A review on Power Bases application to Sri Lanka’s context

Introduction

This paper is based on Organizational Behaviour module and the topic considered for the paper is a review on Power, Politics, and Influence application to Sri Lanka’s current issues by Shamindra Hettiarachchi.

The initial chapter of the paper discusses, what is all about Power, Politics, and Influence, the reasons why power required and the power dependency module.

Then the other chapter briefly describe power typology, such as Power as decision making, by Steven Lukes,1974, Power as knowledge, by Michel Foucault, 1980, Powershift, by Alvin Toffler, 1990 and the Power bases, by Raven, 2008.

Out of all the power typologies Bertram Raven (2008) power bases are discussed in detail with their current issues to Sri Lankan’s context. They are, Legitimate Power, which is the power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization, Reward Power, which is compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that others view as valuable, Coercive Power, which is the power base that is depend on fear, Expert Power, which is influence based on special skills or knowledge, Referent Power, which is influence based on possession by an individual of desirable resources or personal traits, Informational Power, which is influence based on the information an individual control.

Each power base is described briefly and discussed in detail to the current context of Sri Lanka with advantages, impact and drawbacks of each power use.

What are POWER, POLITICS, and INFLUENCE

Power is the ability to influence others to believe, behave, or to value as those in power desire them to or to strengthen, validate, or confirm present beliefs, behaviors, or values.

Power is the social force that allows select persons to mobilize others, to organize others, to act in concert, and to melt away resistance to leaders’ authority. It is important to have multiple bases of power to translate influence tactics into concrete results.

The existence of organizational politics is a reality to most organizations and successful leaders or managers or officer must be good politicians. On the other hand, the more political that the employees perceive, the lower their satisfaction and commitment towards the organization. Everybody in the organization have some power within oneself, thus an organization is a network of power bases.

An individual may express their power through symbols like large house, large vehicles, the jewelry they wear, the designer clothes etc.

People, who have more power, have tendency of getting or moving along together more frequently. In most of the organizations or institutions eighthly percent of power is control by the twenty percent of the people.

Why you need power?

When you have a project plan to execute, you will use different power bases in different situations, to execute the plan the way you want. You will use power to make sure the project executes as per your plan.

The power dependency model

The greater actor B depend on actor A, the greater the power actor A has over actor B. The power dependency between actor A and B are called diodes. Therefore if you take an organization there could be lot of diodes within the organization. [pic]
Figure 1: Power dependency Model

Power Typologies

Power as decision making (Steven Lukes, 1974)

“one dimensional, view of power involves a focus on behavior in the making of decisions on issues over which there is an observable conflict of (subjective) interests, seen as express policy preferences, revealed by political participation.“

Power as Knowledge (Michel Foucault, 1980)

“ power is exercised by virtue of things being known and people being seen…
… the exercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly induces effects of power… …It is not possible for power to be exercised without knowledge, it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power… ”

Powershift (Alvin Toffler, 1990)

The three main kinds of power are violence, wealth, and knowledge with other kinds of power being variations of these three (typically knowledge). Toffler argues that the very nature of power is currently shifting. The dominant form of power shifted from violence to wealth. Today, a Third Wave of shifting power is taking place with wealth being overtaken by knowledge.

The bases of Power (Bertram Raven, 2008)

Bertram Raven (2008) introduces six bases of power. These six bases are divide in to two categories. Position power which includes Legitimate, Reward, and Coercive power & Personal power which includes Expert, Referent, and Information power.

This paper discusses in detail the power bases defined by Bertram Raven (2008) and it’s applicability to Sri Lankan’s current context.

Bertram Ravens (2008) Power Bases

Position Power

The traditional manager’s power comes from the organization. The manager’s position gives him or her the power to reward or punish subordinates in order to influence their behavior. Legitimate power, Reward Power and Coercive power are all forms of position power used by managers to change employee behavior.

Legitimate Power

Power coming from formal management position in an organization and the authority granted to it is called legitimate power. Once the person has been selected as a supervisor, most workers understand that they are obligated to follow his or her direction with respect to work activities. Subordinates accept this source of power as legitimate, which is why they comply.

The position itself vested the power on the person. In a family in Sri Lanka, the parent, have the authority to restrict a child watching television and dedicating that time to do studies. A Sri Lankan police officer is appointed to protect the law and order in the country, and if wanted to arrest a person with a legitimate warrant. The government of Sri Lanka can legitimately impose curfew or declare high security zones to restore peace or to avoid violence. The president of the country has the legitimacy to live in the president’s house. The CEO’s of Sri Lankan organizations has legitimate power to take decisions for the benefit of the organization. Or the higher management has the authority to hire and fire employees in the organization. In a sporting event, the umpire of the game has the legitimate power to penalize the players, if they break the rules of the game.

At the same time, some pitfalls can arise when too heavy confidence or dependency is placed on legitimate power. In Sri Lanka, police officers are allowed to arrest any citizen (without any inquiry) with the power vested on the police officer. Another example where the bureaucratic structure in the government institutions, sometimes, where no respect is given to citizens who depend or ask for their service. The military legitimacy that extended criminally during 1988, 1989 period in Sri Lanka. Also in the sole trade organizations in Sri Lanka, where the owners have the sole authority to hire and fire people, where the individual have no job security or to demand for rights.

Legitimate power results from one’s being elected, selected, or appointed to a position of authority. Such legitimacy is conferred by others and this legitimacy can be revoked by the original granters, their designees, or their inheritors.

Reward Power

Reward power stems from the authority to bestow rewards on other people. Managers may have access to formal rewards, such as pay increases or promotions. They also have at their disposal such rewards as praise, attention, and recognition. Managers can use rewards to influence subordinates’ behavior.

The positive rewards can be, when the father buys a gift for the child for becoming first in the class. Another example can be, Sri Lankan cricketers getting rewarded when they break a world record, or after winning the 1996 cricket world cup the government of Sri Lanka awarding plot of land to each player and the officials in the squad. In the industrial sector in Sri Lanka, especially in manufacturing industry, employees get rewards then and there for the work improvements or disaster prevention. Or through employee or the month or employee of the year rewards scheme recognize their contribution towards the organization. In the recent past Sri Lankan government heralded the war hero’s for winning battle against terrorist. In the political environment in Sri Lanka, there are lots of people go behind the politicians since there perception is like, the politician can give special help and benefits to those who cooperate with him.

The negative rewards can be, imposing fines on riders or drivers for breaking the rules. This could same as a child breaking the ground rules in the family and get punish by the parents. Or invoking a name of a political leader whenever political scandal is mentioned.

The drawback of Rewards Power could be, people tend to work expecting a reward, even for a mundane activity. This is very much alive in the local government institution where most of the government servants expect bribes, even from the poor public to get their service done. At time passes, past rewards become insufficient to motivate or activate desired outcomes, so the expectation goes beyond from the existing rewards scheme.

Reward power is based on the right of some to offer tangible, social, emotional, or spiritual rewards to others for doing what is wanted or expected of them or to deny others something tangible, social, emotional, political, or spiritual for failing to or refusing to do what is desired or expected of them. The reward power comes in two forms, the positive rewards and the negative rewards.

Coercive Power

The opposite of rewards power is Coercive power. It refers to the authority to punish or recommend punishment. Managers have coercive power when they have the right to fire or demote employees, criticize, or withdraw pay increases.

Coercion, in our society, is seen as inappropriate; however, many victimizers and some victims fail to recognize coercion or do not know how to counter coercion when it befalls them. Coercion typically portends fear, distrust, a lack of positive regard for the powerful, and no loyalty toward the powerful.

Coercive power is widely demonstrated in political environment in Sri Lanka. Especially when a new government is elected, the newly elected candidate becomes overnight super powers who take the law and order into their hands to demonstrate their supremacy. Even within the current political environment, there are members of the current ruling party who have shown their misbehavior in public places and even inside government institution going beyond the powers vested on them to reprimand people using the Coercive power. These misbehaviors tarnish the image of the ruling party and their good governance, but within the political structure, the authorities who are responsible to take action against these politicians step-back due to their lack of inability.

Coercive power is also been seen towards policeman by politicians where policeman do not get applauded for the good work they do, but threaten, punishment or reprimanded if they failed to carry out the orders of the politician.

In some of the local government universities the academic staff uses their Coercive power over the students to demonstrate their supremacy, when students standup for their rights or voice their grievances.

Employees working under coercive managers are unlikely to be committed towards work and one of the main reasons for those employees to leave the organization is also the negative attitude of managers’ towards the employees.

Coercive power cannot be eliminated, but can reduce to some extend to control the situations. This can be achieved by appointing independent bodies or committees to take strict or firm action against those people who commit these activities beyond their control.

Compared to the government institutions where the environment is highly politicized the private institutions or in private organizations the use of Coercive power is minimal. The Coercive power is not an ideal or recommended or perfect way of power to use thus can tarnish the image of the organization or the government.

Coercive power exists when the use of or the threat of force is made to extract compliance from another. Force is not limited to physical means; social, emotional, political, or economic force is also included.

Personal power

When compare to the external sources of position power; personal power most often comes from internal sources, such as a person’s special knowledge or personal characteristics. Personal power is the primary tool of the leader, and it is becoming increasingly important as more businesses are run by the teams of workers who are less tolerant of authoritarian management. The types of personal power are expert power, referent power and informational power.

Expert power

Power resulting from a leader’s special knowledge or skill regarding the tasks performed by followers is referred to as expert power. When the leader is a true expert, subordinates go along with recommendations because of his or her superior knowledge. Leaders at supervisory levels often have experience in the production process that gains them promotion. At top management levels, however, leaders may lack expert power because subordinates know more about technical details than they do.

In my opinion the Expert Power is paramount of all other power bases. It is something that one could earn the respect from all levels in the society, organizations, schools, and even within your own families.

In the Sri Lankan society, any individual with a doctorate, especially a MBBS qualification, have more acceptance compared to other discipline of education.

Same way in an organization the highest qualified person has more influence within the peers, to influence any managerial decision, in board meetings.

We have seen in schools especially in the rural areas, where past pupils who excelled in their career visits their alma mater, a special assembly is called upon to share their experience with the school children. And at the same time, this scholar’s become hero or a role model of the school children.

Not only knowledge, even skills of an individual or a group or team can influence the perception of the people. The best example could be the cricket team in Sri Lanka. Though cricket is not the national sport in Sri Lanka, Cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka, since Sri Lanka became 1996 world champions and also became runner up in few other occasions. As a result almost all players in the team present team and also in the past teams became role models of the young generation. But this is not the case for ladies cricket team. Ladies cricket is rarely heard since them yet to prove their skills in the international arena.

The legend in Sri Lankan music scene, Pandit Amaradeva, have gained respect from all generations in every stream (even from the politicians which is a rare situation compared to other musicians) for the contribution and expertise made to the music industry.

There are pitfalls in expert power, since expertise is not everlasting, for example, a physician who fails to keep up with medical technology and advances may lose expertise. A good cricketer may not be a good coach, but can be a good commentator or a good umpire. Musician may excel for a certain period for a certain age group. But if the musician cannot cope with the current trend, or the expertise is not the current trend, he / she may lose the popularity.

Expert power is based on what one knows, what experience one has, and/or what special skills or talents one has. Expertise can be demonstrated by demonstration, by reputation, or by offering appropriate credentials certifying expertise.

Referent Power

Referent power comes from the leaders personal characteristics that command followers’ identification, respect, and admiration so they wish to emulate the leader. Referent power does not depend on formal title or position. When workers admire a supervisor because of the way he or she deals with them, the influence is based on referent power.

Marketing research shows that people such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena have the power to influence the consumer choice on Mobile Companies and Soft drinks or energy drinks. Same example applies to Bathiya and Santosh whom you would see in soft drink advertisements. However with several rounds of rehearsal one could deliver a better sales pitch on the above products to the consumer than these celebrities, but the buying public doesn’t identify the trained person who delivers a better sales pitch than the celebrities. It is the referent power that influences the buying power of public. In the Sri Lankan political culture, there are spouses who gained political advantage by the death of their next to kin.

Referent power is also more visible in the Charismatic leadership in Sri Lanka. People tend to respect and pay attention to speeches they deliver or sometime people appeal for their blessings on special occasions.

The drawbacks that can occur related to Referent power could be, an organization advertising a misleading product using a celebrity who have no or little idea about what the product is all about. Another situation where people vote for the spouse of a leading politician who died recently, where the spouse have no or little idea on what politics all about. There are situations where same celebrity was used in one product advertisement and few months later the same celebrity influence the public to purchase a competitor’s product where the association with the former is no longer or no true tie is established.

Referent power stems from the affiliations we make and/or the groups/organizations we belong to or are attached to. The ethos’s of our associates or groups to which we belong become, to some degree, our own ethos.

Informational Power

Information power comes as a result of possessing knowledge that others need or want. Information possessed that no one needs or wants is powerless. This power type also extends to the ability to get information not presently held such as a case with a librarian or data base manager.

Not all information is free flowing, some information properly is in control of few people. An example could be national security data which held by the secretary to the ministry of defense and few other people. The personal information of government or private organizations, or the corporate trade secrets such as a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable.

There are few examples like juvenile court records; many privately settled lawsuit documents, video recordings done through surveillance camera (CCTV) and recordings of private phone conversations, legally obtained phone tap warrants, spying, overhearing private conversation, group member leaks secrets etc.

Also information can, and often used as a weapon in a divorce cases, as in a child custody case, business dissolution, or in civil suits discoveries. Information has been used by some to extort action, utterance, agreement, or settlement by others. In some jurisdictions, such secrets are referred to as "confidential information" or "classified information".

The drawbacks in Information power is, once the information delivered, the significance or the importance of the person is over. One typical example is when an instructor instructs the apprentice, the apprentice may not depend on the instructor to continue on learning the subject. Same applies to training and education.

Possessing information is not, typically, the vital act, it is what one can and does do or potentially can do with the information that typically is of vital importance.

Conclusion

If someone asks, is there one best type of power to have? The answer is not really. Powerful leaders use as many of the bases of power as possible. In fact, truly effective leaders are able to use all power bases to some degree. Followers who are aware of these bases of power can also use them to limit or control the leader’s power.

In summary, the power bases and their influences in current context to Sri Lankan can be described as, the Legitimate power is mostly demonstrated within the family life in Sri Lanka between the parent and child relationship. The Rewards power mostly seen in sporting personal, where they get rewarded when they hold a new world record. Coercive power widely demonstrated in political environment in Sri Lanka, especially when a new government is elected. Expert power can be seen mostly in sporting personality and musicians in Sri Lanka, where they have become the role models of the younger generation. Referent power is seen in most advertisements where celebrities are been used to advertise products and services. The Information power is mostly seen in political environment, where the information of high profiled personalities are kept within the ruling party.

The relationships you have with people can reflect a balance of the power bases. We all have something to give as well as to receive from others. Each person possess a power base to some extent.

Anyone is capable of holding power and influencing others: you don't need to have an important job title or a big office. But if you recognize the different forms of power, you can avoid being influenced by those who use the less effective types of power.

List of References

Robbins, S.P, Judge, T.A, Sanghi, S (2010) Organizational Behavior, New Delhi: Prentice Hall.

Daft, R. L. (2009). Principals of Management. New Delhi: Cengage Learning.

Podsakoff, P. M. and Schriesheim, C. A. (1985). Field Studies of French and Raven's Bases of Power: Critique, Reanalysis, and Suggestions for Future Research, http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/friedkin/Syllabi/Soc147/Frecnh%20Raven%20Bases%20of%20Power.pdf

Petress, K., Power: Definition, Typology, Description, Examples, and Implications, http://www.uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/PowerDefinitionsTypologyExamples.pdf