What is Power?

Power is the ability to force/encourage/guide/persuade other people to do what you want them to do, using any means necessary. (Thibault & Kelley, 1959; Gruenfeld, Keltner, & Anderson, 2003)

French and Ravens Taxonomy of Power:

1. Coercive Power: Ability for a leader to bring about change through threats and/or punishments. Ex: Tyrants, Kings.

2. Reward Power: Leaders with this type of power bring about change by offering followers good incentives. Ex: When a Employer provides an employee with a raise.

3. Legitimate Power: This type of power is derived from accepted social norms which require follower compliance. Ex: Parent-child , teacher-student.

4. Expert Power: Power holder is powerful due to the fact that he/she possesses and demonstrates superior abilities and skills than followers. Ex: Bill Gates, athletes.

5. Referent Power: Power holder derives power from having charisma or fame which draws admiration from followers. Ex: celebrities.

6. Informational Power: Power is derived from having the ability to control information needed by others to reach a goal. Ex: politicians, doctors.



What is Leadership?

Leadership is something greater than power, but power comes with leadership.

According to Jim Burns (James McGregor), Leadership is engaging and enfluencing followers in a way which elevates the morality of the followers.

So, for some, leadership has to be good.



-Joe C. Magee, Deborah H. Gruenfeld (Stanford) ,
-Dacher J. Keltner (UC Berkeley)
-Adam D. Galinsky (Kellogg School, Northwestern)

Power Changes how Leaders think about themselves, their work, and others. In the words of some old english guy (aka Lord Byron) "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

• Powerful bosses do not value the contributions of subordinates less than un-powerful leaders. (Kipnis, 1972))

• Powerful bosses are more likely to view subordinates as "objects of manipulation." (Kipnis, 1972)

Action Oriented:

• Power makes leaders more action oriented. And less thoughtful in their actions. (Galinsky et al., 2000; Gruenfeld & Kim, 2002)

• High Power people (those with other options) are more likely to initiate the first offer in negotiations. (Galinsky et al., 2000)

• People primed with power (asked to think write about a time when they had power over another person) are more likely to complete a simple fairy tale with active endings. In the fairy tale completed by high-power individuals the king is more active, has less obstacles and takes quick decisive action. Low powered individuals (those who were asked to write about a time when they were powerless) complete the story with less action and slower more deliberate decisions by the king (Galinsky et al., 2000)

• People who are primed with power and asked to work in front of a fan which is blowing annoyingly at them are more likely to move the fan or turn it off than people primed with low-power. (Galinksy et al., 2003)

Socially Disinhibited:

• Powerful people are more likely to eat the last cookie, chew with an open mouth and spill more crumbs all over the table. (Keltner et al., 2003)

• Powerful people flirt more aggressively than low-power people. (Gonzaga, Keltner, Londahl, & SMith, 2001).

• Powerful people often have a "decreased ability to control their responses to temptation." Powerful people tend to have more exposure to situations which require them to self-regulate (Muraven & Baumesiter, 2001). "Rather than functioning like a skill that improves with practice, self-regulation appears to be a like a resource that can run out, or like a muscle that tires after too much exercise," (Magee, Gruenfeld, Keltner, Galinsky, 2005).
  

Works Cited:

• Galinsky, A.D., Gruenfeld, D.H, & Magee, J.C. (2000). Unpublished data, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.
  

• Keltner, D.,Gruenfeld, D.H, &Anderson, C. (2003). Power, approach, and inhibition. Psychological Review, 110, 265-285.

• Baumeister, R.F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D.M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Volume and page #s?