Week 3 — Theories in Action — Power and Leadership — French and Raven

French and Raven’s Power Bases theory can help demonstrate the various ways the head of our department leads in our very non-hierarchical firm. French and Raven identified six bases of power: reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, expert, and informational. Reward power is the capability of controlling the distribution of rewards given or offered to the target and is considered when the individual can control the allocation of both impersonal and personal rewards. The department head has reward power through his ability to control impersonal wages, promotions, and bonuses as well as control over personal reinforcement such as verbal approbation. It appears that the former is not a tactic frequently used, except for the potential for increased bonuses for all stemming from increased firm profits. The latter personal reinforcement is also not something that appears to be a common tactic, although verbal or written (generally emails) approbation to happen occasionally. Coercive power is the capacity to threaten and dispense both impersonal and personal punishments to those who do not comply with requests or demands. The department head certainly has this in the sense that he could fire someone, but I don’t think this is ever employed by him. He certainly does have legitimate power, which is an authority that derives from the legitimate and officially sanctioned right to require and demand obedience, as he was promoted to this position and commands deep respect from the entire firm. This respect also gives him referent power, which is relationship-based and is influence based on the identification with, attraction to, and respect of others. He doesn’t really have expert power, which is influence based on others’ belief or perceptions that the powerholder possesses superior and beneficial knowledge, skills, and abilities. There is no question that he is excellent at what he does, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it is believed he has a superior skill set. However, this observation is from a mere three weeks. The last base of power in the theory is informational power, which is influence based on the capacity to reason, explain and inform through the potential use of informational resources, including rational argument, persuasion, or factual data. He certainly has this power base, as he has been in the industry for almost 40 years and is extremely intelligent. As the head of the department, he also likely knows information about the department’s future that the employees may not yet. This information could be a source of power, but it does not seem that it is one that he employs.