Abuse of Power in the Movie Power, Politics, and Conflict

548 Words2 Pages

Causes of the Problem Power, Politics, and Conflict Throughout the movie, there is very obvious abuse of power by managers in all three working environments. Power is the ability that an individual has to influence the behaviour of another individual and oppose any unwanted pressure in return (Mann, 2013). In Nick’s case, his boss holds his authority over Nick by implying the possibility of a promotion only to reward himself (Scott, 2011). Nick’s boss is in control of who receives promotions thus falsely giving hope to Nick that he will be receiving a reward in the near future. This is a clear abuse of reward power. Kurt’s boss exploits his power by forcing Kurt into firing employees for no real reason (Scott, 2011). Kurt’s boss is abusing his legitimate power to force Kurt into tasks that he does not want to do. Lastly, in Dale’s case, his boss sexually harasses him, holding her authority over him. Dale’s boss threatens to punish him through blackmail if he does not comply with her desire to sexually harass him (Scott, 2011). This is a clear abuse of coercive power. Although each o...

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