Running head: LET TASK 3 FIVE BASES OF POWER

LET Task 3 Five Bases of Power in Organizational Structure An Assignment Submitted by Name of Student Name of Establishment Class XXXX, Section XXXX, Fall 2011

LET TASK 3 FIVE BASES OF POWER LET Task 3: Five Bases of Power in Organizational Structure In rendering the critical and objective analysis of the case, we venture by principally defining the requisite terms necessitated in the discussion, namely the Five Bases of Power (basically as postulated by French & Raven in 1959) and the salient dependencies of power; and continuing into the dissection of the case. Corporation A: Bases of Power and the Internal Dependencies The Five Bases of Power were postulated as being: Coercive Power, Reward Power, Legitimate Power, Referral Power, and Expert Power (French & Raven, 1959) and relevantly, Power is a function of dependency factors classified as: 1) Scarcity, 2) Important, 3) Non-substitutable, of resources (Ratzburg). The formulaic basis for dynamics in power-dependence is asserted as "power resides implicitly in the other's dependence" (Emerson, 1962, p. 32). This forms the basis of analysis for our case example of Corporation A. Coercive Power is the instance in which the leader or agent displays punitive action or highlights any foreseeable (tangible or intangible) loss that might amount to the person being coerced. We can see in Corporation A that Employee 2 has more or less, coerced his Manager to grant him compressed work week. This apart, we observe a traditional instance wherein the Marketing Manager supervising Employee 1 uses passive coercive tactics to push the employees into working beyond the 40 hours a week. Employee 1, who needs the big bonus is dependent on the superior ratings in annual performance evaluation, succumbs to this. Note that, Employee 3 exercises an Expert Power upon his supervisor i.e. the basis to negotiate favourable terms of work, being the lone CPA in the corporation which indicates that he is almost irreplaceable. The

LET TASK 3 FIVE BASES OF POWER Accounting Manager being dependent on this scarce resource, which is also nonsubstitutable in the organization yields to the negotiation. Next, Reward Power, a positively perceived basis of power, entails the exercise of motivating by offering or indicating performance based incentives, perks, favourable outcomes, etc. within available constraints of the agent. We observe that all three managers use this basis of power: Employee 1 is shown the rewards in annual bonus (which is scarce), Employee 2 is granted lighter working hours, and Employee 3 gets to lead the entire Sales team (giving him special importance). Legitimate Power is the derived from the ideated sense of superiority, which transcribes to indicate the inherent power that a supervisor (or superior/senior) possesses with which specific instructions may be passed down the hierarchy, and would generally be carried forward unperturbed. Most importantly, this basis of power is irrefutable, and hence subordinates can eventually be coaxed to act under this. Manager 1 displays this in his general instructions to employees. Referral Power is associated with such instances as in case of Employee 3, who is loved by one and all, due to his charm, and winning nature. When such a sense of oneness and association is parsed with certain person, by others, that person enjoys Referral Power. Conclusive Assertions Bias in analysis of the agent and person, in question, when it comes to such instances of bases of power in an organizational structure, must grasp the true intent in the literature of the postulated theories, as noted by Podsakoff and Schrieshiem (1985, pp. 387 411). The duality of interdependence of both supervisors and subordinates powers, is an important conclusion as Both parties to a relationship may have dominion over resources that the other party desires (Ratzburg)

LET TASK 3 FIVE BASES OF POWER References Emerson, R. M. (1962). Power-Dependence Relations. American Sociological Review , 31-41. French, J., & Raven, B. H. (1959). The Bases of Social Power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in Social Power , 150-167. Podsakoff, P. M., & Schrieshiem, C. A. (1985). Field Studies of French and Raven's Bases of Power: Critique,Reanalysis, and Suggestions for Future Research. Psychological Bulletin , 387-411. Ratzburg, W. H. (n.d.). Organizational Power. Retrieved Sept 24, 2012, from Reocities: http://www.reocities.com/Athens/Forum/1650/htmlpower.html