French and Raven Theory - Essay Example

Management Power is a natural process that involves influencing others into accepting or doing something for one common goal. Many theories have been raised concerning power; however, the most applicable theories of power originate from the work of French and Raven (Monippally 2010). According to the two, there are specific sources of power that enable leaders to influence other people. In tandem to this, this paper will provide detailed information on French and Raven’s theory of power. It will expound on organizational power that constitutes of legitimate, reward and coercive power, as well as personal power that constitute of expert and referent power. Coercive power is governed by fear and the ability to hand out punishments through either force so that people can do something. Reward force, on the other hand, is derived from the ability to control the issuing of something of value to people working in a given organization (Monippally 2010). Unlike the two, legitimate power relates to exercise of influence. It gives answers to questions such as “does a given person has the required right to give orders and expect people to adhere them?” Expert power entails influence that is derived from special skills or portrayed knowledge or one’s expertise in specific areas. Referent power is an informal social power that is compelling in nature. It is developed out of admiration of another person’s success. According to French and Raven, people use their position in a given organization (legitimate power) to influence others’ behavior (Fandt, Googman, Lewis & Michlitsch 2006). However, they claim that individuals first get assigned certain positions in organizations in order to exercise their legitimate power. Those assigned positions also exercise their power by asking other employees to work within the scope of their authority. French and Raven also claim that some leaders enhance their position power by coming up with rules and regulations that must be followed by their subjects. French and Raven also claims that some people control other people’s behavior by giving them things they like (reward power). Rewards vary; they can be financial or nonfinancial. Financial rewards constitute pay raises and bonuses whereas nonfinancial rewards include promotions, recognition, introduction of new equipment, or favorable working conditions (Fandt, Googman, Lewis & Michlitsch 2006). According to them, reward power has the potential to better performance in a given organization. From French and Raven claims, it is also evident that employees feedback affect their managers promotions. Thus, leaders use the power of reward to keep in touch with their subjectives in order to enhance an organization’s productivity. Leaders also influence the subjects’ behavior by either punishing them or creating a distinguished warning to do so. The use of threats makes employees fear and, as a result, comply with their manager’s directive. Success of many organizations relies on the coercive power of team members that aid in controlling employees’ behavior. Thus, the fear instilled in an employee enables a leader to exercise his or her coercive power. As defined above, leaders use their expertise in specific areas to influence the subjects’ behavior. This is as a result of respect developed towards those specialized in specific areas. According to French and Raven, leaders ensure that they are credible, trustworthy as well as relevant in order to exercise their expert power to their subjects. As introduced above, leaders ensure that they have a good reputation in the society. Additionally, they try as much as possible to portray attractive characteristics to their subjects. Through their charismatic leadership, they manage to influence the whole organization into doing things in certain ways. Bill Gates, the world’s renowned software architect of Microsoft Corporation, is one of the successful individuals in terms of running business in the world. His key responsibility as the chairman of Microsoft Corporation is to come up with Microsoft’s strategies. In his early years, he developed the company’s programming language software (Achua & Lussier 2012). His success is based on his skills of identifying potential employees for recruitment. In addition to this, he also employs French and Ravens theory of power in running his business. The believing of Gates towards natural inventiveness, creativity, as well as willingness in solving problems, contributed significantly towards his achievements. Additionally, his persistence in carrying out some activities irrespective of dilemmas contributed significantly to his advancement in terms of Microsoft business. It is also convincible that his act of showing no signs of lowering his pace in terms of advancement contributed to his success (Achua & Lussier 2012). It is through these factors that Gates fuel his business as well as inspire his workers. Additionally, it is evident that Bill Gates is very loyal to his employees. This is evidenced by his portrayal of autocratic behavior to his workers. Thus, it is evident that Gates has not only good reputation, but also attractive characteristics that make his employees work perfectly and industriously with an aim of becoming like him. Unlike many organizations, people stick to Microsoft for very long period. As postulated by French and Ravens, expert power relies on one’s skills and knowledge. Being an expert in a certain area makes people rely on the leader. Occasionally, people respect experts and the fewer the experts, the more respectable and powerful an expert becomes. As introduced above, Bill Gates is a master of not only his job, but also his knowledge and skills. His expertise has never been questioned making him have the expertise power (Achua & Lussier 2012). The position power given to Bill Gates by his organization also contributes immensely towards his success in business. It is through his legitimate power that he deals with higher- level managers as well as well as holding logical arguments. Additionally, Gates uses his position in giving factual evidence that enables him convince other people in his organization into implementing his recommendation. As introduced above, reward power is defined by the ability of leaders to convince others into accepting or providing something essential to the organizations through use of valuable things. Microsoft is one of the organizations in the world that is known of giving huge compensations to its workers. One of the crucial areas of reward power is having control over capital through allocating outflow and budget funds. Unlike many leaders in the world, Bill Gates portrays full control over assessing worker’s productivity determining their advancement, promotions and other rewards. As defined by French and Raven, coerce power involves provision of not only punishment, but also holding back of rewards as means of influencing compliance. It is a pressure influencing method used by many leaders in the world. Although Bill was known as a repressive leader, it is evident that he never rushed in threatening his employees. It is also evident that he never used coercion as many leaders do to manipulate others or to succeed individually. Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Group, one of the India’s largest corporations is renowned worldwide for his achievements in business. He was the latest Tata to head a family-owned company. His organization constituted of about 100 companies with 350,000 employees worldwide. His organization’s contribution to India’s GDP is approximately 5.5%. Currently, the operations of Tata have spread across six continents and over 80 countries. The success of his organization was as a result of his personality. Tata was very dignified, ethical, and dependable. He also believes in keeping promises. Tata was also loyal and believed in relationships. In addition to his personal qualities, he also employed French and Ravens theory of power in running his organization. Ratan was a visionary leader; he believed in not only his organization advancing, but also becoming one of the best organizations in India (Ghuman 2012). He was also strategic in carrying out his activities; in most occasions he was 2 or 3 steps ahead of others. In addition to being an initiator, Ratan was also a risk taker. All these qualities alongside his personality contributed significantly to his possession of a strong referent power; all his employees worked very hard in order to become like him. Success of Ratan was also based on his expertise in technology. He had a wonderful technological brain. In most occasions, he provided answers to the asked questions quickly making his employees not to develop any doubt on him. Ratan was also very successful in his cross-border deals; his deals were very significant. Ratan also believed in the power of reward. In running his organization, he advocated existence of good human relation. According to him, good human relation not only brought great personal reward but also enhanced the success of any organization (Ghuman 2012). Additionally, he motivated his employees through giving awards to the performing employees as well as to those who provided vital information. According to him, intrinsic motivation was very crucial for success of any corporations; he valued the values of his employees. As the chairman of Tata organization Ratan ensured that his business had advanced worldwide. He used his position in the organization in making successive strides into the international market. Additionally, he used his legitimate power effectively in convincing his employees to take part in producing diverse automobiles, chemicals as well as to advance in IT. His possession of more than enough capital also enhanced his advancement in many countries, in the world. Although Ratan was very serious when carrying his duties, he rarely came into conflicts with his employees (Ghuman 2012). He rarely punished his employees. According to him, good relationship between employees and the employer contributed significantly towards the success of any organization. Thus, he was very careful when raising threats to incompetent employees. In conclusion, power is a natural process that involves influencing others into accepting your ideas and employing them in doing some activities. French and Raven theory stipulates that there are 5 sources of power than enhance the success of any leader. That is organizational power constituting of legitimate, reward and coercive power, and personal power that constitute of expert and referent power. Their theory has contributed significantly towards the success of many businesspersons in the world. In addition to making Bill Gates one of the success men in the world, it also led to Ratan Tata managing to expound globally. Their good leadership and success have led to many people in the world to emulate them in running their own organizations. Bibliography ACHUA, C & LUSSIER, R 2012, Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development, Cengage Learning, New York. FANDT, P, GOOGMAN, S, LEWIS, P & MICHLITSCH, J 2006, Management: Challenges for Tomorrows Leaders, Cengage Learning, New York. GHUMAN 2012, Management: Concepts, Practice & Cases, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New York. MONIPPALLY, M 2010, The Persuasive Manager: Communication Strategies for 21st Century Managers, Random House India, Delhi. Read More