) Legitimate Power :
– In formal groups and organizations, the
most frequent access power is one’s structural position. It represents the power a person receives as a result of his/her position in the formal hierarchy. – Positions of authority include coercive and reward powers. – Legitimate power, however, is broader than the power to coerce and reward. It includes acceptance of the authority of a position by members of an organization.
B) Personal Power: Many of the most
competent and productive chip designers at Intel have power, but they aren’t managers and have no formal power. What they have personal power, which comes from an individual’s unique characteristics. There are two bases of personal power: expertise and the respect and admiration of others.
1) Expert Power :
– Expert power is "influence wielded as a
result of expertise, special skill, or knowledge." 4 – Expertise has become a powerful source of influence as the world has become more technological. As jobs become more specialized, we become increasingly dependent on experts to achieve goals.
2) Referent Power :
– Its base is identification with a person
who has desirable resources or personal traits. If I admire and identify with you, you can exercise power over me because I want to please you. – Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person; it is a lot like charisma. – Referent power explains why celebrities are paid millions of dollars to endorse products in commercials.
The Ethics of Behaving Politically :
Three ethical decision criteria are
utilitarianism, rights, and justice
1) The first question you need to answer
addresses self-interest versus organizational goals. Ethical actions are consistent with the organization’s goals.
2) The second question concerns the5
rights of other parties.
3) The final question that needs to be
addressed relates to whether or not the political activity conforms to standards of equity and justice.
4) Unfortunately, the answers to these
questions are often argued in ways to make unethical practices seem ethical. Powerful people can become very good at explaining self-serving behaviors. They can persuasively argue that unfair actions are really fair and just.