5 Types of Power

A. Legitimate Power
Legitimate or it is sometimes called authority or formal power, is that which is derived from the person's position in the organization. It exists because organizations find it advantageous to assign certain powers to individuals so that they can do their jobs effectively. All managers have some degree of legitimate power. It stems from the manager's position in the organization and the authority that lies in that position. Subordinates acknowledge the legitimate power that comes from being in a leadership position in an organization. The employees believe that the manager has the authority to direct their actions, and they are willingly to comply with those requests. Like most power, legitimate power is based upon perception and reality. It is based upon the reality that a person holds a particular position in an organization. It's also based on the perception of an employee that someone holding that position has authority to exert control over her. Legitimate power as a source of authority has one distinct advantage over many other sources of authority, which is that it is usually based upon some objective rule or law of the organization. For example, when an employee asks his/her manager to approve his/her personal time off, the employee knows that the manager has legitimate power to either approve or deny that request. Regardless of what is the manager decision, the employee must comply.

B. Reward Power
It is simply define as the power of a manager to give some type of reward to an employee as a means to reflect or influence the employee to act. Managers have the power to reward subordinates for their actions when those behaviors meet or exceed the performance expectations. Rewards can be tangible or intangible. The key distinction between a tangible reward and an intangible reward is that tangible rewards are