Legitimate power refers to an agreement that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors from others based on formal job descriptions and informal rules. Legitimate power depends not just on job titles but also mutual agreement to accept another's authority, within a "zone of indifference." Factors like trust in the power holder and culture also influence the scope of legitimate power. Reward power comes from the ability to control rewards valued by employees, while coercive power involves the ability to apply punishment. Expert power originates from an individual or group's specialized knowledge and skills that others rely on.
Legitimate power refers to an agreement that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors from others based on formal job descriptions and informal rules. Legitimate power depends not just on job titles but also mutual agreement to accept another's authority, within a "zone of indifference." Factors like trust in the power holder and culture also influence the scope of legitimate power. Reward power comes from the ability to control rewards valued by employees, while coercive power involves the ability to apply punishment. Expert power originates from an individual or group's specialized knowledge and skills that others rely on.
Legitimate power refers to an agreement that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors from others based on formal job descriptions and informal rules. Legitimate power depends not just on job titles but also mutual agreement to accept another's authority, within a "zone of indifference." Factors like trust in the power holder and culture also influence the scope of legitimate power. Reward power comes from the ability to control rewards valued by employees, while coercive power involves the ability to apply punishment. Expert power originates from an individual or group's specialized knowledge and skills that others rely on.
Legitimate power refers to an agreement that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors from others based on formal job descriptions and informal rules. Legitimate power depends not just on job titles but also mutual agreement to accept another's authority, within a "zone of indifference." Factors like trust in the power holder and culture also influence the scope of legitimate power. Reward power comes from the ability to control rewards valued by employees, while coercive power involves the ability to apply punishment. Expert power originates from an individual or group's specialized knowledge and skills that others rely on.
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Legitimate Power Legitimate power is an agreement among organizational members that people in
certain roles can request certain behaviors of others. This perceived right originates from formal job descriptions as well as informal rules of conduct. Legitimate power extends to employees, not just managers. For example, an organization might give employees the right to receive customer files held by the boss if this information is required for their jobs. Legitimate power depends on more than job descriptions. It also depends on mutual agreement from those expected to abide by this authority. Your boss’s power to make you work overtime partly depends on your agreement to this authority. Thus, legitimate power operates within a “zone of indifference”—the range within which people are willing to accept someone else’s authority. 6 The size of this zone of indifference (and, consequently, the magnitude of legitimate power) increases with the extent to which the power holder is trusted and makes fair decisions. Some people are also more obedient than others to authority, particularly those who value conformity and tradition. People in high power distance cultures (i.e., those who accept an unequal distribution of power) also tend to have higher obedience to authority compared with people in low power distance cultures. The organization’s culture represents a third factor. A 3M scientist might continue to work on a project after being told by superiors to stop working on it because the 3M culture supports an entrepreneurial spirit, which includes ignoring the boss’s authority from time to time. 7 Reward Power Reward power is derived from the person’s ability to control the allocation of rewards valued by others and to remove negative sanctions (i.e., negative reinforcement). Managers have formal authority that gives them power over the distribution of Exhibit 10.2 A Model of Power within Organizations legitimate power An agreement among organizational members that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors of others. Chapter 10 Power and Influence in the Workplace 303 organizational rewards such as pay, promotions, time off, vacation schedules, and work assignments. Likewise, employees have reward power over their bosses through the use of 360-degree feedback systems. Employee feedback affects supervisors’ promotions and other rewards, so supervisors tend to behave differently toward employees after 360-degree feedback is introduced. Coercive Power Coercive power is the ability to apply punishment. The opening story to this chapter described how the RCMP commissioner and likely other senior RCMP executives used coercive power to suppress and remove employees who may have spread word of the financial wrongdoing. Employees also have coercive power, ranging from sarcasm to ostracism, to ensure that co-workers conform to team norms. Many firms rely on this coercive power to control co-worker behavior in team settings. Nucor is one such example: “If you’re not contributing with the team, they certainly will let you know about it,” says Dan Krug, manager of HR and organizational development at the Charlotte, North Carolina, steelmaker. “The few poor players get weeded out by their peers.” Similarly, when asked how AirAsia maintained attendance and productivity after the Malaysian discount airline removed its time clocks, Chief Executive Tony Fernandes replied: “Simple. Peer pressure sees to that. The fellow employees, who are putting their shoulders to the wheel, will see to that.” 8 Expert Power For the most part, legitimate, reward, and coercive power originate from the position. 9 In contrast, expert power originates from within the person. It is an individual’s or work unit’s capacity to influence others by possessing knowledge or skills that others value. Employees are gaining expert power as our society moves from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. 10 The reason is that employee knowledge becomes the means of production and is ultimately outside the control of those who own the company. And without this control over production, owners are more dependent on employees to achieve their corporate objectives. The power of expertise is most apparent when observing how people respond to authority figures. 11 In one classic study, a researcher posing as a hospital physician telephoned on-duty nurses to prescribe a specific dosage of medicine to a hospitalized patient. None of the nurses knew the person calling, and hospital policy prohibited them from accepting treatment orders by telephone. Furthermore, the medication was unauthorized, and the prescription was twice the maximum daily dose. Yet almost all 22 nurses who received the telephone call followed the “doctor’s” orders until stopped by the researchers. 12
