power

Power Report Reward Power can be gained from a person’s capacity to reward compliance. When a person is rewarded or might receive a potential reward through recognition, a good job assignment, a pay rise, or additional resources to complete a job, an employee may respond by carrying through with orders, requests and directions. Coercive power is considered the opposite of reward power. Coercive power is considered the ability of the power holder to remove something from a person or to punish a person for not conforming to a request. Some examples of coercive power include a strike action against a labor union, a threat of preventing promotion or a threat of litigation. Coercive power can have an incredible short-lived effect, it should appear obvious that reward power is more likely to generate greater results with less close observation and control than coercive power. The element of fear is a form of coercive power and the use of coercive power can leave behind its fair share of casualties. Although fear is likely the reason why coercive power can be effective, it generally has a short duration and can also generate a lengthy amount of dispute. The five sources of organizational power are legitimate, reward, expert, referent and information. An example of legitimate power is an officer believing that the orders being given are true even if they may be coming from a higher power that does not normally give out orders to the police. An example of reward power is an employee believing they are going to get some type of reward for doing their job. An example of expert power is one individual believing that another individual has so much expertise in an area that they believe everything that is being told to them. An example of referent power is when one person has an attraction to the person giving the power. I believe expert power is the most desirable power to have. I would want someone to believe in what I am saying or doing based on knowledge I have. I

References: McShane, Steven. (2012). Organizational Behavior.