GRADE

San Fabian National High School

Quarter 3 Week 5 Module

Name of Teacher
Contact Messenger
Number

DANRIDGE G. VERCELES 09957398835 Danridge De Guzman Verceles

THE CONCEPT OF POWER

 Identify the types of power.

PRETEST
Directions: Complete the diagram by supplying the characteristics of the different types of authority
and pinpoint its significant to ones’ life and leadership. COPY AND ANSWER. USE BOND
PAPER FOR YOUR ANSWER.

Types of
Authorit
y
 CONCEPTS DISCUSSION
THE MEANING OF POWER
Politics always involves the exercise of power by one or persons to another person or persons
(Shively, 2012).
Power is the ability to act to produce an effect.
Authority is the power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.
Influence is the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct
exercise of command.
However, there are instances that power becomes cynical, brutal, and self-destructive that
affirmed Lord Acton’s dictum: “Power tends to corrupt: absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Sources of Power
1. Organizational Power is a power derived from a person’s position in an organization and from
control over valuable resources afforded by that position.
a. Reward power. It is the extent to which a leader can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to
control and influence other people.
b. Coercive power. It is the degree to which a leader can deny desired rewards or administer
punishments to control other people and let them follow his wants.
c. Legitimate power. It is the extent to which a leader can use subordinates’ internalized values
or beliefs that the boss has a right of command to control his subordinates’ behavior. That if
legitimacy is lost, authority will not be accepted by subordinates. It is otherwise known as
formal hierarchical authority.
d. Information power. The leader has the access to and control of information. This could be
granted to specialists and managers in the middle of information system. The people may
protect information in order to increase their power.
e. Process power. The leader has full control over the methods of production and analysis.
Thereby, placing an individual in the position in influencing how inputs are transformed into
outputs as well as managing the analytical process used to make choice.
f. Representative power. The legal right conferred to speak by the firm as a representative of a
potentially significant group composed of individuals from department or outside the firm.
Helps complex organizations deal with a variety of constituencies.
2. Individual Power or Personal Power is a power derived from personal characteristics that are of
value to the organization.
a. Expert power. The ability to control another person’s behavior through the possession of
knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person needs but does not have. Is relative,
not absolute.
 b. Rational persuasion/process. The ability to control another person’s behavior by convincing
the other person of the desirability of a goal and a reasonable way of achieving it. Much of a
supervisor’s daily activity involves rational persuasion.
c. Referent power. The ability to control another’s behavior because the person wants to
identify with the power source. Can be enhanced by linking to morality and ethics and long-
term vision.
Symbols of Powers
Since organizational charts only reveal authority and not power, it is important to determine
what the symbols of power are across most organizations. One of the more easily identified power
symbols is that of a uniform for a police officer.
A. Kanter’s Symbols of Power
The primary characteristic of Kanter’s seven symbols of power is that they provide ability to
aid or assist another person. Her symbols are active and other-directed. The symbols are:
1. Ability to intercede for someone in trouble
2. Ability to get placements for favored employees
3. Exceeding budget limitations
4. Procuring above-average raises for employees
5. Getting items on the agenda at meetings
6. Access to recent information
7. Having top managers seek out one’s opinions
B. Kanter’s Symbols of Powerlessness
Powerlessness is lack of power, which may have different symptoms in managers at various
levels of the organization.
C. Korda’s Symbols of Power
Korda’s symbols of power are easier to determine, and they include office furnishings, time
power, and standing by (to get ready to act).
Ways to expand power (Schermerhorn, 2003)
a. Clearly define roles and responsibilities.
b. Provide opportunities for creative problem solving coupled with the discretion to act.
c. Emphasize different ways of exercising influence.
d. Provide support to individuals so they become comfortable with developing their power.
e. Expand inducements (motivation) for thinking and acting, not just obeying.
Two Faces of Power
McClelland takes a stand for the use of authority in a right or wrong fashion.
 a. Personal power is used for personal gain, and results in a win-lose approach.
b. Social power involves the use of power to create motivation or to accomplish group goals.
Influence Tactics
a. Consultation – conference
b. Rational persuasion – process of reasoning out
c. Inspirational appeal – a divine influence
d. Ingratiation – to gain favor or favorable acceptance for by deliberate effort
Types of Authority (Weber in Ethridge & Handelman, 2004)
a. Charismatic Authority. It is am influence possessed by person by virtue of their personal
magnetism. They have the capacity to gain respect and even adulation to the point of moving
followers to make great sacrifices. It flows not from the legal basis of one’s power but an
individual’s personal “gifts.”
b. Rational-Legal Authority. It is a leadership based on established law. People obey the leader
or executive because they accept his or her power under the law.
c. Traditional Authority. The leadership is based from the culture that is people often give
allegiance to the one who occupy the institutional positions.
d. Coercive Authority. The power to use force such as police or military force to demand
obedience from the subordinate.

ACTIVITY
COMPARING CONCEPTS
Directions: Use the concepts learned to fill in the similarities and differences of the two
terminologies. COPY AND ANSWER. USE BOND PAPER FOR YOUR ANSWER.
Topic: Power versus Authority

Concept 1: POWER Concept 2: AUTHORITY

How are they alike?

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 How are they different?

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