Leadership, Power and Politics

Leadership, Power and Politics

August 10, 2011

Expectancy Theory of Motivation

A. Describe each of the five bases of power demonstrated in the given scenario.

The 5 bases of power have become very distinguished in our society today, especially in the workplace. The 5 bases of power are broken down into two groups, formal and personal (Bases of Social Power, ValuedBasedManagement.Net, 2011).

The first base of power is Coercive power. Coercive power is essentially a manager or supervisor over employees. They have the ability to reward and punish. Those who are under Coercive power do sense the need for rewards and also fear of having rewards or privileges taken away (Wikipedia.com, 2011). In our scenario, the Marketing Manager has Coercive power over the employees. Since the Marketing Manager encourages his employees to work at a certain level, anything less may put fear that if they don't work to their ability certain opportunities may be withhold.

The next base of power is Reward power. Again, in this scenario the Marketing Manager has the Reward Power. He has the ability to judge and determine the value of his employees and reward according (Wikipedia.com, 2011). In this scenario the Marketing Manager encourages all his employees to work beyond the 40 hour scheduled work week. In doing so, any of those who achieve this will be rewarded with a yearly bonus and a superior job performance rating. Employee 1 in our scenario takes advantage of the opportunity given and should set an example for the rest of the marketing team.

The next base of Power is Legitimate power. Legitimate power is essentially the authority in the organization. This is the most important kind of power, mainly because of the position and duties that this person is responsible for (Wikipedia, 2011). In this scenario both the Marketing Manager and Accounting Manager have this power. Both have the ability because of their title to hand down any duties to their employees as they like. They have the responsibility to make sure departmental performances are met by delegating jobs to the employees that work for them.

The next base of power is Expert power. Expert power comes from a certain individual's skills or knowledge in a certain area. This particular person is extremely valuable and sometimes has the power to get what they want. In this scenario, Employee 2 has the Expert power. He is the only CPA in the entire accounting department, and because of this is able to negotiate with his Manager the work week that he wants to work. Since Employee A is the only one who can prepare the company's financial statements, the Accounting manager is able to allow him to work a four day work week.

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