French And Raven's Five Bases Of Power Analysis

RLET TASK 3

Patrick R Selamy

According to a 2013 Wikipedia article entitled “French and Raven 's five bases of power”, the five bases of power are “Coercive, Reward, Legitimate, Referent, and Expert.” (French and Raven 's five bases of power, 2013) This article goes on to describe the many different ways one can go about attaining power. The behaviors exhibited by the employees in the given scenario are indicative of several bases of power. Power has been sought after since the dawn of time and is present in many everyday relationships. “Probably the most important aspect of power is that it is a function of dependence. The greater B’s dependence on A, the greater A’s power in the relationship. Dependence, in turn, is based on alternatives
This is how the marketing manager exercises coercive power; by associating overtime with exceptional performance evaluation results, the marketing manager is implying that employees are less likely to receive desirable evaluation results without working overtime. This contingency allows the marketing manager to exercise coercive power. The promise to gain money and the potential to lose it have proven to be effective motivators. Employee 1 “is planning to use the bonus for a well-deserved vacation that would be unaffordable without the bonus.” (Western Governors University, 2008) Employee 1’s need establishes a dependency which enables the marketing manager to use reward and coercive power concurrently. Since it would be exceptionally difficult for Employee 1 to take this vacation without this incentive, he has become dependent on the marketing manager as he is the party enabling him to take said vacation. The marketing manager derives reward power from this dependency; had the award being offered not been something in which Employee 1 was very interested, the marketing manager would have been unsuccessful in motivating Employee 1, thus rendering him (the marketing manager)
Although the accounting manager is dependent upon Employee 2’s expert power and provides this employee with a shortened workweek, the ability to perform this task demonstrates legitimate power. The task of authorizing Employee 2’s nonstandard workweek required the intervention of a person who was empowered to execute it; in this case, this person was the accounting manager. Legitimate power is also exercised by the marketing manager. This is evident in this manager’s ability to grant employees bonuses for receiving superior performance ratings on employment evaluations. This ability sets this manager apart as it demonstrates that his legitimate power is what enables him to use his other powers. Referent power is exercised when a person “administers to another a sense of personal acceptance or personal approval. This type of power is strong enough that the power-holder is often looked up to as a role model. This power is often regarded as admiration, or charm.” (French and Raven 's five bases of power, 2013) In this scenario, Employee 3 is exercising referent power. “Employee 3 is well liked, very charismatic, and positive, and people seem to be naturally drawn to Employee 3’s personality;” (Western Governors University, 2008) these characteristics allow him to exercise his referent power. Despite the fact that “other team members were unsure if the idea would fit with the corporate culture,” (Western Governors University,