A Definition of Power

Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of BsoE

Define power and contrast
leadership and power. acts in accordance with A's wishes."
Someone can thus have power but not use it; it is a capacity or potetr
power A capacitythat A has to
tial. Probably the most important aspect of pOwer is that it is a function
influence the behavior of B so
of dependence. The greater B's dependence on A, the greater A's power
that B acts in accordance with
A's wishes. in the relationship. Dependence, in turn, is based on alternativesthat
 s reidOnship P e e s and the importance B places on the allernative(s) /A COn
esses something
u Can havC power over vou only i fhe or she controls somcthm8
you desile, It you want a
college degree and have to pa5% a
tc*
get i, and your
curren
instructor is the only faculiy membCT i
COngewho teaches that course, he or she has power over you. Your anc
nalives ale
highly limited, and you place a high degree of on

D g a passing grade. Similarly, if you're allending college on lunds inpo tdie

totaily pTOVIded by your parenis, voul Drobably recognize the poWer tucy
hold over
you. You're depedent on them for
you re Out
ol school,
inancial support. iut oinec
have a job, and are making a
good incOe, yo
parents power is reduced signilicantly, Who among us, though, has not
known or heard
ofa rich relative who is
family members merely able to control a large number o
them out of the through the implicit or explicit threat of wluls
n
will"
a
disturbing example of the power of
dependence, bosses
been able to coerce their
some
subordinates to lie, falsify documents, and give
have
false
reports.

Contrasting Leadership and Power

A careful
of
comparison of our
description of power with our decription
leadership in C.hapter 12 reveals the
concepts are closely intertwined.
Leaders use
power as a means of attaining
How the two terms different? Powergroup goals.
are
does not
ibility, merely dependence. Leadership, on the other require goal compat-
hand, requires some
congruence between the goals of the leader and those
difference relates to the direction of influence. being led. A second
downward influence on followers. It minimizes Leadership
focuses on the
the importance of lateral
and upward intluence
patterns. Power does not. In still another difference,
leadership research, for the most part, emphasizes style. It seeks answers
to
questions such as these: How supportive should a leader be? How much
decision making should be shared with followers? In contrast, the research
on
power focuses on tactics for gaining compliance. It goes
individual as the exerciser of
beyond the
power because groups as well as individuals
can use
power to control other individuals or groups.

Base of Power

ontrast the five bases Where does power come from? What gives an individual or a group influ-
ut power.
ence over others? We answer by dividing the bases or sources of power
into two general groupings-formal and personal-and then breaking
each of these down into more specific categories."
402
PART 3
The Group

Formal Power poOSilion in

ganiation. I
individual's an oro.
o n an
Formal power is based
rd,
orr
or reward, o from
Trom fornal
lomal
can come from the ability
to c o e r c e
authoritn y,
Coercive power bASe lear of tho
lepends on
that is
dependent on
Apower base Coercive Power The coerciveItpower rests on the apPplication, or theative negat
fear of the
negative results from sults from failing to comply. the tion of pain,
inflictio. threat of
Comply. failing to application, of physical
sanctions such as
fnust
restriction of movement,
or the conlrolling by force on of basic
through
o r safety needs.
physiological
has c o e r c i v e power over Bif A
At the organizational level, A
can

B values his or her job. If A caSmiss

Suspend, or demote B, assuming
or treat B in a manner B find.gn B
Work activities B finds unplecasant, ls
rassing, A possesses coercive power
OVer B. Coercive
power can al e ar
from withholding key information. People in an organization w.he
data or knowledge others need can make otherS dependent on the
em.

reward power Compliance 1Reward Power The opposite of coercive power is reward power
achieved based on the
to distribute
ability which people comply because it produces positive benefits; someona
rewards that others can distribute rewards others view as valuable will have power over hem.
View as valuable.
These rewards can be either financial-such as controlling pav
rates,
raises, and bonuses-or nonfinancial, including recognition, promotion
interesting work assignments, friendly colleagues, and preferred
Work
shifts or sales territories."

legitimate power The power
a person receives as a result of
his or her position in the formal
hierarchy of an organization.
egitimate Power In formal groups and organizations, probably the mos
common access to one or more of the power bases is through legiúimate
power. It represents the formal authority to control and use organizational
resources based on structural position in the organization.
Legitimate power is broader than the power to coerce and reward. Spe.
cifically, it includes members' acceptance of the authority of a position. We
associate power so closely with the concept of hierarchy that
just drawing
longer lines in an organization chart leads people to infer the leaders are
especially powerful, and when a powerful executive is described, people
tend to put the person at a higher
position when drawing an organization
chart. When school principals, bank presidents, or army captains speak
(assuming their directives are viewed aswithin the authority of their pos-
tions), teachers, tellers, and first lieutenants listen and usually comply.

Personal Power
Many of the most competent and productive chip designers at Intel have
power, but they aren't managers and have no formal power. What tney
have is personal power, which comes from an individual's unique charac
teristics. There are two bases of personal power: expertise trd the respE
and admiration of others.

expert power Influence based Expert Power Expert power is influence wielded as a result of
expe
Ttise,

on special skills or knowledge. special skill, or knowledge. As jobs become more specialized, we De.
increasingly dependent on experts to achieve goals. It is generally ack s
edged that physicians have expertise and hence expert power: Mo
 ollow our doctor's advice.
mists, industrial
Computer specialists, tax accountaD, o no-
of their
psychologists, and other specialists wield power as a lEsu
expertise. Co-founder of Josh, a
company which specializes in ope
SOurce sottware, Gautam Rege has
expert power. Gautam Rege developea
Cpertise in computer programming
. in college. Josh depends on Gautam
Kege s programming expertise and passion to achieve company goais.
e l e r e n tp o n
er influence base Rererent Power Referent power is based on identification with a
atiou with a person wno who has desirable resources
person
s desira bie
resources or personal
you, you can exercise power
or personal traits. If I like, respect,, and admire
over me because I want to please you.
Referent power
be like that
develops out of admiration of
another and a desire
person. It helps explain, for instance, why celebrities are
Crores of
rupees to endorse products in commercials. paia
shows
people such as Amitabh Bachchan and Mahendra Marketing research
the power to influence
choice
Singh Dhom have
your of vacation plans and consumption or
soft drinks. With a litle
a sales
practice, you and I could probably deliver as smootli
pitch as these celebrities, but the buying public doesn't
you and me. Some people who are not in formal identify with
theless have referent leadership positions none-
power and exert influence over others because
their charismatic dynamism, likability, and emotional effects on us. o

Which Bases of Power Are Most Effective?

Of the three bases of formal
bases of personal
power (coercive, reward, legitimate) and two
power (expert, referent),
which is most important to
have? Research suggests
pretty clearly that the personal sources of power
are most effective. Both
expert and referent power are positively related
to
employees' satisfaction with supervision, their organizational commit
ment, and their
performance, whereas reward and legitimate power seem
to be unrelated to these outcomes. One
source of formal
power-coercive
power-actually can backfire in that it is negatively related to employee
satisfaction and commitment."
People buy products associated with cool figures because they wish to
identify with and emulate them. Thus Dish TV uses Shahrukh Khan as
its brand ambassador and the Vibrant
Gujarat campaign used Amitabh
Bachchan as its brand ambassador. These are examples of referent
power.

Dependence.The Key to Power

3Explain the role of The most important aspect of power is that it is a function of depen-
dependeee in power dence. In this section, we show how understanding dependence helps us
relationships. understand power itself.

The General Dependence Postulate

Let's begim with a general postulate: The greater B 's dependence on A, the more
powerA has over B. When you possess anything others require that you alone
 dependent
o n you,
and vyou gain power
therefore
Control, you make them it will not
noi in
is plentiful, possessing
Over them.* If something
the land of the blind rease your
power. But as the old saying
goes, "In c a n expand vour o
e one-eyed
m o r e you wn
the

whyoptions,
man is king!" Conversely, others. This exDlain
place in the hands of ains
the less power you
suppliers give their\
rather than g most
Organizations develop multiple to financial indanes
many aspire to
only one.

ndependence
It also explains why
reduces the power
so
others c a n wield to limit ou pendence.
access to
OPportunities a n d resources.

hat Creates Dependençe?

resource you control is importan.
when the
Dependence increases Scarce
and nonsubstitutable."

its not goingto

wants what you have,
ImportanceHf nobody avoid uncertains.
to

dependence. Because organizations, acively Seek

that c a n absorb unes
we should expect
that individuals o r groups
an important resource. For instansa
will be perceived as controlling e, a

study of industrial organizations found

their marketing departments were
The researcher concluded tho
consistently rated the
most powertul." that
these firms was selling their produes
the critical uncertainty facing
most ucts,
would be more powerful A
that engineers, as a group,
suggesting consumer products giant Procter
Matsushita than at
technology company
to be generally valid. Matsushita
& Gamble. These inferences appear
which is heavily technologically
oriented, depends on its engineeS 0 t
and quality, and so they are a
maintain its products' technical advantages
& Gamble, marketing is the name of the game.
powerful group. At Procter
occupational group.
and marketers a r e the most powerful

who created the exotic supercars that

Scarcity Ferruccio Lamborghini, of scarcity and used it
still carry his name, understood
the importance
with
II. Lamborghini was in Rhodes
to his advantage during World War
were impressed with
his mechanical skils
the Italian army. His superiors
to repair tanks and
because he demonstrated an almost uncanny ability was largely
cars no one else could
fix. After the war, he admitted his ability
on the island to
receive the repau
due to his having been the first person to become
and then destroyed so as
manuals, which he memorized
Hexaware Technolog IT
indispensable."" P. R. Chandrasekar, joined
fastest growing miaa
2008 from Wipro. Hexaware is one of the
Chandrasekar came
companies in India. Known for his reticence, and pilotr
a track record of turning around companies
significant initiatives.

mergers and acquisitions and strategic

at the
them through has
managers within the company believe that Chandrasekar on of
heart of the company's growth. It can be said that he is in a pu

wer of
power at Hexaware Technologies.
We see the scarcity-dependence relationship in nc de

"more
occupational categories. Where the supply of labor is low
benefits packages
o f andidates
mand, workers can negotiate compensation and
attractive than can those in occupations with an abundance

Nonsubstitutability
Power Tactics
Identify nine power
influence tactics and
or
their contingencies.
in which
power tacticS Ways
individuals translate power bases
into specific actions.
g e administrators have no problem today finding English instructols.
e market for network svstems analysts, in contrast, is comparaiveiy ug
wn demand high and supply limited. The bargaining power of comPute
Cgneering faculty allows them to negotiate higher salaries, lighter teach
ing loads, and other benefits.
Oe
The fewer viable substitutes for a resource,
u
Power control that resource provides. At universities witn
suoig5
Piessures on the faculty to publish, the more recognition the 1aculy
member receives through publication, the more mobile he or SI
Decause other universities want faculty who are highly published and vIsiDie.
Although tenure can alter this relationship by restricting
the
head's deparu
alternatives, faculty members with few or no publications have nc
least
mobility and are subject to the greatest influence from their sup
What power tactics do people use to translate power bases into
action? What specifiC
options do they have for influencing their bosses, co-workers,
or
employees? In this section, we review popular tactical options and the
conditions that may make one more effective than another.
Research has identified nine distinct influence tactics:"
Ve Legitimacy. Relying on your authority position or saying a request
aecords with organizational policies or rules.
Rational persuasion. Presenting logical arguments and factual
eyidence to demonstrate a request is reasonable.
Inspirational appeals. Developing emotional commitment by appeal-
ingto target's values, needs, hopes, and aspirations.
a
Consultation. Increasing the target's support by involving him or
Ker in deciding how you will
accomplish your plan.
Exchange. Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in exchange
fof following a request.
Personal appeals. Asking for compliance based on
friendship or
Joyalty.
Ingratiation. Using flattery, praise, or
friendly behavior prior to
making a request.
Pressure. Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats.
Coalitions. Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the
target to agree.