Power

Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: A. Bases of Power Power in organizations refers to the influence leaders haveon followers to get things done. According to Griffin and Moorhead (2011 p. 378) there are five bases of power as depicted by French and Raven model. These include: legitimate, reward, coercive, expert and referent power. These are derived either from the position held by the leader in the organization (position power) or from the individual regardless of his/her position in the organization (personal power). Position power comprises of legitimate, reward and coercive power while personal power comprises of expert and referent power (Robbins, 2009).
Corporation A’s mission is to help clients to improve real estate sales. It can only achieve this by having a loyal and committed workforce and it can do this by utilizing the power in its employees. Legitimate power is derived by the position one holds in the organization such as a manager or supervisor; a position with authority (Mills A, Mills J, Helms, Bratton and Forshaw, 2007). The workers have to follow what this leader commands due to his authority otherwise they could be punished. For example, the accounting manager used his authority to grant employee 2 a compressed work week and thus yields legitimate power.
Reward power is obtained when person is viewed as having control over rewards valued by another such as promotion (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). This is by virtue of the position held by the leader in the organization. For example, the marketing manager uses his position to reward employees who earn a superior rating on their yearly performance evaluation. However, Robbins (2009) notes that the reward must be valued by the employees otherwise the leader would lose reward power. In this case, employee 1 values the reward as he could use it for a vacation which he would otherwise not afford without the bonus. As such, he works very hard and above the 40 working hours and this help in improving sales.
Coercive power also arises from the position one holds in the organization. To achieve the set goals, a leader has to use necessary tactics to make the employees improve their work. This could be through rational persuasion of threat of punishment if employee does not comply (Mills et al. 2007). For example, the marketing manager of company A uses rational persuasion to make employees to work hard by reminding them that if they do not attain superior rating, then they would get no reward or bonus.
Expert power is gained if an individual has the skills and qualifications needed in his line of work, that is, he is an expert in his field. The person does not have to be in a high position in the organization, it can be any employee. For example, employee 2 is the only certified public accountant in corporation A and the only one who can prepare financial statements. As such, he has power to decide on his work schedule. Referent power is when employees perceive the person as wielding certain likable qualities which they would like to emulate (Robbins, 2009). The person is mostly charismatic and has a great following. Griffin and Moorhead (2011) note that such a person is good in inspiring loyalty among workers. For example, employee 3 though has worked for very few months in the company already commands a large following due to his qualities and as a result managed to compel other employees to accept the project and was made a leader of the group.
B. Relationship between Dependency and Power
Robbins (2009) defines power as “ capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes” (351). From this definition it is clear that B depends on A because A has certain source of power. If the dependence on A by B increases, then the power of A increases. For example, employee 1 depends so much on the bonus promised by marketing manager for his vacation thus is willing to do anything to get it including working on weekends. The marketing manager thus has a lot of power over employee 1. On the other hand, the accounting manager relies too much on employee 2 and therefore, has little power over him. He had no choice but to grant him a compressed week. Dependency depends on the importance of the things controlled by the one possessing power (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). For example, if the bonus being offered by the marketing manager is not important to employees, then the manager would lose the reward power. The dependency thus determines the amount power possessed by the leader.
References
Griffin, R. W and Moorhead, G. 2011. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. 10th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western.
Mills, A., Mills, J., Helms, C., Bratton, J & Forshaw, C. 2007. Organizational Behavior in a Global Context. Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
Robbins, S. P. 2009. Organizational Behavior: Global and Southern African Perspectives. 2ed. Capetown: Pearson Education.