Page 61 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Organization Change and Development

Notes French & Ravens “The bases of Social Power”

John R.P. French and Bertram Raven (1959) have suggested five sources, or bases of social power,
which are:
1. Reward Power: Power based on the ability of the power holder to reward another, i.e., to
give something valued by the other.
2. Coercive Power: Power based on the ability of the power holder to punish other, i.e., to
give something negatively valued by the other.
3. Legitimate Power: Power based on the fact that everyone believes that the power holder
has a legitimate right to exert influence and that the power-receiver has a legitimate
obligation to accept the influences.
4. Referent Power: Power based on the power-receiver having an identification with (attraction
to, or feeling of oneness with) the power holder.
5. Expert Power: Power based on the power holder possessing expert knowledge or expertise
that is needed by the other. Informational power is a form of expert power where the
power holder possesses important facts or information needed by the other.

Strategic Contingency Model by Salancik & Pfeffer

This model asserts that power in organisations accrues to organisational subunits (individuals,
units, or departments) that are most important for coping with and solving the most critical
problems of the organisation.
These critical problems are generally “uncertainties” posed by the environment. This theory
also supports the notion that those who have something highly valued by others have power.
Once power is gained it is used by subunits, indeed, used by all who have it, to enhance their
own survival through control of scarce critical resources, through the placement of allies in key
positions, and through the definition of organisational problems and policies.

Mintzberg’s “Genesis of Power”

Mintzberg’s (1983) theory of organisational power ‘is built on the premise that organisational
behaviour is a power game in which various players, called influencer, seek to control
organization’s decisions and actions.’ The three basic conditions for the exercise of power are:
1. Some source or basis of power coupled with
2. The expenditure of energy in a

3. Politically skillful way when necessary.
There are five possible bases of power according to Mintzberg: first, control of a resource’,
second, control of a technical skill; and third, control of a body of knowledge. All these are
critical to the organisation. The fourth basis of power could be legal prerogatives - being given
exclusive rights or privileges to impose choices. And a fifth basis of power is access to those who
have power based on the first four bases. In addition to the base of power the influencer must
have the ‘will’ to use it and the ‘skill’ to use it. There are many potential influencers in and
around an organisation such as board of directors, the managers, the top executives, the employees,
the unions, suppliers, customers, regulators, and so forth.

In summary, these four views of the sources of power are remarkably similar. Power stems
from possession of or mediation of desired resources. The resources may vary from ability to

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