UNIT 3

Sources and types of

power

Power
Power is so intertwined with
leadership that Dale E.Zand considers
it to be one of the three forces of the
leadership triad, along with knowledge
and trust.
Effective leaders use power
appropriately and know when and how
to be directive and went to delegate.
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Types of sources of power

1. Power granted by the organisation(position
power)
2. Power stemming from characteristics of the
person.(personal power)
3. Power stemming from control of resources.
4. Power derived from capitalizing upon
opportunity.
5. Power stemming from managing critical
problems.

Position Power
Power

is

frequently

classify

according

to

whether it stems from the organisation or the

individual four such bases of power Legitimate
power, Reward power, Coercive power, and
Information

power-stem

from

the

persons

position in the organisation.

Legitimate power
The lawful right to make a decision and expert
compliance is called legitimate power.
People at the highest levels in the organisation

Reward power:
The authority to give employees rewards for
compliance is referred to as reward power.
If a vice president of operations can directly
reward supervisor with cash bonuses for achieving
quality

targets,

this

manager

will

exert

considerable power.
Coercive power:
Coercive power is the power to publish for non
compliance it is based on fear. a common coercive
tactic is for a executive to demote to subordinate
manager if he or she does not comply with the

Information power:
Information power is power stemming from formal
control over the information people need to do their
work.
Personal power:
Three sources of

power stem from characteristics or

behaviours of the power actor: expert power, referent

power, and prestige power.
Expert

power

and

referent

power

contribute

to

charisma.
Expert power is the ability to influence others through
specialized knowledge, skills, or abilities.
Referent power is the ability to influence others 6
through desirable traits and characteristics.

Power Stemming from Ownership:

Executive
capacity

leaders

as

agents

accrue
acting

power

in

their

on

behalf

of

shareholders.
The strength of ownership power depends on
how closely the leader is linked to shareholders
and ward members.
A leaders ownership power is also associated
with how much money he or she has invested in
the firm.

Power

stemming

from

providing

resource
A broad way to view power sources is from the
resource dependence perspective.
According

to

this

perspective,

the

organization

requires a continuing flow of human resources,

money, customer and clients, technological inputs,
and materials to continue to function.
Organizational

subunits

or

individuals

who

can

provide these key resources accrue power.

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Power

Derived

from

Capitalizing

on

Opportunity:
Power can be derived from being in the right
place

at

the

right

time

and

taking

the

appropriate action.
It pays to be where the action is . For
example, the best opportunities in a diversified
company lie in one of its growth divisions.
A person also needs to have the right
resources to capitalize on an opportunity.

Power

Stemming

from

Managing

Critical

Problems:

A simple but compelling theory has been

developed to explain why some organization
units are more powerful than others.
The strategic contingency theory of power
suggests that units best able to cope with the
firms

critical

problems

and

uncertainties

acquire relatively large amounts of power.

Centrality is the extent to unit has high 10
centrality when it is an important and integral

Power Stemming from Being Close

to Power:
The closer a person is to power, the
greater the power he or she exerts.
Likewise, the higher a unit reports in a
firms hierarchy, the more power it
possesses.

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BASES OF
POWER
12

TACTICS FOR BECOMING AN

EMPOWERING LEADER
A leaders power and influence
increase when he or she shares power
with others.
A partial explanation for this paradox is
that as team members receive more
power, they can accomplish more.
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The Nature of
Empowerment
In its basic meaning, empowerment refers to
passing

decision-making

responsibility

from

authority

managers

to

and
group

members.
Almost

any

form

of

participative

management, shared decision making, and

delegation can be regarded as empowerment.
Four

components

identified:

of

meaning,

empowerment
competence,

determination, and impact.

were
self- 14

Meaning is the value of a work goal, evaluated in relation

to a persons ideals or standards.
Work has meaning when there is a fit between the
requirements of a work role and a persons beliefs, values,
and behaviours.
A person who is doing meaningful work is likely to feel
empowered.
Competence, or self-efficacy, is an individuals belief in
his or her capability to perform a particular task well.
Self-determination is an individuals feeling of having a
choice in initiating and regulating actions.
Impact is the degree to which the worker can influence
strategic, administrative, or operating outcomes on the
job.

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Effective Empowering Practices:

LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
1. Foster initiative and
responsibility
2. Link work activities to
organizational goals Provide
ample information
3. Allow group members to
choose methods
4. Encourage self-leadership
5. Implement team-based
human resource policies
6. Establish limits to
empowerment
7. Continue to lead

EFFECTIVE
EMPOWERM
ENT
Meaning to
work
Competence
Self-efficacy
Selfdeterminatio
n
Impact
16

Empowering Practices:
The practices that foster empowerment supplement
standard approaches to participative management, such
as conferring with team members before reaching a
decision.
Foster Initiative and Responsibility:
A leader can empower team members simply by
fostering greater initiative and responsibility in their
assignments.
Link Work Activities to the Goals of the
Organization:
Empowerment works better

when

the

empowered

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activities are aligned with the strategic goals of the

organization.

Allow group members to choose method:

Under ideal conditions the leader or manager explains to the
individual or group what needs to be done(sets a direction) and
lets the people involved choose the method.
Encourage self-leadership
Encouraging team members o lead themselves is the heart of
empowerment. When employees practice self leadership, they
feel empowered.
Implement team-based human resource policies:
A study of 111 work teams in four organizations found that
teams are more likely to feel empowered when the organization
implements a variety of team based human resource policies
Establish limits to empowerment:
18
One of the major situation in which empowerment creates
disharmony, dissatisfaction, dysfunctions is when workers lack a
clear perception of the boundaries of empowerment.

Continue to lead:
Although leaders empower group members
they

should

still

provide

guidance,

emotional support and recognition.

Cultural difference:
Group members cultural values might lead
to

either

an

empowerment
empowered.

easy
or

acceptance

reluctance

to

of
be

19

Provide Ample Information:

An axiom of effective empowerment is
that employees should have ample
information

about

everything

that

affects their work.

20

Effective

delegation

and

empowerment:
A major contributor to empowerment is delegation, the
assignment of formal authority and responsibility for
accomplishing a specific task to other person.
Delegation is narrower then empowerment because it
deals with a specific task, wherever empowerment covers
a broad range of activities and a mental set about
assuming more responsibility.
The leaders assigns duties to the right people when
feasible, delegate the whole task.
The leader should give as much instructions as needed,21
depending upon the characteristics of the group member.

Effective delegation and

empowerment (Contd.,)
As

leader

or

manager,

retain

some

important task for yourself.

Amazing management principle is to obtain
feedback on the delegated task.
building suggestion
pleasant

and

a morale-

is to delegate both

unpleasant

task

to

group

members.
A fundamental part of effective delegation is
to step back from the details it is important to
evaluate and reward performance.

22

Factors contributing political

behaviours in organization:
1. Pyramid-shape organization structure
2. Subjective standards of performance
3. Environmental uncertainty and
turbulence
4. Emotional and security
5. Machiavellian tendencies
6. Disagreement over major issues
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Pyramid-shape organization structure:

Organization have been described is political structure
that operate by distributing authority and setting the
stage what the exercise of the power.
Subjective standards of performance:
People often resort to organizational politics because
they do not believe that organization has an objective
and fair way of judging their performance and suitability
for promotion
Environmental uncertainty and turbulence:
When people, or the organizational subunits, operate in
an unstable and unpredictable environment, they tend
to behave politically. The uncertainty, turbulence and
insecurity created by corporate downsizing is a major

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Emotional and security:

Some people resort to political exercises to ingratiate
themselves with superiors because they lack confidence
in their talent and skills.
Disagreement over major issue:
Many executives attempt to use rational criteria when
making major decision, but national decision making
constrained by major disagreement over employee
performance and theories of what the organization should
be doing.

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