Consolidated Life Case Study

When we talk about someone being in a position of authority we usually mean that they hold a certain rank or status within society or within an organisation such as the public services. There are several ways in which a person could find himself or herself in a position of authority. For example, a priest has the authority of the church while a mother or father has parental authority over children. In the uniformed public services, positions of authority come with promotion. An officer may be promoted because of certain achievements and special attributes, such as experience in the service, good character, knowledge of the job, dedication, self-discipline and the respect of one’s colleagues. If you join the uniformed public services and are placed in a position of authority, you may lawfully command team members, who recognise your authority and their duty to obey those legitimate commands. When authority is legitimate, there is no need to influence or use power. Indeed, if a senior officer were unable to gain the respect of a team member by command alone, then there would be no recognisable authority.

First we need to know the definition of power, Michael Hackman and Craig Johnson define power as “the ability to influence others” (2013, pg. 136). Next, we need to understand power in relation to leadership. Hackman and Johnson make the argument that “leadership is impossible without power…yet influencing others does not automatically qualify as leadership” (2013, pg. 136). An example of someone who has power but is not a leader could involve someone who has power based on their experience, but

The two major types of power are position power and personal power. Position power is power held by an individual due to the position they hold within an organization; whereas, personal power is power bestowed upon an individual due to their personal connection with (or likability) by their followers. power is divided “Position power includes legitimate, reward, and coercive power” (Northouse, 2010). “Personal power includes referent and expert power” (Northouse, 2010).

In the fifth chapter the authors defines five sources of power. They are; coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, expert power, and referent power. They explain why knowing these are very important by saying, “...understanding the sources and uses o power is essential to effective leadership, The ability to influence others can be based on a wide variety of factors.” (Hackman, 137) The sources of power do not overlap, but instead are used exchangeably in order to get the best results when leading a group of people.

When I was a senior in high school I volunteered as an assistant coach for the middle school track team. Holding the title of assistant coach provided me with legitimate power over the team because the team was required to listen to my rules. If the team was slacking during practice, I would use coercive power to influence the team’s behavior. “Coercive power stems from a person’s ability to threaten or harm others” (O’Hair et al. 274) and I would exert my power by threatening to make the team run extra laps if they were slacking during practice. On the other hand, I would use reward power to encourage the team to

A well-known leader I chose to discuss is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett. He is known to be down to earth, knowledgeable, frugal, and optimistic. In my opinion, he exudes some degree of all five of the forms of power listed on page 174 in our textbook. In reward power form, he makes feasible and reasonable requests of his staff, is highly ethical, and rewards employees with appropriate incentives. He still has a business to run so everyone must have a clear understanding of the rules and what is asked of them. In the coercive power form, if an employee must be punished I think he and his managers would do it in private, and make sure that the punishment fits the offense fairly. As for legitimate power, he is polite and considers

In 1960 John R. P French and Bertram Raven identified five bases of power accessible to managers (Victor, 2015). These five sources of power are legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent (Jones & George, 2015, p. 435). Legitimate power not with the person; is granted to the position held in an organization’s hierarchy. Reward power is gained by rewarding subordinates for jobs well done, however the rewards must the expectancy of subordinates or the power ultimately fails. Coercive power is based on using fear to intimidate subordinates to carry out tasks. Expert power is based in the distinct knowledge, skills, and expertise that a leader possesses. Referent power is a function of the personal characteristics of leader that result

Influence processes require some type of power to be effective. Leaders use power, both positional and personal, to influence the behavior and actions of others. The concept of influence processes is very much like leadership styles in the respect that there is not an exact number of the different types of influence processes. In this paper, six different influence processes will be discussed, with examples of the type of outcome a leader can achieve by using them. The seven influence processes discussed be Charisma, Legitimacy, Rewards, Expertise, Relationships, Empowering and positive

There are five recorded sources of power which is influenced within organizations legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, and referent power. Authority is a position within an organization that is bestow to a person, and is not obtained from a form of leadership. Every organization has a leader throughout their corporation that controls some form of power within the business, yet the inspiration is produce through some form of respect.

The Oxford Dictionary defines power as the “capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.” This ability seems efficient for tasks and duties concerning cooperation as decisions are managed out by a percentage of the population while the rest spend their time doing the actual work instead of debating on choices. From reading the above sentence, it seems that power is used as a good method in leadership to carry out decisions for the team for the greater good of everyone. However, there is corruption due to the inner nature of those using power. Many use it for their own gains whether by a single individual, a small group, or the majority population- as shown in Animal Farm by George Orwell.

It is important for managers to understand the sources of power and influence as they must rely upon the cooperation of subordinates in order to be successful. Strong managers rely upon more than just authority they also use leadership skills and power to obtain the most productivity from their staff. According to French and Raven (1959) there are five sources of power. Referent power seems to be the most influential and the least affected by change. To quote Paul Argenti,

A second form of power is reward-based power (Straker 2012). This is often used to motivate employees, particularly lower-level employees. Most employees work with their eye upon a paycheck to some extent, particularly in occupations such as stocking

Leadership comprises of a leader and their followers, and their interactions, where the leader utilizes their influence on their followers. Clawson states, "Leadership is about managing energy, first in leaders and then in their followers" (Clawson, 2006). The influence that a leader has on their followers is power. A leader can express their power in various manners, in French and Raven’s (1959) Five Base Model of power, a characterization of power in leadership and management, defined in five bases and citied by Hinken and Schrieshiem, (Bass, 1990) as followed:

The second source of power that influences individuals and organizations behaviors is known as Personal Power. This power focuses more on the individual?s independent nature within the position that he or she has been placed. There are three sources under this power that are apparent in most organizations that are well managed. The first is expert power in which control is based on the knowledge or experience that the individual possesses in the position that he or she holds. Rational persuasion is the power to control behavior by being able

Power of reward is based on the manager’s ability to influence employees with something of value. To give or withhold rewards.