3.2 Forms and Types of Power

In 1959, the social psychologists John R. P French and Bertram Raven, identified five main forms of power:

• Coercive power
• Reward power
• Legitimate power
• Referent power
• Expert power

The following short (4 minutes) video presentation from Brighton School of Business and Management is a concise summary of the main characteristics of these five forms of power.

In 1965, Raven added a sixth form:

• Informational power

These key forms of power continue to be used to describe and analyse power relationships in organisations. Over time they have been adapted (referent power is sometimes called personal power) and supplemented with sub-categories, but they remain the classic starting point in considering power.

The article French & Raven’s Forms of Power summarises the six types.

In A Manager's Guide to Leadership (a highly recommended workbook), Mike Pedler, John Burgoyne and Tom Boydell adapt French and Raven to form their own Power Index. The Index has two main categories Position Power and Personal Power and each of these categories have three types of power.

Position Power

• Role power - derives from your role or status and defines the scope of your authority
• Coercive power - depends on other people thinking you can punish them with formal disciplinary procedures, withdrawal of privileges, even dismissal. There are subtler forms of coercion, such as disapproval, withdrawal of friendliness, exclusion form meetings, exclusion from social events.
• Reward power - the flip side of coercive power, this depends on the perception that you have the ability and resources to reward others. These rewards are not just the obvious things like pay and promotion, they could be about giving opportunities to go on training and development courses, or simply praise and recognition.

Personal Power

• Expert power - your special knowledge or competence in a given area. It is based on credibility and the value attached the area where you have the knowledge and expertise.
• Personal power - comes from your personal characteristics and behaviours, your reputation and the respect that others have for you.
• Connection power - derives from networks and relationships. The people we talk to and consult are important in building our knowledge and political awareness, and gaining support for the things we want to do.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter of the Harvard Business School has an interesting list of things that bring or increase power.

1. Show up: The power of presence.
Seek out networking opportunities, accept invitations - or get yourself invited to things.
2. Speak up: The power of voice.
Putting your ideas into words that get people to listen and see you as a leader. If you're uncomfortable with public speaking, get a coach, take lessons, and take every opportunity to practise.
3. Look up: the power of vision
Know why you do what you do and how it fits with higher principles and values
4. Team up: the power of partnering.
Professional knowledge and skills aren't enough. We need to build good relationships inside and outside our organisation.
5. Never give up: the power of persistence.
Keep at it! Everything can look like a failure in the middle. Review things and make adjustments. Try different tactics. Surprise the naysayers.
6. Lift others up: the power of empowering
Share the success and elevate others.

Kanter talks, in her own individual way, about these six "commands" in this video:

Reflection

Thinking about each of the six French and Raven’s Forms of Power:

• How and when do you use them?
• How do others around you use them?

Which Rosabeth Moss Kanter “commands” are the most challenging for you?

How can you address this?

You can use the Stepping Into Leadership Course Workbook to record your thoughts.

Continue the course with: 3.3 Transactional Analysis