Theories in Action: Leadership and Power in Week One

After an incredibly long and strange year, I wasted no time jumping into my internship at Resolute Management Inc. Going into the office on day one, I truly had no idea what to expect with regards to operational structure. Regardless of this uncertainty, however, something I wanted to focus on right away was the power structure of the organization–as power theories of leadership are by far my favorite, specifically French and Raven’s power base theory. As I entered the office on the first day, it became clear right away that things were not going to be “normal”. Instead of an office buzzing with people, there were only about five people total in the office, including myself and one 0ther intern. When thinking about power, I was not entirely sure how this would effect where my supervisors would derive power. In normal circumstances, I am sure there would be a significant amount of relatively close supervision, however I found that I was largely working on my own.

If things were normal, I have no doubt that my supervisors would derive a significant amount of power from reward or coercive power bases, as close supervision would allow them to provide reward or punishment based on my performance (although I must mention I can’t say this with full certainty as I have not had that experience). However, I came to realize that the circumstances of Covid-19 changed the ways in which I viewed my superiors as powerful. Specifically, I came to realize that my supervisors derive their power from referent, informational, and expert bases. For one thing, referent power refers to influence based on a followers attraction to said leader. Right away, from the in person and online conversations with my supervisors, I could tell that I would be attracted to their style. They were kind, supportive and charismatic, all key features of referent power. Next, expert power refers to influence based on superior skills and knowledge, something I knew immediately my supervisors would possess as they have been in this industry for years. As a result, I knew right away that I would be able to rely on them to guide me in the right direction due to their expertise. Finally, informational power refers to influence derived from control over valuable resources (information). Again, it became immediately obvious to me that if I wanted to be successful in my internship, I would need access to this information that my supervisors possessed. This need of mine is the driving factor in bestowing upon them informational power. As I move forward in this internship, I look forward to understanding more about where power is derived by my supervisors and other employees in general.

To provide a specific example, on the second day, I had a meeting regarding filing asbestos claims–something that sounded truly daunting. In this meeting however, my supervisors Elena and Cathy were kind and supportive the entire time. Additionally, they provided me with valuable information due to their expertise, including excel functions that I never even knew existed. In this meeting, I never once questioned them or their power, as their expertise, informational resources and referent power made it clear that they knew what they were doing, and they knew how to move the company in the right direction to achieve organizational goals.