Power

Power
• Ability to get something done the way a person wants it
done
• Includes the ability to gather physical and human resources
and put them to work to reach a goal
• Expressed by others’ behavioral response to your exercise
of power.
• The capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so
that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes
• Exists as a potential or fully actualized influence over a
dependent relationship.
• Essential to leadership and management functions
 Facets of Power

– Potential power: one party perceives another

party as having power and the ability to use it
– Actual power: the presence and use of power
– Potential for power: person or group has
control of resources from which to build power
 Dependency: The Key to Power
• The General Dependency Postulate
– The greater B’s dependency on A, the greater the power A has
over B
– Possession/control of scarce organizational resources that others
need makes a manager powerful
– Access to optional resources (e.g., multiple suppliers) reduces the
resource holder’s power
• Dependency increases when resources are:
– Important
– Scarce
– Nonsubstitutable
 Contrasting Leadership and Power
Leadership
– Focuses on goal
achievement
– Requires goal compatibility
with followers
– Focuses influence
downward
• Research Focus
– Leadership styles and
relationships with
followers
Power
– Used as a means for
achieving goals
– Requires follower
dependency
– Used to gain lateral and
upward influence
• Research Focus
– Power tactics for gaining
compliance
 Five Types of Leader Power
Position Personal
Power Power
•Expert
•Legitimate •Referent
•Reward
•Coercive
Bases of Power: Formal
Power/Positional
Formal Power
• Established by an individual’s position in an organization
• Position power derives from a person’s position in the
organizational hierarchy.
 Types of position power.
– Reward power.
– Coercive power.
– Legitimate power.
– Process power.
– Information power.
– Representative power.
 Reward power.

– The extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and

intrinsic rewards to control other people
– Compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute
rewards that others view as valuable
• Authority to bestow rewards on other people
– Appointed leaders may have access to rewards such as
pay increases, promotions, physical resources
– Influences subordinate’s behavior
 Coercive Power.
• The extent to which a manager can deny desired
rewards and administer punishment to control other
people.
• Authority to punish or recommend punishment
– Opposite of reward power
– Right to fire, demote, criticize, reprimand or
withdraw pay raises
 Legitimate power.

– The power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the

formal hierarchy of an organization
– The extent to which a manager can use subordinates’ internalized
values or beliefs that the boss has the “right of command” to
control other people
– The formal authority to control and use resources based

on a person’s position in the formal hierarchy

 Cont..
• Authority granted from a formal positions
in an organization.
– Rights, responsibilities and prerogatives
accrue to anyone holding a formal
leadership position
– Set goals, make decisions and direct
activities
 Process power.
– The control over methods of production and analysis that a
manager has due to being in a position to influence how inputs are
transformed into outputs.
 Information power.
– The access to and/or control of information. .

 Representative power.
– The formal right conferred by the firm to speak for a potentially
important group composed of individuals across departments or
outside the firm.
 Ways to build position power.
– Demonstrating work unit relevance to
organizational goals and needs.
– Increasing task relevance of one’s own
activities and work unit’s activities.
– Attempting to define tasks so they are
difficult to evaluate.
 Bases of Power: Personal Power
• Power that comes from an individual’s unique
characteristics – these are the most effective.
• Personal power derives from individual sources.
 Types of Personal Power.

– Expert power.

– Rational persuasion.

– Referent power.
 Expert power.
– The ability to control another person’s behavior
through the possession of knowledge, experience,
or judgment that the other person does not have
but needs.
– Influence based on special skills or knowledge
Cont..
• Results from special knowledge or
skill
– Followers go along with
recommendations because of
his/her superior knowledge
– Usually gained from experience
Rational Persuasion.

– The ability to control another

person’s behavior by convincing
the other person of the desirability
of a goal and a reasonable way of
achieving it.
 Referent Power.

– The ability to control another’s behavior because the person wants

to identify with the power source.
– Influence based on possession by an individual of desirable
resources or personal traits.
– Comes from personality characteristics that command
identification, respect and admirations so that others want to
emulate the person.
– Dependent on personal characteristics rather than title
– Strong identification with leader .
Cont…
 Ways to build personal power.
– Building expertise.
• Advanced training and education, participation
in professional associations, and project
involvement.
– Learning political savvy.
• Learning ways to negotiate, persuade, and
understand goals and means that others accept.
– Enhancing likeability.
• Pleasant personality characteristics, agreeable
behavior patterns, and attractive personal
appearance.
 Responses to the Use of Power
Position Power Personal Power
use

exc
ess
iate

iv
r
rop

eu
se
app

Compliance Resistance Commitment

Power flows

Reporting relationships Lateral relationships

Cross-functional
relationships
 Power Tactics
Ways in which individuals translate power bases into
specific actions
• Nine influence tactics:
• Legitimacy
• Rational persuasion*
• Inspirational appeals*
• Consultation*
• Exchange
• Personal appeals
• Ingratiation
• Pressure * Most effective
• Coalitions (Pressure is the least effective)
 Preferred Power Tactics by Influence
Direction
Upward Influence Downward Influence Lateral Influence
Rational persuasion Rational persuasion Rational persuasion
Inspirational appeals Consultation
Pressure Ingratiation
Consultation Exchange
Ingratiation Legitimacy
Exchange Personal appeals
Legitimacy Coalitions
 Characteristics That Affect Dependency and Power in
Organizations

Leader has Leader has

control over: control over:

Resources seen as Resources seen as very

unimportant Importance important

Widely available Scarce resources

resources Scarcity

Resources with Non Resources with no

acceptable substitutes substitutability substitutes

Low dependency on High dependency on

leader = lower power leader = higher power
 Strategic Contingencies that Affect Leader
Power in Organizations
Interdepartmental
Dependency

Control over
Information
Increased Power
Organizational
Centrality

Coping with
Uncertainty
 Power Dynamics

– Dynamic not static; rises and falls for people and groups
– Shifts in environment can change power of person or
group
• Marketing: successful product--power goes up; lose market
share--power goes down
• Technology: as it increases in importance, people who know it
become more powerful. The opposite happens as importance
of technology drops.
 Power, Leadership,
and Management
• Essential to leadership and management
• Capacity to get things done
Behavior of powerful leaders and managers
– Delegate decision authority
– See people’s talents as a resource
– Can change people’s working conditions
– Get resources and information for work group
– Take risks
 Power, Leadership,
and Management (Cont.)
• Behavior of powerful leaders and managers
(cont.)
– Press for innovations
– Share power widely
– Help develop people

Results
Highly effective
Increases total power of the work group
Increases people’s promotion opportunities
 Power, Leadership,
and Management (Cont.)
• Behavior of powerless leaders and
managers
– Supervise closely
– Do not delegate decision authority
– Often distrust subordinates
– See people’s talents as a threat
– Stick to the rules
 Power, Leadership,
and Management (Cont.)
• Behavior of powerless leaders and
managers (cont.)
– Do not take risks
– Strongly focus on the work
– Protect his or her territory

Results
Ineffective
Low total power of work group
Decreases people’s promotion opportunities
 Building Power (Cont.)
• Knowledge, skill, reputation, professional
credibility (expert and information power)
• Political network
– Formal or informal
– Often based on position in a communication
channel
– Important in lateral relationships
• Create perception of dependence: control
of scarce resources
Thank You