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Legitimate and Reward Power

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Legitimate and Reward Power
Legitimate Power
Legitimate power is also known as positional power. It's derived from the position a person holds in an organization's hierarchy (Owen J. 2007). This type of power results from a person being placed in a formal position of authority. A responsible pharmacist, for example, has legitimate power. Legitimate power therefore results from a person occupying a certain position in the organisational structure or hierarchy and being granted legitimate authority in such a way that individuals feel obliged to do what the manager says. Legitimate power depends on more than job descriptions. In job descriptions, for example, require junior workers to report to managers and give managers the power to assign duties to their juniors. For positional power to be exercised effectively, the person wielding it must be deemed to have earned it legitimately. An example of legitimate power is that held by a company's CEO.

Reward Power
Reward power arises from the ability of a person to influence the allocation of incentives in an organization. Reward power is based on the right of some to offer tangible, social, emotional, or spiritual rewards to others for doing what is wanted or expected of them or to deny others something tangible, social, emotional, political, or spiritual for failing to or refusing to do what is desired or expected of them, (Greene R. 2002). These incentives include salary increments, positive appraisals and promotions. In an organization, people who make used of reward power tend to influence the actions of other employees. Reward power, if used well, greatly motivates employees. But if it's applied through favouritism, reward power can greatly demoralize employees and diminish their output. Reward power comes from the ability to give rewards to other employees. Rewards are not always monetary, such as improved work hours and words of praise. When rewards are given strategically, they can be strong motivators. When rewards are given too

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