Management Assignment



Management Assignment

Question # 1

Power

Power is one of the most widely used and important concepts in the social sciences. It is the capability to affect the actions of other groups or individuals (Krausz, 1986). Power is a necessary byproduct of organizational structure. According to French & Raven (1959), the five most commonly known types of power include: legitimate, coercive, reward, referent and expert.

Legitimate

It is the capacity to influence other with the help of some kind of official authority. For instance executives enjoy considerable legitimate power but at the same time other employees also enjoy the same power depending upon the rules and regulations of the company and government. Legitimate power not only depends upon description of the job but also on mutual agreement from those expected to abide by his authority. For instance, the power of boss to make you work overtime partly depends upon your agreement to this power.

Coercive

This kind of power refers to the ability of an individual to apply punishment and involves threatening or scolding employees. Again employees also have some coercive power such as ostracism and sarcasm, in order to make sure that co-workers or colleagues confirm to norms of the team. There are several organizations or companies that depend upon coercive power of members of their teams to control co-worker attitude.

Reward

This power is basically derived from the skill or ability of an individual to control the distribution of rewards valued by others and to get rid of negative sanctions. For instance managers have the formal authority that gives them command to distribute organizational rewards such as promotions, vacations, payee and assignments related to work. Employees also have their authority over their bosses with the use of 360-degree feedback system because their feedbacks effect supervisor's promotions and other rewards.

Expert

The aforementioned sources of power originate primarily from the position of an individual within any organization or company. Expert power on the contrary originates from within every individual. To impress others with knowledge and skills depends upon an individual's or work unit's level of capacity. Any employee can enjoy expert power over his or her boss or senior executives. They also achieve expert power when society moves from an individual to a knowledge-based organization.

Referent

This kind of power is mainly associated with an individual's interpersonal skills which develop slowly with time. It usually functions with the help of charismatic leadership. Charisma is a form of interpersonal attraction that the followers develop feelings of respect and trust in the person. People develop this kind of power when others identify them, respect them or like them. Referent Power originates from an individual.

Sources of Power Public Administrators Should Rely upon to be Effective

What I believe is that public administrators should rely upon multidimensional power to be effective. Although power and authority has been approached by traditional theories like those of French and Raven, and Crosby and Deming- the empowerment advocates of the 1980s as one-dimensional; however, more recently, several experts have begun to reconfigure how power is perceived to a ...