HCM 433 MANGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR.pdf

It is the resource that enables a leader to induce compliance from or influence other. Hence power
is a force which one can use to obtain compliance. The use of power is therefore leadership.
It must also be noted that power and authority are often definitionally indistinct among others. But
if power is defined as influence potential, how does one describe authority? Authority is a
particular type of power which has its origin in the position that a leader occupies. Thus, authority
is the power that is legitimatized by virtue of an individual’s formal role in a social organization.
Hence, in the management context, authority a form of power or influence that is sometimes
defined as the supreme coordinating power” it is the power to perform responsibility, the right to
take action or to direct others to do so, the gives managers the power to direct and enlist the
cooperation of subordinates and to achieve the coordination of their efforts.
3.2 BASES OF POWER
Many power base classification systems have been developed but the framework devised by
French and Raven appears to be most widely accepted. They propose that there are five (5)
different bases of power. This includes: Coercive power, Expert power, legitimate power, Referent
power, and Reward power. Later, Raven Information power, Then, in 1979, Goldsmith et’al
proposed a seventh basis of power – connection power. These seven bases of power, identified as
potential means of successfully influencing the behaviour of others are discussed below:
1. Coercive Power
This source of power depends on fear. The person with coercive power has the ability to inflict
punishment on the other person or at least, to make threats that the other person will result in
punishment or undesirable outcomes. This form of power has contributed greatly to the negative
connotation that power has for laypersons.
Although coercive power is most commonly thought of in terms of physical force or perhaps the
use of a weapon, it can also bring about reliance upon physical strength, verbal facility or the
ability to grant or withhold emotional support from others. These bases provide the individual
with the means to physically harm, bully, humiliate or deny love to others. In an organizational
context, managers frequently have coercive power in threat they can fire or demote subordinates
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