INHERENT

POWERS OF THE
STATE
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton
Power doesn’t corrupt people, people
corrupt power.
William Gaddis
The only way to predict the future is to
have the power to shape the future.
Eric Hoffer
The Concepts of Power

Power is one of the important concepts and plays a huge role

in politics, from governing how decisions are made to how
political actors interact with one another.
Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, the students are able to:

1. Identify the types of power.

2. Analyze the nature, dimensions, types, and sources of
power.
3. Determine the vital role of power in politics.
4. Describe how leaders can employ these sources of power
and influence in a meaningful way.
The Meaning of Power

Politics always involves the exercise of power by one person

or persons to another person or persons (Shively, 2012).
Power is the ability to get someone to do something he/she
wants to accomplish, thus making things happen in the way
he/she wants. In having such ability, along with the exercise
of power is an influence.
The Meaning of Power

Thus, influence is the process by which a person affects the

behavior and feeling of another person. In order to influence
a person there must be an authority which is the right to
influence another person. Power is as well a prime ingredient
of politics (Roskin, et. Al., 2012). However, there are
instances that power becomes cynical, brutal, and self-
destructive that affirmed Lord Acton’s dictum. “Power tends
to corrupt: absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Reward Power- is the extent to which a leader can use
extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to control and influence
other people.
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Coercive Power- is the degree to which a leader can deny
desired rewards or administer punishments to control other
people and let them follow his wants.
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Legitimate Power- is the extent to which a leader can use
subordinates’ internalized values or beliefs that the boss
has a right of command to control his subordinates’
behavior.
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Legitimate Power- if legitimacy is lost, authority will not
be accepted by subordinates.
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Information Power- The leader has the access to and
control of information.
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Process Power- The leader has full control over the
methods of production and analysis. Thereby, placing an
individual in the position of influencing how inputs are
transformed into outputs as well as managing the
analytical process used to make choices.
Sources of Power

1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a

person’s position in an organization and from control
over valuable resources afforded by that position.
 Representative Power- the legal right conferred to speak
by the firm as a representative of a potentially significant
group composed of individuals from departments or
outside the firm.
Sources of Power

2. Individual or Personal Power is a power derived from

personal characteristics that are of value to the
organization.
 Expert Power- the ability to control another person’s
behavior through the possession of knowledge, experience
or judgment that the other person needs but does not have
to. It is relative but not absolute.
Sources of Power

2. Individual or Personal Power is a power derived from

personal characteristics that are of value to the
organization.
 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.
Much of a supervisor’s daily activity involves rational
persuasion.
Sources of Power

2. Individual or Personal Power is a power derived from

personal characteristics that are of value to the
organization.
 Referent Power- the ability to control another person’s
behavior because the person wants to identify with the
power source. It can be enhanced by linking to morality
and ethics and long-term vision.
Symbols of Power

Kanter’s Symbol of Power- the primary characteristic of

Kanter’s seven symbols of power is that they provide an
ability to aid or assist another person. The symbols are;
1. Ability to intercede for someone in trouble
2. Ability to get replacements for favored employees
3. Exceeding budget limitations
Symbols of Power

Kanter’s Symbol of Power- the primary characteristic of

Kanter’s seven symbols of power is that they provide an
ability to aid or assist another person. The symbols are;
4. Procuring above-average raises for employees
5. Getting items on the agenda at meetings
6. Access to recent information
7. Having top managers seek out one’s opinions
Symbols of Power

Kanter’s Symbol of Powerlessness

Powerlessness- is a lack of power, which may have different
symptoms in managers at various levels of the organization.
Ways to Expand Power

• Clearly define roles and responsibilities.

• Provide opportunities for creative problem solving coupled
with the discretion to act.
• Emphasize different ways of exercising influence.
• Provide support to individuals so they become comfortable
with developing their power.
• Expand inducements for thinking and acting, not just
obeying.
Two Faces of Power

McClelland takes a stand for the use of authority in a right or

wrong fashion.
1. Personal Power is used for personal gain, and results in
a win-lose approach.
2. Social Control involves the use of power to create
motivation or to accomplish group goals.
Influence Tactics

1. Consultation
2. Rational Persuasion
3. Inspirational Appeal
4. Ingratiation
Types of Authority (Weber in Ethridge &
Handelman, 2004)
1. Charismatic Authority- an influence possessed by
person by virtue of their personal magnetism. They have
the capacity to gain respect and even adulation to the
point of moving followers to make great sacrifices. It
flows not form the legal basis of one’s power but an
individuals personal “gifts.”
Types of Authority (Weber in Ethridge &
Handelman, 2004)
2. Rational-Legal Authority- a leadership based on
established law. People obey the leader because they
accept his/her power under the law.
3. Traditional Authority- the leadership is based from the
culture that is people often give allegiance to the one who
occupy the institutional positions.
Types of Authority (Weber in Ethridge &
Handelman, 2004)
4. Coercive Authority- the power to use force such as
police or military force to demand obedience from the
subordinate.
 Inherent Powers of the State

 1. The Police Power

 2. The Power of Eminent Domain
 3. The Power of Taxation
 The Fundamental Powers of the state are
 the police power, the power of eminent domain,
and the power of taxation.
 These powers are inherent and do not need to be
expressly conferred by the constitutional provision
on the state. They are suppose to co-exist with the
state. The moment the state come into being, it
is deemed invested with these three powers as its
innate attributes.
 Police Power
 Purpose: For Public Good or
Welfare
- is the power of the state to regulate
liberty and property for the
promotion of the general welfare.
 The Power of Eminent Domain

 Purpose: For Public Use

 enables the state to forcibly
acquire private property, upon
payment of just compensation,
for some intended public use.
The Power of Taxation
 Purpose: For Revenue

 the state is able to demand from the

members of society their proportionate
share or contribution in the
maintenance of the government.
 Similarities:
 The three inherent of the state are similar in the following respects:
1. They are inherent in the state and maybe exercise by it without
need of express constitutional grant.
2. They are not only necessary but indispensable. the state cannot
continue or effective unless it is able to exercise them.
3. They are methods by which the state interferes with private rights.
4. They all presuppose an equivalent compensation for the private
rights interfered with.
5. They are exercise merely by legislature.
 Differences:

 The three inherent powers of the state differ from

each other in the following ways:
 1. The police power regulate both liberty and
property. the power of eminent domain and the power
of taxation affect only property rights.
 2. The police power and power of taxation maybe
exercise only by the government. The power of
eminent domain maybe exercise by private entities.
Quiz: Inherent Powers of the State

1. What are the three inherent power of the state.

Briefly discuss each.
2. Briefly explain the similarities and differences
of the 3 Inherent Power of the State.
3. Among the 3 inherent power of the state which
is the strongest or more powerful and why?