Bases of power
Understanding where power and influence comes from
With the US election taking all the headlines at the moment, I find it interesting to see the different symbolism between the two candidates. What shapes your opinion of which is the more effective leader?
This was explored in 1959 by French and Raven who described five bases of power. By understanding these different forms of power, you can learn to use the positive ones to full effect, while avoiding the negative power bases that managers can instinctively rely on. Also
The five bases of power:
- Legitimate — arises from the belief that a person has the formal right to make demands, and to expect others to be compliant and obedient.
- Reward — This results from one person’s ability to compensate another for compliance.
- Expert — Based on a person’s high levels of skill and knowledge.
- Referent —The result of a person’s perceived attractiveness, worthiness and right to others’ respect.
- Coercive — This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance.
Six years later, Raven added an extra power base:
- Informational — This results from a person’s ability to control the information that others need to accomplish something.
On the Businessballs site the author writes how the bases of power rely not only on the leader but also the perceptions of those they are leading
The actual power that leaders possess in granting rewards, punishing, or issuing orders (Positional Power) is significant, but not as significant as the beliefs that followers have about them.
Even if they do not truly have the power to reward, punish or control others, they can exert influence if their followers believe they do.
The same is true of the two forms of Personal Power — Expert Power and Referent Power. The leader may not have superior expertise, but if his followers believe he has, they will grant him power over them — at least for a while.
Similarly, if the leader is not someone to be trusted, followers will let him lead if they’ve been fooled by a positive image — until they discover he cannot be trusted.
The point is that:
Power does not depend only on the leader; it depends also on the perceptions that the followers have of the leader.
The taking and giving of power stems from a relationship between leader and follower, and how the followers perceive the leader.
In the book “7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change “ Esther Derby writes:
In top — down efforts , the process usually goes like this : Start with positional power , with some persuasion thrown in. Add rewards and a few sanctions. When those don’t work, use coercion to achieve compliance. Compliance is the key word here.
At best, coercion, rewards, and positional authority result in compliance, not engagement, and certainly not in creativity. Relying on these sources of power can encourage the bare minimum of people going along to get along.
characterize the approaches that people experience as below the line as “change by decree” and those that people experience as above the line as “change by attraction.” Change by attraction is the opposite of “driving change .” When you work by attraction, you can let go of pushing, persuading, cajoling, and sanctioning because it relies on referent, expert, and informational power.
Change by attraction has the opposite effect resistance fades because there is nothing to push back against; there is only something to move toward, by choice .
It is interesting to consider the bases of power around you. Both with respect to how you might use it in any positions of leadership or influence you have or what are your perceptions of power under the leadership that influences your work. Are they predominantly being impacted by “Change by decree” or “change by attraction”?
References
- Mindtools — French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power
- Tools Hero — Five forms of power
- French and Raven, 1959 0 Bases of social power
- Wikipedia — French and Raven Bases of Power
- Business Balls — Sources of leadership power
- French and Raven — Bases of Power
- Esther Derby “7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change “
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