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Importance of power in an organisation
Organisational power and control
Organisational power and control
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Introduction
To explain the statement: 'Power does not flow to unknown people in the organization', I will give an overview of the Model of Power in Organizations according to Mc Shane and Von Glinow, which includes a definition of the meaning of power, the different sources of power, and the contingencies that need to exist before sources of power will translate into actual power. Finally, I will provide a conclusion and recommendation.
The Sources and Contingencies of Power in Organizations
McShane and Von Glinow define Power as “the capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others” (300). Furthermore, they state that power derives from five main sources and four main contingencies like the following figure illustrates.
Figure 2: A Model of Power within organizations
Source: McShane and Von Glinow 302
McShane and von Glinow determine that the first three powers - legitimate, reward, and coercive power - are granted to persons through the organization or co-workers, whereas the two other powers – expert and referent power - depend on the “power holders own characteristics” (301). The first source of power that can be assigned to members of the organization is Legitimate Power, which is defined as an “agreement among organizational members that people in certain roles can request certain behavior of others” (302). This source of power generally results from different roles in the organization (hierarchy). Like the manager can expect his or her employees to do what he or she requires. Another source of power that can be given to employees is Reward Power, which is defined as “the person’s ability to control the allocation of rewards valued by others and to remove negative sections” (302). Reward power offers incentives and is the opposite of the third source of power, which is Coercive Power. Coercive power is the last source of power that is assigned to people and involves “the ability to apply punishment” (303). The fourth source of power is Expert Power, which does not originate from the position but rather from within the person. Expert power is “the capacity to influence others by possessing knowledge or skills that others value” (303). For instance, an employee can develop expert power when gaining important knowledge for the organizations that others would also like to have. The fifth source of power that does not depend on the role or position of an employee, but on the person’s own characteristics is Referent Power, which is defined as “the capacity to influence others on the basis of an identification with and respect for the power holder” (303).
The definition of power is the ability to influence the behaviors of others or to change the course of events. Power can be gained through hard work or power can be given to you In a book published in 1937, this problem couldn’t be more prevalent. This book is Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story tells of two migrant workers, who are incredibly close friends. They goes place to place looking for a job during The Great Depression era. They eventually find a ranch in Soledad, California. Where they will face characters and incidents that will decide the fate of their dream. Powerful people are not as powerful as they seem, but is given power due to societal hierarchy or physical traits.
Power. It is defined as the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. Throughout time, certain individuals have acquired power in their society as a way to govern and keep order among their community. Power is not a new concept; it was used in the past by many emperors, kings, and queens, and is still being used by presidents, prime ministers, and dictators. Although, it has been used to further progress societies into what the world is like today, not all power has been used for the best of mankind. But what goes awry to make power turn corrupt? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is illustrated how power can turn corrupt, when authoritative figures, who possess power, abuse it for their personal gain, rather than for the common good of the society.
Power is authority and strength, which is any form of motive force or energy, ability to act, or control. When too much power is given, a dictatorship government can form, in which all decisions are made by one authority. In the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell the author portrays how “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).
Power is a difficult concept to identify; it has been defined in several ways by many scholars. Hinings et al. (1967) state that power is analogous to bureaucracy, while Bierstedt (1950) and Blau (1964) state that it is purely coercion (Stojkovic et al, 2008). Moreover, Hall and Tolbert (2005) identify that there are five types of power, reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert (Stojkovic et al, 2008). According to studies these five types of power are important and needed in a criminal justice agency for greater effectiveness and efficiency.
The five sources of power, as identified by French and Raven, are legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, expert power, and referent power. The first three sources of power are positional powers,
Power is everywhere; in organizations, relationships, businesses, government, education, et cetera. Power is defined as a capacity that X has to persuade the behavior of Y so that Y acts according to X's wishes (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Power is essential because without it, organization and leadership effectiveness is eliminated within the confounds of the given relationship. A dependency is Y's relationship to X when X possesses something that Y requires (Robbins & Judge, 2007). In essence, there are five bases of power: Coercive power, Reward power, Legitimate power, Expert power, and Referent power (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The scenario exemplifies each power and how each is used. The scenario also illustrates the dependency relationship of each power for the parties involved.
There are several sources of power, some of them are authority, reward, expertise, and coercion.
Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do. We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth. Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn. When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.
Some theorists believe that ‘power is everywhere: not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere… power is not an institution, nor a structure, nor possession. It is the name we give to a complex strategic situation in a particular society. (Foucault, 1990: 93) This is because power is present in each individual and in every relationship. It is defined as the ability of a group to get another group to take some form of desired action, usually by consensual power and sometimes by force. (Holmes, Hughes &Julian, 2007) There have been a number of differing views on ‘power over’ the many years in which it has been studied. Theorist such as Anthony Gidden in his works on structuration theory attempts to integrate basic structural analyses and agency-centred traditions. According to this, people are free to act, but they must also use and replicate fundamental structures of power by and through their own actions. Power is wielded and maintained by how one ‘makes a difference’ and based on their decisions and actions, if one fails to exercise power, that is to ‘make a difference’ then power is lost. (Giddens: 1984: 14) However, more recent theorists have revisited older conceptions including the power one has over another and within the decision-making processes, and power, as the ability to set specific, wanted agendas. To put it simply, power is the ability to get others to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. In the political arena, therefore, power is the ability to make or influence decisions that other people are bound by.
According to the paper presented, I believe that power is the most essential element for the human progress, since it’s about changing intentions to actions. In organization it’s about sharing information, about working together and running the company in the best interest of everyone. According to my learning, I believed that it changes nothing, no one can predict the result of a decision and we spend more time living with the consequence of our decision than making them. In turn we should focus on getting things done rather than thinking of the consequence.
Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. The most important aspect of power is dependence; a person’s power increases if someone is dependent on them, or if they have something the other needs. Some people have power that they don’t use or may not even know they have.
There are two forms of power; formal and personal. Formal power is most commonly linked to positions in leadership and can influence the behavior of individuals through position, incentive, and maybe even punishment. Personal power
Power is the ability to make people say and/or do things. It is the ability to get whatever you want. Power is necessary in any society, otherwise all would break loose; leaders must be established. When taken to an extreme, power is not good. As Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." An example of this is Adolph Hitler from Germany. He thought that he could not be stopped and that rules did not apply to him. By being given absolute power, he altered the government. No one attempted to stop this in the German country, because of his con...
Power is defined in the course study notes as the “ability of individuals or groups to get what they want despite the opposition”. Power is derived from a variety of sources including knowledge, experience and environmental uncertainties (Denhardt et al, 2001). It is also important to recognize that power is specific to each situation. Individuals or groups that may be entirely powerful in one situation may find themselves with little or no power in another. The county Registrar of Voters, who is my boss, is a perfect example. In running the local elections office, she can exercise the ultimate power. However, in a situation where she attempted to get the county selected for a desirable, statewide pilot project, she was powerless, completely at the mercy of the Secretary of State. Power is difficult to measure and even to recognize, yet it plays a major role in explaining authority. In organizations, power is most likely exercised in situations where “the stakes are high, resources are limited, and goals and processes are unclear” (Denhardt et al, 2001). The absence of power in organizations forces us to rely on soley hierarchical authority.
According to Raven (1993), legitimate power comes from a person’s formal position within an organization. However, there are other types of legitimate power to consider such as (a) reciprocity which means (“I scratch your back so you should do the same”, Raven, 1993) and also equity and dependence power as well. Although, Carly Peters of Mills, Smith, and Peters being part owner has legitimate power over all 100 employees and particularly the 20 employees who work directly with her in the creative department (Northouse, P.G., 2016) where she holds the position of Creative Director. In the creative department of the advertisement agency, there are four teams that report directly to Carly and these are led by four associate directors named Jack,