Saturday, June 21, 2008
Week 3_ Blog 3
Chapter 6- Critical Approaches to Organization and Communication, discusses the concept of Power. The definition of power is a based on the assumption that something a person or group possesses can be exercised through actions. French and Bertram came up with five types of social power. They are reward power, coercive power, referent power, expert power, and legitimate power. It seems as through reward power, coercive power and legitimate power are all powers based off of hierarchy. For example, a manager or a boss holds these powers because they have high positions. However, it seems that with referent power and expert power, it is based on respect and admiration. People hold these powers because other people are willing to do what they ask. For example, a manager may hold reward, coercive, and legitimate powers automatically but could also hold referent and expert powers because their employees respect and look up to them.
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2 comments:
I completely agree with your differentiations of power. I feel that the most precious of the powers a manager can have is the admiration and respect of their employees. I believe a manager is truly successful when all resistance is gone from others. This comes from the legitimate power because the manager is respected and looked up to because they possess efficiency, reasonability, professionalism, and are personable. in turn, communication can be successfully implemented in the workplace.
What type of manager can utilize the reward, coercive, and legitimate powers over the referent and expert powers? Perhaps managers in different industries require different powers. Do you think that perhaps jobs that require less skill and more ‘grunt’ work may require managers who simply need to be obeyed? In opposition, does a white collar worker who gets paid to think require a manger who earns respect and expert powers? I do believe that different management styles are necessary given the industry and level of job skills. That is not to say I excuse bad management.
Athina Scores!
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