The bases of social power 1959 university of michigan. According to this model, people can have coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. In their original article, french and raven 1959 identified five bases of power which an agent, o, can exert over a person, p. Expert and referent power can be negative or positive, and legitimate power may be based on normative obligations. The procedures for assessing the reliability and validity convergent, discriminant, and nomological of each scale are discussed and. Five forms of power by french and ravens shailesh hapani. The five sources of power are legitimate power, coercive power, reward power, expert power and referent power. Many thinkers have sought the source of this power.
The original french and raven 1959 model included five bases of power reward, coercion, legitimate, expert, and referent. A level 3 leader is known as competent manager and is responsible for organizing people as. French and raven s bases of power explain the five and eventually six forms, types, or sources of power in the 1960s that still apply to us today in. Referent power, involving identification of p with o, will tend to have the broadest range. Hayes had legitimate power, which originated from being an employer. French and ravens bases of power wikimili, the free.
Normally, the relationship between o and p will have many different variables. This paper questions the higherorder legitimacy of several of french and raven s seven forms of power in the information age. Robin hayes, who is the president of jetblue airways and could be described as having legitimate power. In the late 1980s, rosabeth moss kanter, in her classic book men and women of the corporation, redefined power as control over organizational resources. An overview of john french and bertram ravens alternative leadership philosophy.
Dependency refers to the degree of internalization that occurs among individuals subject to social control. These cover the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to power and influence. Among the leaders who practice the five bases of power is mr. A study examined the way in which vocational and technical faculty and students perceive the effectiveness of french and raven s five power bases. French and bertram raven in 1959, power is divided into five separate and distinct forms. I think it is the most powerful of them all, even if the name is kind of funny sounding. The most commonly used definition of power comes from french and raven 1959 and frames power in relation to the influence exerted. In the expanded model, coercion and reward can have personal and impersonal forms. This was followed by raven s subsequent identification in 1965 of a sixth separate and. Lets explore french and ravens bases of power in two groups positional and personal. Feldman writes about the six bases of social power.
French and raven described 5 types of power, sometimes referred to as the 5 bases of social power. Apr 27, 20 earlier in the course we learned about power and influence and the five bases of power. This is the power to force someone to do something against their will. French and ravens bases of power is a model that helps. It is a well known study by social psychologists by john r. Reward this results from one persons ability to compensate another for compliance. It comes from the idea that the follower sees the leader as a personal frame of reference, someone they want to emulate and be. As distinguished by french and raven, the seven types of social power are. It then presents french and ravens social bases of powercoercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expertand builds a case for power being a focus for both educational researchers and practitioners. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. This is a very common form of power and is the basis for a very large.
Maybe you know some people who exhibit some of these. Coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, expert, with the later addition of informational. French and raven argue that there are five significant categories of such qualities, while not excluding other minor categories. French and ravens five forms of power leadership training. Coercive power power coming from the idea that the leader can and will. He may be best known for his collaboration with bertram raven on french and raven s five bases of power in 1959. Feldman writes that according to french and raven 1959, and later raven 1974, there are six bases of social power. Though emerging from qualitatively different leadership paradigms, houses 1977 conceptualization of charisma and french and raven s 1968 personal power bases intuitively appear to represent similar leader characteristics. Session eight power and change and session 10 crosscultural influences on change of this course discusses the topic which can derail most change programs if incorrectly used power. These bases of power were reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, expert power, and referent power.
French and ravens five sources of power are legitimate, reward, expert, referent and coercive. The original french and raven 1959 bases of power model posited six bases of power. They are expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power psu w. The theoretical definitions of each power base are given in table 1. French and others published the bases of social power.
Coercion will produce decreased attraction of p toward o and high resistance. French and ravens five bases of social power course hero. This was followed by raven s subsequent identification in 1965 of a sixth separate and distinct base of power. Owen ambur, university of maryland university college, july. Continuum of political, social and economic power as a framework for discipline analysis. Critique, reanalysis, and suggestions for future research philip m. To explain the way in which organizational control operates, french and raven postulated the following five power bases. A typology of five bases of social power developed by french and raven 1959 has been used to study small. A major concept in the lesson was the different types of power, and the means of getting power. The study showed how different types of power affected ones leadership ability and success in a leadership role. The systematic measurement of french and ravens bases of. The perceived effectiveness of french and ravens five power. And because others follow, the person with power leads. Leadership as a function of power university of texas.
Fives bases of power pennsylvania state university. With reference to examples, discuss these five bases and explain how they might be seen in organizations. Understanding power one of the most notable studies on power was conducted by social psychologists john french and bertram raven, in 1959. Referent power is the power derived from being a reference model for. Nov, 2017 french and raven s bases of power explain the five and eventually six forms, types, or sources of power in the 1960s that still apply to us today in the workplace. The bases of power and the powerinteraction model of. Reward power is typically financial when talking about a leader within a company, for example the ability to reward your team members with things like bonuses or pay raises. Identify ways in which french and ravens five bases of social power are used in your organization or in an organization with which you are familiar. Organizational power in perspective leadership and. In 1965 raven revised this model to include a sixth form by separating the informational power base as distinct from the expert power base. Critique, reanalysis, and suggestions for future research, abstract among the most widely used conceptualizations of social power is the fivefold typology developed by french and raven in 1959, and numerous field studies have used this conceptualization over the past few decades.
French and bertram raven identified five major sources of power. Leadership as a function of power gary yukls research on leadership provides us with insights into the. Evaluate whether or not these bases of power are used effectively or not. Crosss cultural influences and change assignment 2 solved. A powerinteraction model of interpersonal influence. A qualitative analysis of power differentials in ethical. Comparing alternative measures of the french and raven power. It ranges from the initial work in 1959 of french and raven. The history and background of the analysis of the basis of power is examined, beginning with its origins in the works of kurt lewin and his followers at the research center for group dynamics, particularly the early research by john r. Referent power is one of the six sources of social power identified by social psychologists john r. Podsakoff department of administrative and behavioral studies indiana university chester a. French and raven defined five bases of power in 1959. While organizational power can keep an organization in check and even spur it to growth and fame, it is. Schriesheim management department university of florida among the most widely used conceptualizations of social power is the five fold.
Sociology of work sociology bibliographies cite this for me. Raven s 1959 model positing 6 bases of social power. Nov 08, 2016 french and ravens bases of power is a model that helps explain sources of power in society. Raven, 1965, since then, as the result of considerable research, the model has gone through significant developments. Legitimate this comes from the belief that a person has the formal right to make demands, and to expect others to be compliant and obedient. French, bertram raven date 1959 page start 150 page end 167 is part of book title studies in social power authors dorwin cartwright date 1959 publisher research center for group dynamics, institute for social research, university of. They go on to expand the understanding of power through the exploration of 5 bases. In 1959, french and raven described five bases of power. Unit 6 social power 2 introduction understanding power in the workplace organization was best described by psychologist john french and bertram raven. Though emerging from qualitatively different leadership paradigms, house s 1977 conceptualization of charisma and french and raven s 1968 personal power bases intuitively appear to represent similar leader characteristics. Sociology of work sociology bibliographies in harvard style. Expert power is primarily the power of knowledge and experience psu w. Their classifications are listed in table 1 on the following page.
Thus, power is a prerequisite for success, irrespective of peoples inner needs for power lawrence and lorsch 1967. Expert power is based on followers perceptions of leaders competence e. They define five interpersonal sources, or basis of power. They identified those five bases of power as coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. Reward power results from the ability to provide positive reinforcement for desired. A free powerpoint ppt presentation displayed as a flash slide show on id. In a notable study of power conducted by social psychologists john r. Jan 05, 2015 these are the sources and citations used to research sociology of work. On the basis of these considerations, it is possible to link personal processes to structural conditions. It is often physical although other threats may be used. Jul 22, 2014 understanding power one of the most notable studies on power was conducted by social psychologists john french and bertram raven, in 1959. Critique, reanalysis, and suggestions for future research, abstract among the most widely used conceptualizations of social power is the five fold typology developed by french and raven in 1959, and numerous field studies have used this conceptualization over the past few decades.
French and ravens five forms of power online library. French and raven 1959 stated that the types of power arecoercive, reward. Instead, it investigates the basis of a leaders power. The present investigation examined the distinction among these constructs using ratings of leaders obtained from 142 state government employees. Research on power and effectiveness yukl found that most research classified five different types of leader power, relying upon the power taxonomy proposed by french and raven in their studies of social power. French and ravens five sources of power the good, the. A president, prime minister, or monarch has legitimate power. Coercive power is the use of force implied or otherwise to achieve compliance. The frenchraven s five forms of power are introduced with observance of the level of observability, and the extent to which the power is dependent on structural conditions. The bases of power and their real world applications. Raven, published a classic article that defined the five bases of power in organizations. The reason for learning about the 5 types of power is so that we can learn the situations when it is appropriate to use a particular type of power, thus making us more effective managers and leaders.
Coercive power power coming from the idea that the leader can and will penalise those who dont carry out his or her instructions. Drawing on the wrong power base can have unintended effects, including a reduction in as own power. The five bases of power were identified by john french and bertram raven in the early 1960s through a study they had conducted on power in leadership roles. This bibliography was generated on cite this for me on monday, january 5, 2015. Lets explore french and ravens bases of power according to these sources.
French and ravens bases of power is a model that helps explain sources of power in society. Aug 26, 2011 for even others, power is of no interest at all. This idea is used often communication within the workforce. French and raven s five forms of power attempts to determine what it is that makes someone powerful in a given setting. The paper argues that the effective use of power, a littleinvestigated concept, is crucial to providing leadership in educational settings. Basis of power or base of power this article uses both phrases. The bases of power and the powerinteraction model of interpersonal influence bertram h. By understanding these different forms of power in an organization, the positive ones can be learned and used to the full effect. Many books list the five bases of power but french and raven. Sociology of work sociology bibliographies cite this. Accordingly one finds in political science, in sociology, and in social psychology a variety of distinctions among different types of social power or among qualitatively. Using your 5 personal power bases to get ahead psychology today. In their work on power in organizations, john french and bertram raven propose five bases of social power.
The basis of power is the relationship between o and p. French and raven 1959 identified five bases of power. French and raven s five sources of power positional power reward power power based on the idea that the leader can and will grant valuable rewards if followers carry out his or her instructions. Further bases have since been adduced in particular by gareth morgan in his 1986 book, images of organization.
Coach rice demonstrated all five bases of power in a negative manner. The most common description of power is french and raven 1960. Each is described briefly below and then in more detail later. French and raven identified seven categories of power, referring to them as power bases. It then presents french and raven s social bases of power coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expertand builds a case for power being a focus for both educational researchers and practitioners. Others have suggested adaptations of these leadership teachings, but french and raven offer the foundational understanding of power. Their study of social power is valuable to us in understanding the power dynamics of organisational life. Five bases of power which french and raven give us are reward power, which is to think that one has the ability to mediate rewards for him. French and raven s five forms of power understanding where power comes from in the workplace leadership and power are closely linked. The 5 bases of power are split into two categories.