What Is Power: Essay – Free Essay Example

In social and political science, power is the capacity of a private to influence the conduct of others. The term ‘authority’ is usually used for power that’s perceived as legitimate by the social organization. Power is often seen as evil or unjust. This type of primitive exercise of power is historically endemic to humans, however, as social beings, an equivalent concept is seen nearly as good and as something inherited or given for exercising humanistic objectives that will help, move, and empower others also. Generally, it’s derived from the factors of interdependence between two entities and therefore the environment. In business, the moral instrumentality of power is an achievement, and intrinsically it’s a game. In simple terms, it is often expressed as being ‘upward’ or ‘downward’. With downward power, a company’s superior influences subordinates for attaining organizational goals. When a corporation exerts upward power, it’s the subordinates who influence the choices of their leader or leaders.

The use of power needn’t involve force or the threat of force (coercion). An example of using power without oppression is the concept of ‘soft power’, as compared to hard power.

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Power has been a crucial aspect of human civilization since time out of mind. Power could be physical, political, or social. Within the context of business, too, power dynamics tend to influence decisions and other people’s transactions heavily. So defining power is often difficult because it is known and interpreted in several ways, however, power can definitely not be called a force that gets you what you would like. Power basically emanates from a position or authority that may influence people both positively and negatively.

For simplicity and understanding purposes, power is typically classified into the following categories:

• Coercive power. This type of power involves the use of threats to form people to do what someone desires. Within the organization, it translates into threatening someone with transfer, firing, demotions, etc. It basically forces people to undergo one’s demands because of the fear of losing something.
• Reward power. As the name suggests, this sort of power uses rewards, perks, new projects or training opportunities, better roles, and monetary benefits to influence people. However, a stimulating aspect of this sort of power is that it’s not powerful enough in itself, as decisions associated with rewards don’t rest solely with the person promising them, because in organizations tons of people inherit play like senior managers and board.
• Legitimate power. This power emanates from a political position held by someone, be it in a corporation, bureaucracy, government, etc. The duration of this power is brief lived as an individual can use it only till the time he/she holds that position, also as the scope of the facility is little because it is strictly defined by the position held.
• Expert power. This is often a private quiet power that owes its genesis to the talents and expertise possessed by a private, which is of upper quality and not easily available. In such a situation, the person can exercise the facility of data to influence people. Since it’s very person-specific and skills are often enhanced with time, it’s more credibility and respect.
• Referent power. This is often an influence wielded by celebrities and film stars as they need a huge following amongst the masses who like them, identify with them, and follow them. Hence, they exert a lasting influence on an outsized number of individuals for an outsized number of decisions, like from what car to shop for to which candidate to settle on for a better office within the country.

So, power is often defined in a number of ways, however, what’s important is the usage of the facility by people that possess it. Within the organizational context, the facility dynamics and equations got to be carefully managed as they need an enormous impact on the motivation and engagement level of employees. It also defines the organization’s culture generally and other people’s transactions within the organization especially. An organization that is truly driven by hierarchy and power finds it difficult to accommodate new and innovative ideas, any change is vehemently refused, ego clashes occur and fewer opportunities are provided for high performers, thus delaying organizational growth. On the other hand, in a corporation that has a flat structure, people are encouraged to innovate and explore, thus introducing new concepts and concepts to accelerate organizational growth and expansion.