Let3 (leadership)

Leadership: The Five Basis of Power Leadership: The Five Basis of Power A. ‘ The five bases of power’ was developed by the social psychologists French and Raven in a new classic study conducted in 1959. This theory points out the ‘ bases’ that power holders depend upon in their relationships with others. As per this theory (cited in Mason, 2009, p. 55), the five bases of power are positional power, reward power, personal power, expert power, and coercive power. These five bases of power can be clearly seen in the given case study. Positional power reflects the formal authority that individuals obtain from their position in an organization or society. Evidently, the marketing manager and accounting manager in the case study hold positional power which is backed by the organizational policy. The reward power reflects the ability of the power to offer valued material rewards including money, time off, promotions, or other desired gifts. In the case study, the marketing department of the corporation (or marketing manager) provides large bonus to its employees who achieve a superior rating on their yearly performance evaluation; here, the organization employs the power of reward. The personal power can be referred to people’s ability to “ attract others, to build strong interpersonal relationships, to persuade and build loyalty” (Mason, 2009, p. 55). The case context indicates that the employee 3 has personal power because he/she could reach the project leadership position regardless of his/her experience in the organization. Even though, the employee 3 had been inexperienced as compared to most other employees in the firm, he/she could dominate his/her co-workers with his/her personal power. The expert power represents a form of power that people derives from their skills, knowledge, and experience and it is highly specific and limited to the particular area. From the given scenario, it seems that the employee 2 has expert power in the corporation as he is the only certified public accountant (CPA) in the firm. CPA is a highly expert and specific position which is not easily attainable for everyone. Finally, the coercive power refers to the application of fear-based influence on others. For instance, the marketing manager can apply a coercive power over employees as he has the authority to rate the employee performance. As every employee wishes to be rated top, they are compelled to be under the coercive power of the marketing manager.
B. Dependency and power are two interrelated concepts by which an individual attains more power when another person or unit is more dependent on him. The strategic contingencies model provides a clear explanation of the relationship between dependency and power. As per this model (as cited in Hitt, Miller, Colella, 2006), dependency is expressed as power that an individual or unit attains from their ability to deal with the organization’s potential issues (p. 456). Scarcity, importance, and substitutability are the three factors that determine the strength of relationship between dependency and power. One can easily find out the bond between dependency and power in the given case study. Since the marketing manager has a reward power to choose the outstanding employee performance at the end of the year, the employee 1 is to depend on the marketing manager. As per the terms of the strategic contingencies model, the accounting manger has the power of dependency over the employee. For example, finally, since the employee 3 has been selected to lead the team on the project, he gains power over his colleagues and thereby his co-workers become dependent on him.
References
Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C & Colella, A. (2006). Organizational behavior strategic approach. New Delhi: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Mason, A. (2009). The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organisations and Social Change. The Barefoot Collective.