Study of Power and Politics in the Workplace

Power represents more than just authority—it reflects the complex dependencies that shape organizational relationships. In many ways, understanding power helps us uncover how influence operates silently in every workplace interaction. Power is a function of dependency where one entity is dependent upon another. It is segmented into multiple sections, each affecting the company in a distinctive way. “Bases of power” classifies the sources of power into multiple sections. “Dependency” Organizations worldwide all have many different ways of achieving power and with that power leads to whether or not the power manifests positively or negatively.

Leadership stands as a cornerstone in determining the success of any organization. It is the bridge between vision and execution, guiding how teams transform ideas into results. Successful leaders have great awareness of using power to influence employees, in order to make commitments towards the goals of the organization. This enables them to provide direction, implement plans, and motivate employees, thus benefiting the well-being of any organization. When influencing employees, leader uses various tactics based on their personal attributes. For example, an authoritative leader tends to make decisions independent of their employees and discourages group work, while a democratic leader embraces the concept of group work and encourages employees to work freely and participate in goal decision making. Effective leadership often balances firmness with empathy to sustain both productivity and morale. Though each leader differs in ways of managing their employees, a common factor that every leader possesses is power. Power is the ability to command and control others based on the dependency of each party. It is a key factor in terms of influencing employees to produce results. The most important aspect of power is the function of dependency. For instance, within an organization, the information technology department often has considerable power because all related workers including the CEO are dependent on IT to assure that systems and networks are functioning on a regular basis.

Moreover, power comes from the five power bases, which allows leaders to have influence over others. The bases of power refers to the different types of methods leaders utilize in order to influence their employees. These bases include coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, expert power, referent power, and information power. Each of these bases is different in its way of influencing an organization’s overall potential. To explain, coercive power is defined as power that is based on fear. It depends on a leader’s ability to force an employee to comply with a desired behaviour through the threat of punishment and failure. Healthy organizations often work to minimize fear-based power because it undermines creativity and trust. This typically leads to physical threats. Unfortunately, coercive power is most often used in real life. For instance, at an economical level, countries use military resources to intimidate nations and individuals use this power also to manipulate others. Within a workforce, coercive power is evident when authoritative leaders threaten to dismiss or suspend an employee if they do not follow the rules or tasks assigned. Coercive power has effects on both the long and short term. In the short term, employees listen to the commands based on fear. In the long run however it leads to dysfunctional behaviour and reduced output and satisfaction and ultimately leads to turnover.

Fortunately, there are other power bases that can positively influence employees and benefit the well-being of an organization. Let’s begin with reward power which is the total opposite of coercive. Reward power depends on the ability of a leader to give employees a reward or benefit in exchange for compliance. These rewards include money, performance appraisals, promotions, and preferable working conditions. Reward power enables workers to work diligently and effectively. It allows for motivation and job satisfaction among employees, as a result creating a friendly and secure working environment. Genuine recognition can inspire employees far more deeply than monetary incentives alone. In some cases, however, excessive reward power can lead to corruption. To explain, employees may be tempted to behave unethically such as increasing sales numbers illegally in order to receive a appraisal from the manager. Also, reward power tends to divert employee’s attention from the task at hand and focus more on the rewarding result. This can lead to inefficiency and reduced potential of an organization.

Moreover, legitimate power is concept that is much broader than coercive or reward. Legitimate power represents the belief that one person has the ability to influence others as a result of their position of authority. An example of this is as follows, at the scene of a crime, people regardless of position; people will usually comply with orders from the officer based on the fact that the police have a higher authoritative position. From a business point of view, employees will comply with orders of a manager who relies on legitimate power based on the position in the organizational hierarchy that the manager holds. With legitimate power, employees may feel a lack of commitment and cooperation. Balancing authority with humility can therefore make legitimate power more sustainable and respected. Another power base is expert power which is influence based on expertise, and knowledge. It is based on the belief that an individual has a particularly high level of knowledge will have the power to influence others.

Individuals that possess expert power include computer engineers, chartered accountants, and economists. Each of these individuals has expert power because each occupation requires exceptional knowledge and expertise. For example, a computer engineer is able to use several software programs proficiently and can navigate the internet with ease. As a result, those who do not have the expert knowledge or experience need the expert’s help and, therefore, are willing to be influenced by the expert’s power. Furthermore, expert power is not dependent on position of authority such as a CEO; rather it is based on the knowledgeable positions. It relies on trust that all relevant information is given honestly and completely. As a result, it allows for full commitment from all positions in the hierarchy of an organization. In a fast-changing world, expert power continues to rise in value, as innovation and digital transformation rely on knowledge holders. Nevertheless, similar to every power base, expert power does possess a few weaknesses. The expert power of a person diminishes when knowledge is shared. For instance, when a computer expert explains the steps to function a software program, the amount of expert power lessens due to the fact that the employees are now knowledgeable of the expertise.

As a result, expert power can lead to manager’s authority diminishing or the manager intentionally deciding not to share knowledgeable skill sets with their employees. This can weaken an organization’s effectiveness in the long run. In addition, a similar concept is the power of referent which is influence based on possession by an individual of desirable resources or personal traits. To explain, employees tend to be motivated if they have desire to model themselves in same way of their leaders. With referent power, leaders must develop trust and lead by example. By doing so, leaders are able to develop an influential aspect that employees potentially may desire. Emotional intelligence plays a large role here, as it shapes how leaders connect and inspire. Referent power can be observed in everyday occurrences such as celebrity testimonials in advertisements for example, David Beckham in clothing ads for Emporio Armani. Lastly, a power base that comes from access to and control over information is called information power. This power base is similar to expert power, however differs in ways that it does not depend on expertise knowledge rather it is dependent on a person’s possession of valuable information. From a business setting, managers have power of information because they have access to employee sales, business costs, salary, and profit all of which can be used to influence employee performance and behaviour. For instance, when employees lack in product sales, a manager has information power over them due to the accessible sales numbers can influence their employees to increase work efficiency.

Conclusion on Power Bases

Overall, leadership is important aspect of any organization. Leaders dictate the direction of a company’s potential to complete their goals. To do this effectively, they must balance firmness with fairness, and authority with approachability. In order to do so, leader must be able to direct and guide their employees in the most efficient manner in order to maximize the well being of the company. When approaching this, leaders have various methods which are based on their attributes and use of power. As shown above, power is an important factor when influencing employees to produce results for any company. However, each power comes with a responsibility, and if used excessively can negatively affect a company’s overall performance in the long run. Each power base leads to a respond of commitment, compliance or resistance from employees. To explain, coercive power tends to lead to resistance, decreased satisfaction and increased mistrust. Reward power tends to result in compliance if the rewards are consistent with employee needs. Legitimate power also results in compliance but does not promote commitment nor inspire employees on a basic level. Lastly, expert and referent powers are most likely to increase compliance and commitment. To conclude, effective power does not necessarily mean control, rather it is determined by the goals of an organization. Successful leaders use power ethically, efficiently, and effectively by sharing it. When power influences employees to perform in ways that are not related to the company’s image then that power is abused. The key to power is dependency, where understanding the concept of dependency allows leaders to use bases of power more effectively resulting in the benefit for their company.

Recent studies reinforce that ethical leadership and transparent communication increase employee trust and innovation (Afsar et al., 2022). The combination of knowledge-sharing, moral integrity, and participatory power appears to sustain both commitment and high performance across modern organizations. When viewed through this lens, power becomes not a dominance mechanism but a shared energy that aligns people with purpose.

References

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• Lammers, J., & Galinsky, A. D. (2021). Power and status in social hierarchies. Current Opinion in Psychology, 43, 101–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.06.008

• Spreitzer, G. M., & Dutton, J. E. (2020). Empowering leadership and its links to performance and well-being. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 7(1), 83–110. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012119-045249

• Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2021). The relationship of power distance values and job attitudes: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(2), 269–285. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000491

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