Sources of Power in Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sources of Power in Organization - Essay Example According to Murphy and Willmott (2010), power is needed to direct the system because it has a formal chain of command in which some responsibilities are essential regardless of the performers. Moreover, some positions in an organization have access to greater resources or their contribution is crucial. Therefore, the significant of power processes in the organization is attributed to the organizational relationships, both vertical and horizontal (Miller, 2008). Sources of Power According to Daft and Marci (2010), leaders at all levels in the organization access power that sometimes end up unrecognized or underused. The leaders may have the power of expertise where influences are as a result of improving and communicating specialized ideas. It comes from the superiors’ credibility with lower level employees, and the experience of work a person has worked in the firm is significant. Moreover, the education qualifications, and perception that an individual has extra ideas on a specific topic can also be the source of expert power. For instance, a lower level secretary may have expert power because he or she has extra details about how the company operates. Meanwhile, she or he can make suggestions on how to increase income via costs reimbursements. However, expert power may result in the ethical problems when it is used to manipulate others or used to obtain an unfair advantage. For instance, accounting firm may obtain additional revenue by ignoring the importance of the accuracy of financial reports that they examine in an audit. Daft and Marci (2010) indicate that referent power may occur when one person perceives that his or her goals are related to another person in the organization. ... The second person may opt to influence the first to take actions that will allow both to attain their objectives. Because they share the same interests, the first person will perceive the other’s use of referent power as beneficial. However, for this power to effective some kind of empathy must exist between the parties. Griffin and Moorhead (2011) claim that identification with others assists to enhance the decision maker’s confidence that increase individual referent power in the organization. According to Griffin and Moorhead (2011), reward power is the situation where individual’s ability to influence the behavior of others by offering them something desirable. Reward power could encourage persons to be selfish and not in the interest of others. Daft and Lane (2005) indicate that coercive is a source of power that is the opposite of reward power. Many organizations have used a system whereby they systematically sack the lowest performing employees in the orga nization on an annual basis. Â  According to Daft and Lane (2005), coercion is used in the situation where there is an inequality of power. It is perceived that an individual who are faced with coercion issues may seek a counterbalance by creating relationships with others, and powerful people end up leaving the organization. Thus, in the organization that practices the coercion power, the alignments usually come to an end in the long run (Champoux, 2010). Murphy and Willmott (2010) indicate that power in the organization can be exercised in various ways that include upward, downward and horizontally. In an organization, a large amount of power is distributed to top managers by the organization system. However, employees also obtain unequal power to their formal positions and exercise