First Term Test/Assignment

Course No: SCW 321

rd nd
3 Year 2 Semester, Social Work, SUST, Sylhet
Total Marks: 10
Session: 2017-18
Answer any one

No. Question/Title Marks Remarks

01. Give realistic examples of the following types of power (You Total 10
need to set practical examples from our society and then
briefly point out the reasons):

a. Legitimate power 02
Legitimate power is also known as position power and 300 words
official power. It comes from the higher authority. In an
organization, a manager gets power because of his position
or post. It gives him the power to control resources and to
reward and punish others. For e.g. a chief executive officer
(C.E.O) of a company gets legitimate powers because of the
position which he holds.
Legitimate Power is a formal type of power derived from
the position you hold in an organization. Subordinates comply
because they believe in the legitimacy of your position. With
Legitimate Power it is your position that gives you your
power. The higher up the organizational hierarchy you go the
more power you hold. If you lose your position your power
disappears. This is because your subordinates were
influenced only by your position and not you as an individual.
Regardless of your level in the hierarchy, you exercise this
power when you tell your subordinate to perform a task.

Example of Legitimate power :

Legitimate power is power one derive from one's formal

position or office held in the organization's hierarchy of
authority. For example, the president of a corporation has
certain powers because of the office he holds in the
corporation. A chief executive officer (C.E.O) of a company
gets legitimate powers because of the position which he holds.
Like most power, legitimate power is based upon perception
and reality.

Advantages of Legitimate Power:

 A clear hierarchy enables the entire organization to
 understand exactly who has authority over whom

 Rules and sometimes laws exist to reinforce

Legitimate Power. For example, a president will have
the legal authority to instruct their military to perform
a task. In a business context, a subordinate can face
disciplinary action if they don’t perform the wishes of
their boss.

 Legitimate power is accepted as culturally normal in

most societies.

Disadvantages of Legitimate Power

 It doesn’t always result in effective organizations. For
example, someone can be put in a position of power
but not have the skills or experience to back up the
position they find themselves in. This can lead to
dissatisfaction and frustration amongst their team.

 It doesn’t in any way encourage employee loyalty.

 Legitimate power can be abused in a number of ways,

including:

1)When someone with legitimate power tries to exercise that

power over someone they do not have formal power over.

2)When a boss forces a team member to comply without

regard to the relationship.

3)When the leader’s performance is substandard.

4)When power means the leader doesn’t allow anyone to

disagree with their opinion. This leads to a type of myopia
where only one view is permitted.

b. Reward power 02
300 words
Reward power is defined as the use of rewards to get an
employee to follow an instruction or order, with power
coming from one’s ability to withhold the reward for
noncompliance. With the help of reward power, the leader
tries to motivate the followers to improve their performance.
This power enables the leader to provide additional facilities,
increase in pay, promotion of the subordinates, etc. The
reward power also enables the leader to recognize the
services of the subordinate through appreciation.

Reward power is opposite to coercive power. With the help of

reward power, the leader tries to motivate the followers to
improve their performance. This power enables the leader to
provide additional facilities, increase in pay, promotion of the
subordinates, etc. The reward power also enables the leader
to recognize the services of the subordinate through
appreciation.

Examples of Reward Power:

This power is in use, for example, when an employee is

promised a day off in exchange of working a weekend to meet
a tight deadline. As we can see from the above definition,
reward power is a formal type of power, and not a personal
power. Unlike personal power, reward power comes from
one’s formal authority to issue rewards.
From another example We can see, the supervisor who
provides employees greeting time when they meet an objective
he/she sets for a project. This is all about positive
reinforcement and can work to really incentivize people while
on the job.  The draw of a reward, whether big or small can
foster creativity, healthy competition, and excitement across a
team. Even if it isn’t realistic to offer rewards all the time,
the energy reward power can generate will encourage
cultural change that sticks even after the fact.

Advantages of Reward power:

The advantages of reward power are:

 The anticipation of a reward can encourage

employees to work hard to achieve the reward.
 The use of rewards can promote loyalty to the
organization, for example, a worker who receives
regular praise for doing things right will have an
increased sense of loyalty compared to a worker who
receives no praise.
 If the reward available can only be given to a subset
of employees then this can create healthy competition
amongst employees to achieve the reward.
 Some rewards can help improve retention, for
 example, a stock options can make it financially
rewarding to stay at an organization. This can apply
even if an employee could earn slightly more at
another organization.
 If a reward has been promised to an entire team if
they hit an objective, then this can create a strong
bond within the team as everyone strives to achieve a
common goal.

Reward Power Disadvantages:

Some of the disadvantages of reward power include:

 Giving out the same reward over and over again can
cause some rewards to lose their power, for example, if you
were to give out the same gift every time for a job well done it
would eventually become demotivating.
 Tangible rewards cost an organization money.
 It is possible to run out of tangible rewards, and as we
saw previously, an employee’s manager may not have
the authority to issue the employee with a tangible
reward.
 If a reward is given based on performance, other
employees who didn’t receive the reward may feel less
motivated.
 Giving a reward to an employee, particularly if done
regularly, can cause them to expect similar rewards in
the future. This reduces the power of the reward as
employees begin to see it as simply part of their
regular compensation.

Reward power is important because having a good reward

system helps keep employees happy, loyal to the company,
and eager to move up the ladder. Rewards, like public
recognition and additional pay, motivate employees to work
harder. Reward management is important for the following
reasons: Retains employees.
c. Coercive Power 02
Coercive power is an ability that allows an authority 300 words
figure to influence another individual to deliver a result by
using fear and threats as incentive. Simply put, it is a way to
influence someone to do something by using a possible
punishment as a motivation. It is an ability to discipline, to
punish and to withhold rewards to employees in. an
organization. This power is important and mainly seen as a
potential, rather than an actual. set of influences. For
instance, the threat of being disciplined for not arriving to on
work on.

Example of coercive power:

Coercive power is the ability of a manager to force an
employee to follow an order by threatening the employee with
punishment if the employee does not comply with the order. ...
Examples of coercive power include threats of write-ups,
demotions, pay cuts, layoffs, and terminations if employees
don't follow orders.

The leaders or managers with coercive powers can threaten

an employee's job security, cut his pay, withdraw certain
facilities, suspend him, etc.

Another examples of coercive power include loss of

privileges, demotion, loss of bonus, and suspension. there are
two types of coercion – direct and indirect. Direct coercion is
a deliberate threat by a leader to elicit a specific behaviour.
Indirect coercion is where the threat is perceived by the
employee, regardless of whether it is real or not. An example
of indirect coercion is where an employee starts to work
longer hours in the run up to annual bonus compensation
being determined. In this case the employee perceives a threat
of not receiving their hoped for bonus.

Advantages of Coercive Power:

 Insubordination: if an employee is consistently late
or taking longer than allowed lunch breaks, then
coercion could be used to force the employee back
into line. The leader could threaten removal of bonus,
the use of the capability process, or even immediate
dismissal to force the employee to obey.
 Preventing harassment and
discrimination:  suspension or termination could be
used as a threat to ensure that the company’s rules
and policies are being followed, including those
related to harassment and discrimination in the
workplace.
 Turnaround situations: A turnaround situation exists
when a company or department needs to be turned
around as soon as possible, as otherwise it will go
bust or be shut down. It is natural for some members
of a team to be resistant to change, but in a
 turnaround situation there is no time for this. The
company needs to change now, and is at risk if it
doesn’t. In a turnaround situation the threat of job
losses can be a useful tool in getting employees to
commit to the new way of working. Coercive power is
also useful in the military equivalent of a turnaround
situation – where there is imminent danger

Disadvantages of Coercive Power:

 Lowers job satisfaction: people resent it being used
on them as they feel under a microscope.
 Backlash threat: there is always the threat of a
backlash when using coercive power. Employees may
eventually retaliate or seek alternate employment, and
high employee turnover is very expensive to an
organization.
 Close supervision needed: It is only useful if you as a
manager are able to keep a close eye on what’s going
on.
 Only works if used sparingly: Coercion as your
standard source of workplace power isn’t sustainable
in the long term.
 Doesn’t work if you are not able to carry out the
threat: In this case the threat is counterproductive,
and your authority as a leader can be undermined.
 Reduces innovation: as everyone is under a
microscope under threat of punishment there is no
room for creativity and innovation.

Coercive power is important because it gives a leader

control over what is happening in their organization. It
maintains employee discipline, enforces organization policies,
and maintains a harassment free environment. At times,
punishment, or even the threat of punishment is necessary to
establish a successful, incident free organization.

d. Expert Power 02
Expert power is the perception that a certain person has an 300 words
elevated level of knowledge or a specific skill set that others
in an organization don't have. This perception leads to more
influence within the expert's place of work.

Expert power is also known as the power of knowledge. It

comes from expert knowledge and skills. Expert power means
the expert influences another person's behaviour. This is
because the expert has knowledge and skill which the other
person needs but does not posses.
Example of expert power:
As an example consider a company that sells all of their
products online. At 3pm on a Friday afternoon their database
crashes. Employees leave at 6pm, and many of them can’t
work later as they have flights booked for a weekend away
etc. In this situation the manager is facing the prospect of lost
sales not just for that night, but for the whole weekend.
This scenario would cost the company hundreds of thousands
of dollars in lost sales. Now suppose that a relatively junior
engineer said they could fix the problem temporarily, at least
for the weekend, in just two hours. All of the sudden this
relatively junior engineer holds all the power, at least for the
next two hours.
In fact, the power dynamic has been completely turned upside
down, with the manager at the mercy of the junior engineer
whilst the problem is being resolved.

Advantages of Expert Power:

 Prevent other employers acquiring their particular

knowledge and skills.
 Offer subordinates some elements of their
particular knowledge and skills to gain their
support and respect.
 Staff are more willing to accept instruction.

Disadvantages of Expert Power:

 Holding expert power can be a double edged

sword, because as you share your knowledge with
others your power diminishes.
 Similarly, as other members of the organization
improve their skills your expert power can
diminish as the expertise gap closes.

Export power is important because expert power is a great

asset to have. It provides leaders with a robust power base
from which they can manage people confidently.

e. Referent Power 02
Referent power is defined as a leader’s ability to influence 300 words
their followers because of the high regard in which their
followers hold them. You build this type of power over time by
modelling the behaviour you expect to see in others, and by
giving employees increased autonomy to do their job.

Referent power is a form of reverence gained by a leader who

has strong interpersonal relationship skills. Referent power,
as an aspect of personal power, becomes particularly
important as organizational leadership becomes increasingly
about collaboration and influence, rather than command and
control.

Referent power is also called as personal power and the

power of personality. This power comes from each leader
individually. It is the personality of a person that attracts
followers. People follow because they are influenced or
attracted by the magnetic personality of the leader. The
followers admire their leaders and may even try to copy their
behaviour, dress, etc.

Example of Referent power:

From the entertainment world, Lady Gaga is an example of
someone with referent power, having 67 million Twitter
followers. These people respect her and want to know what
she is up to. Some even aspire to be like her. In this respect,
she has referent power over her followers. From the business
world, Elon Musk has referent power. The followers that work
for him are proud to do so, and share his core value of using
technology for the betterment of the world.

Advantages of Referent Power:

1) The advantages to reference power means that people

want to follow you because they like a respect you.
2) It will show that you have a very loyal band of
followers.

Disadvantages of Referent Power:

1) Where a very strong organizational culture exists, this

may override the referent power of the leader.
2) The more organizational layers below the leader the
harder it will be for their referent power to reach the bottom
of the organization.

Referent power is important because it is a form of reverence

gained by a leader who has strong interpersonal relationship
skills. Referent power, as an aspect of personal power,
becomes particularly important as organizational leadership
 becomes increasingly about collaboration and influence,
rather than command and control.

02. Think, you are the head of an organization. How would you Total 10
practice the following principles of decision making? Explain
with a specific example. (Here you need to mention the
organization first. Then identify the issue and finally explain
it.)
1. Informed Consent 03
Write your answer here 350-400
words
2. Best Interest 3.5
Write your answer here 350-400
words
3. Substitute Judgement 3,5
Write your answer here 350-400
words

Instructions:
1. Follow the word limit
2. Submit it before or on 23.11.2020
3. Use this structure
4. Send it to my email account, akashemscw2014@gmail.com
5. First download it from google classroom, then type your answer here and finally send
it.
6. Those who do not have any computer/laptop access, they can write it on white paper
following the structure and then send it as picture mood.
7. Please “Mention your Reg. No., Semester and Assignment No” at the place of Subject
of the email. (Example: 20172330….., 3/2; Assignment 1).