LET1
Task 3
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When discussing leadership it’s important to know that there are 5 bases of power. Those 5 bases of power are coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. Coercive can be described as someone with power using that power to make someone do something they do not want to do. Reward is just that, offering a reward. A manager might offer a reward to the employee who has the highest production rate. This, in theory, drives all employees to work harder in hopes of a reward. Legitimate power is when someone does something they are asked because of the job title or role of the person asking them. Referent power is when someone does something they are asked to do because they like or admire the person asking them to do it. Expert power involves someone’s expertise to get something done. A doctor is a good example. If a doctor tells a patient he or she needs to drink more milk, that person will more than likely comply, simply because of the doctor’s inferred expertise.

Within the given scenarios, the five bases of power are displayed. The paragraph that discusses employee 1 and the marketing manager describes a situation in which the coercive and reward powers are being used. The yearly bonus is the reward for employees who receive a superior rating on performance evaluations. The manager uses coercion to get the employees to work late and on their off days. The paragraph that discusses the accounting department and employee 2, who is a CPA, the expert and legitimate powers are being used. Employee 2 is the only person in the department who holds a CPA. Employee 2 uses this to his/her advantage to negotiate things in her favor. A situation discussed is employee 2’s shortened work week. The manager uses legitimate power in that his job title gives him the ability to negotiate the work week. In the end, they both achieve the results they want by using their individual powers. The paragraph that discusses employee 3 and the sales department, the referent power is being used. Employee 3 is able to persuade others to give his idea a chance based on his/her enthusiasm and the fact that others admire him.

There are relationships between the bases of power in the scenario and the dependency in the organization. In the first paragraph employee 1 and the marketing manager are discussed. In this situation the reward and coercive powers are used, by rewarding employees a bonus if they receive a superior rating on their performance evaluation and coercing them to work late and on their off days. Employee 1 shows a dependency for this reward and succumbs to this coercion because he/she has plans to use this bonus to finance a vacation. She works late and comes in on weekends to ensure that all work is completed and completed correctly. This also leads to more production at a higher level for the organization. The second paragraph involving employee 2 and the accounting department shows the use of the expert and legitimate powers. Employee 2 is the only employee in the organization with a CPA. Since employee 2 is the only person with a CPA, he/she is the only employee that can prepare the company’s financial statements. Obviously the company is dependent on employee 2 because the financial statements have to be done and accurately. Employee 2 uses this to his/her advantage to negotiate a shortened work week. While everyone else in the department works a full 5 day week, employee 2’s expertise allows employee 2 to only work 4 days a week. Employee 2’s manager uses his role in the company to negotiate this deal. He uses his legitimate power. The third paragraph involving employee 3 and the sales department shows the use of the referent power. The rest of the employees in the sales department have been with the organization for at least 3 years, while employee 3 has been there a little over a year. When employee 3 pitched the new idea to increase sales it wasn’t perceived very well. What employee 3 did, was use his enthusiasm and the admiration the other employees show for him, to sway their opinion. By the end of the meeting, not only were the other sales employees excited about the idea, but employee 3 was named to lead the project.

Dependency and power go hand and hand. A manger with power can use an employee’s dependency to achieve results. An example can be a person who desperately needs to make more money, we’ll call him John. Let’s say Mike, John’s boss, is the only person that has the power to give John a raise. John will do things that he may usually not do in order to impress Mike. Mike will have more influence over John because of John’s dependence on making more money. In the first scenario the marketing manager uses the employee’s dependency on a reward and his coercion power to exert his power on the employee’s. Ultimately they produce at a high level. In the second scenario employee 2 uses her expertise as power. The company is dependent on her to because they need her expertise to complete their yearly financial statements. She uses this dependency to negotiate a shorter than normal work week for herself. Employee 2’s manager uses his legitimate power to negotiate the shortened work week. In the third scenario employee 3 uses the fact the other employees admire him as power. Their dependency on finding a solution, combined with the fact that they admire employee 3, allows employee 3 the ability to exert power over them.