Do you know where power comes from?
Introduction
Have you ever wondered where does power come from? How can it be effectively used within a team?
After getting through this quest, you’ll be a step closer to understand why your leader behaves as he/she does or, in case you are a leader yourself, you’ll have a better idea on how you can develop new power bases to get the best from your team.
Leadership and power are closely linked. People tend to follow those who are powerful. And because others follow, the person with power leads. But leaders have power for different reasons. Some are powerful because they alone have the ability to give you a bonus or a raise. Others are powerful because they can fire you, or assign you tasks you don't like.
More than half a century ago, in 1959, two social psychologists, John French and Bertram Raven, conducted one of the most notable studies trying to understand why some leaders influence us, how prepared we are to accept their power...
French and Raven identified the following five bases of power:
Six years later, Raven added an extra power base:
Informational – this results from a person's ability to control the information that others need to accomplish something.
“The measure of a man is what he does with power.” - Plato
After getting through this quest, you’ll be a step closer to understand why your leader behaves as he/she does or, in case you are a leader yourself, you’ll have a better idea on how you can develop new power bases to get the best from your team.
Leadership and power are closely linked. People tend to follow those who are powerful. And because others follow, the person with power leads. But leaders have power for different reasons. Some are powerful because they alone have the ability to give you a bonus or a raise. Others are powerful because they can fire you, or assign you tasks you don't like.
More than half a century ago, in 1959, two social psychologists, John French and Bertram Raven, conducted one of the most notable studies trying to understand why some leaders influence us, how prepared we are to accept their power...
French and Raven identified the following five bases of power:
- Legitimate – this comes from the belief that a person has the formal right to make demands, and to expect compliance and obedience from others.
- Reward – this results from one person’s ability to compensate another for compliance.
- Expert – this is based on a person's high levels of skills and knowledge.
- Referent – this is the result of a person's perceived attractiveness, worthiness and right to others' respect.
- Coercive – this comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance.
Six years later, Raven added an extra power base:
Informational – this results from a person's ability to control the information that others need to accomplish something.
“The measure of a man is what he does with power.” - Plato
Task
In order to better understand the types of power identified by French and Raven, watch the Game of Thrones movie! :-)
In addition, you can also read about these in the Useful Links section, watch Youtube videos and Ted talks. Revise all the newly gained information with your trainer.
Imagine that your group established an imaginary company. As leadership gets sense only while there is a team to work with, you should be working in teams. Divide your group in smaller teams (3-4 persons, depending on the size of the group) who will each represent one department of the newly established company. After choosing your team mates and, consequently, the leader of the team, decide on a task your team will carry out within its department. Along this process, pay attention to the behaviour of your leader and your mates. Evaluate, analyse and present your findings about the type of power you identified within your team. Start by answering the following questions:
- What was the effect of using the specific type of power? Did your team get to accomplish what was needed/expected from them? How? Was it smooth to work together? What could have been done differently?
After this, as a team, share your findings within your bigger group.
After this, as a team, share your findings within your bigger group.
Process
1. Research – Get knowledge and understanding!
Within your group, research about the 5 types of power discussed by French and Raven.
Use the following possibilities for your research:
- read about the 5 power types on the links provided in the Useful Links section
- watch Youtube videos from the Videos section
- watch Ted talks about leadership and the 5 types of power
- ask you trainer, in case there’s still something unclear
Discuss your findings and make sure that everybody in your team understands how these bases of power function, what are the typical characteristics behind them. Identify examples from the real life, for instance: think about political, historical personalities, sportsmen, your teacher while you were at school, your parents at home…there’s a lot of ways in which power can be used.
Draw up a questionnaire, which contains 5 questions about each type of power. This questionnaire should be a tool for the team members to evaluate their leaders. Include questions related to the 5 types of power which you have gathered information about. On the basis of this questionnaire, you should be able, later, to identify the type of power which has been used within your team. Think about questions related to the different leaders’ behaviour. What would be the leaders’ behaviour like if he/she has Legitimate, Reward, Expert, Referent or Coercive power?
2. Establish your imaginary company – Follow your dream!
After finishing your research and ensuring that all your group members have fully understood French and Raven’s types of power, think about establishing your company. With the help of your trainer, decide what sort of company (production, services, family business, etc.) you’d like to have? In which area/industry should your company activate? What are the needed departments, production phases? Which are the actions needed to be implemented for accomplishing the departments’ (teams’) task?
While you have the answers to all these questions, find the persons in your group who you’d like to form a team with and decide which department of the company you would like to represent. As you are done with that, identify a task your team would like to work on. Remember, a team of 3-4 persons should be working towards this preliminary set task. For example:
Ex1: if the team is representing the Department of transport – they should take care of organizing the transport of the goods/persons from A to B.
Ex2: if the team is representing the Production Department, they should organize the creation/manufacturing of a product.
3. Summarize your information – appoint leaders!
As you already set the task your team has to work towards, appoint a leader in your team. Make sure that each team member understands what the task is. Plan your work phases, ensure fair work division.
In accordance with what you have found out earlier about the types of power in leadership, watch each other within your teams. Take notes, raise your voice and try to make a difference in case you think it is needed.
Observe your leader and team members! Look out for your leaders’ and team mates’ behaviour… was your team leader a leader or a boss; did he/she take his/her share in the accomplishment of the task; did he/she think about rewarding the team; were team members content and supportive with each other; think also about the team spirit; etc..
4. Analyse and present!
After finishing your task, complete the prepared questionnaires and evaluate your leaders. Summarize the findings and present it to the rest of the group. Discussions about the identified types of power will follow, with the guidance of your trainer.
Suggestion: You can even carry out a 360° evaluation within the team. This means that team leaders evaluate themselves and team members evaluate their leader. For this purpose, you can also use the already drawn up questionnaires. In the end, compare the results of the two questionnaires (leaders’ self-evaluation with team members’ evaluation), analyse it and present the results to the rest of your group.
After finishing your task, complete the prepared questionnaires and evaluate your leaders. Summarize the findings and present it to the rest of the group. Discussions about the identified types of power will follow, with the guidance of your trainer.
Suggestion: You can even carry out a 360° evaluation within the team. This means that team leaders evaluate themselves and team members evaluate their leader. For this purpose, you can also use the already drawn up questionnaires. In the end, compare the results of the two questionnaires (leaders’ self-evaluation with team members’ evaluation), analyse it and present the results to the rest of your group.
Evaluation and Learning Outcomes
On the completion of this WebQuest, the learner will be able to:
| Knowledge | Skills | Attitudes |
| · basic knowledge about leadership · basic knowledge about the 5 types of power: which are these, when are they used · basic knowledge of information search tools · basic knowledge about 360° evaluation · basic knowledge of presentation techniques · basic knowledge of teamwork rules and procedures |
· identify useful information in relation to leadership and the 5 types of power by French and Raven · research, gather and organize information related to leadership and the 5 types of power · identify the 5 types of power in leadership · define clear questions related to the manifested attitudes in 5 types of power · work in a team for a common goal · develop communication skills within the team · develop presentation skills |
· demonstrate ability of creating own criteria of evaluation · demonstrate ability of self-improvement · demonstrate cooperation with others in order to achieve the teams’ goal · demonstrate ability of improved communication · demonstrate ability to work as a team · demonstrate autonomy in carrying out tasks · form personal opinion and take responsibility for own performance · learn from own mistakes and accept others’ opinion · handle feed-back in a constructive way |
Conclusion
After understanding these different types of power, you can now make sure that whenever the occasion arises you’ll use only those which will inspire your team to deliver their peak performances.
“The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.”- Baltasar Gracian
“The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.”- Baltasar Gracian
