Organizational Behaviour: The Sources of Power Available to the Individual - Assignment Example

Organizational Behaviour Identify the sources of power available to the individual There are many power sources available to individuals. Power, when looking at individuals, means the ability to make others do what you wish, according to your will. The more power a person has, the more likely people will do what you want. Power is available to individuals in many different ways. One of the most common ways to define different sources of power include referent, or personal power, reward based, or resource power, legitimate, or position based power, coercive, or physical based power, and expert or skill based power. An example of referent power is the power that celebrities have. People will do what the celebrity wants not because they have any real power, but because they are well known. An example of reward based power is the ability to give somebody what they want. If you have what they want, they will willingly do what you want for that reward. An example of legitimate power is power is following the orders of a police officer, or government agent. These people have power vested in them by the people, which is real, and why it is considered legitimate power. An example of coercive power is a bully, or a parent forcing a child to do something. Coercive power requires someone to do something against their will, and is only successful if the person actually can force the other person to do the task. An example of expert power is an educator, or boss. These people have knowledge or skills that the other person needs, and can use their knowledge to make people do things they would not otherwise do, to get that knowledge or skill. 2. How might an employee use each of these sources of power for the purpose of self development An employee might use expert power to get other employees to put together presentations or finish paperwork, which they will get credit for, or use their skills to impress people higher in the company and get promoted. They might use referent power to use people's affection for them to move up, or to get favors in the company and improve how they look to their bosses. They might use legitimate power to get employees below them to perform to a higher standard, so they will impress the boss and get promoted. They might use reward power to offer their employees bonuses or extra perks to get them to get more work done, or better quality work. Finally, they might use coercive power to force other employees to complete their work, or work overtime, with the threat of being fired. 3. Which of these sources of power, respectively, a pessimistic manager (theory) and an optimistic manager likely to rely on An optimistic manager is more likely to rely on power sources that will encourage their employees, and make them want to do the work. These include reward power, legitimate power, referent power, or expert power. They would probably rely primarily rely on reward and expert power, providing their employees with incentives and chances to increases their skills. They would rely on legitimate power, because they are the boss, but would not use their position to force employees, and they would use referent power because they are most likely well liked, and their employees would want to please them. A pessimistic manager would use sources of power that are not in the employees best interests, but instead in their own. They would rely on legitimate power, but also coercive power, and possibly a bit from referent power. They would use their power as boss (legitimate power) to make it necessary for people to do what they wanted, and they would use coercive power to get employees to work for them against their will, or possibly lose their jobs. They might also be able to use referent power, if an employee wanted to be like them, but that would be more based on the employees the boss has, and not on their own personal charisma. 4. Identify the sources of power you would personally likely to improve and explain why and how you would develop them. I would like to improve on referent power, expert power and on legitimate power. Referent power, because it is very useful to have people want to be like you, or get them to like you, and that power is successful no matter what supplies you have available. I would like to improve on expert power, so that my skills and knowledge will be valuable to other people, as well as to myself, and that people will want to hire me because my knowledge will be useful to the company, and that employees below me will want to do what I ask, because I can share my skills. Finally, I want to improve on my legitimate power, because I want people to do things for me not just because I ask, but because I actually have the power to ask it of them. To develop coercive power, a person needs to either learn about things other people do not want to share (blackmail), or find ways to hold power over other people. To develop reward power, a person needs to develop a background of things that other people might want, such as connections with companies who can provide incentives, and learn what other people might want. To develop legitimate power, a person should work to move up in their business hierarchy, and to work to do top quality work, so they are well respected for what they do. To develop referent power, a person needs to do good work, and to be helpful and friendly to others, so people want to be like them, and want to please them. They should also try to be able to do things that other people can not do, so they are particularly well known for certain skills, which makes them popular. Finally, to develop expert power, a person needs to get a good education, and work to establish a strong skill set in business, so people have to come to them for their knowledge and skills. For example, if they work to obtain contracts, they may want to improve their negotiating skills, so they win more contracts then they lose. Good luck on your exam! Works Cited French, J. P. R. Jr., and Raven, B. (1960). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright and A. Zander (eds.), Group dynamics (pp. 607-623). 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