The simple meaning of power is to exercise authority or influence over other people (Jermier and Knights et al., 1994). Referring to the role of power in organizations, it acts as the too which can result in changing the outcomes to either positive or negative. American sociologists, Bertram Raven and John French identified five sources of power that are exerted in organization including coercive, referent, expert, legitimate, and reward power. Coercive power refers to the ability of a person to threat others through sanctions and punishments (Lucas and Baxter, 2012). With this power, employees are under threat of being punished and their behavior is controlled such that adherence of company policies is assured. Second source is the referent power; this is when people respect someone in the organization and the charismatic personality of that person leads to be influenced by that person.
Referent power develops through the personal connection with the significant people in the hierarchy. Expert power is when someone has expertise in any field and so they become inevitable within the organization; usually this kind of power leads to promotions within the company and gaining legitimate power. Legitimate power refers to the authority gained through the position within the company (Jermier and Knights et al., 1994). Last of all is the reward power which is when a person is capable of influencing the incentives in the organization like promotions, increments in salary and giving positive appraisals.
References
Jermier, J., Knights, D. and Nord, W. (1994). Resistance and power in organizations. London: Routledge.
Lucas, J. and Baxter, A. (2012). Power, influence, and diversity in organizations. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 639 (1), pp. 49--70.
Treadway, D., Brel, Williams, L., Cho, J., Yang, J. and Ferris, G. (2011). Social influence and interpersonal power in organizations: Roles of performance and political skill in two studies. Journal of Management.
