7 Types of Power in the Workplace

To begin with, let’s quote Margaret Thatcher who said that the power is a woman.  If you would like to share with people, you actually are not.  At my personal level,  I think studying power is quite interesting.  Dictionary.com explains power as an individual or an object, which controls or creates an impact.  At the time of implementation of the power, we are using our control to fulfill our desired objective.

Everybody has the capacity to influence.  All of us.  I have strong  faith in the positive effect of influencing people.  The subject matter is the type of influencing role of an individual and the way he manipulates it.

 In the following points, there are certain kinds of influencing factors noticed in the office.

·        Coercive power is related to those individuals interested in giving punishment to other people.  People are afraid of the result of their actions and not following their order.

·        Connection power is related to a known person.   This individual understands and  has the connection with influential personalities within the company.

·        Expert power is the person having a skill in a particular field.  This individual has achieved success in his own field.

·        Informational power is the power to reach urgent and expensive data.

·        Legitimate power is the post occupied by an individual.  It is connected with the individual’s job  position and the duties associated with it.  You may also call it as positional power.

·        Referent power is the power of those people who get a lot of appreciation and respect from others.

·        Reward power is the power connected with giving rewards in the terms of new duties, schedules, salary and perquisites.  But right now, it is the time to be sincere and think of one’s own development.   You lack the power.   You can notice that there are many ways of manifestation of power.  It is also essential to understand that power is present in everybody.  The individual may have a different type of power that varies with the circumstance.

Immediately the two main mistakes of powerful people are   (1) the application of power they do not possess and (2)   Misuse of power for getting a favorable outcome.

To assist in the recognition of the power zone, think for a while and control the activities of others.  The examiner is permitted to apply the information above as a false way to judge himself.    On a scale of 1-5, you can assess yourself  about the various types of power you possess.  On this scale, 1 being the least likeable factor and 5 being the most desirable  factor.  It is a strong exercise.  If you show your truthfulness, you will get the benefit from the outcome.  It will help you manipulate power as well as understand how other people use power.

1.      Coercive Power

An individual who gives punishment for disobeying instructions possesses coercive power.

Coercive power is the most suitable in particular circumstances and in few situations.   There are examples -- the warning of sacking an employee to sexual harassment of a colleague.  The regular application of coercive power might be scary and might lack function.  The coercive power creates a negative impression.  It emphasizes an  inferior position of an employee in an organization.  These employees protest against their managers due to demotivation and dissatisfaction with their job.  The employee might be afraid of punishment and may neglect their task not mentioned in their agreement.  They are unwilling to work together.  They do not want to give their opinion.  They try to bypass the management.

2.      Connection Power

Connection power is the power generated by the knowledge and following men in high positions and other people feel the same.  An individual may be amicable for the men in high position.  They might be interested to obey the duties and placate them.  The social contacts are rising.  The political connections are established.  This helps generate connection power.  An individual possessing connection power does not get the respect of the people in high positions in the same organization.

3.      Reward Power

Reward Power is the skill to provide incentives for other employees in the same organization.  Generally it is not related to money and a modified working hour and verbal encouragement also boosts up the individual.  The rewards given in a planned way motivate the employee strongly.  A reward can have a negative consequence if they are given frequently without following a system.  The employee may tend to focus on the reward rather than their present job.

4.      Legitimate Power

Legitimate power is the power to direct an employee based on the role played in an organization.   The manager may ask the employee to finish a task and the employee has to obey it as it is an order from the boss.  This power is based on the position of the individual.  Finally the individual is unable to work together.

5.      Referent Power

People who are admired and people love to follow them have a referent power.  The employees are allowed to participate and shown dignity.  This power is too time-consuming to control the temporary employees in an organization and also in cases where the profit of the company is high.

6.      Informational Power

Those who can reach valuable database have informational power.  In the programs after the school hours, the teachers work with the students and get to know about their family background.  He is better than the director who is not involved with the young generation and their families regularly.  In this situation, the director has to collect the data of the student from his employees.  The informational power is found to be within the employees.  This power goes away rapidly.  The power of the individual goes away as soon as the data is exchanged. 

7.      Expert Power

The expert power is found in a person with a particular set of knowledge in his area of expertise.  If the individual is skilled in his area of expertise, he has more power than his fellowmen.  In many instances, individuals have a low rank than those having expert power.  The common example is the technology expert.  We can illustrate this fact with the example of a computer technician.  The CEO of a company follows the advice of a repair person when his computer is out of order.  The CEO follows the advice of the technician.  The knowledge is distributed and other employees come to know about it.  So the value of expert power gets reduced along with time.