POWER

What is Power ?
O The ability of an individual or groups to
induce or influence the beliefs or actions of
other persons or groups.
O Power is a capacity or potential that a
person A has to influence the behavior of
another person B that B does things he or
she would not otherwise do.
O It is a function of independence, the greater
B’s dependence on A, the greater is A’s
power in the relationship.
In a notable study of power conducted
by social psychologists John R. P.
French and Betray Raven in 1959,
power is divided into five separate and
distinct forms.

They identified those five bases of

power as coercive, reward, legitimate,
referent, and expert.
 5 Bases of power
O Coercive power – power that is based on
fear.
O Reward power – power based on different
distribution of rewards
that others view as valuable.
O Legitimate power - the person receive as a
result of his or her
position in the formal
hierarchy of an organization.
O Expert power – influence wielded as a result
of expertise, special like skill, or
knowledge.

O Refer power – identification with a person

who has desirable resources or
personal traits, the power of
being likable.
AUTHORITY
 What is Authority ?
O The right in a position to exercise
discretion in making decisions affecting
others.
O It is a relationship between two
individuals
O Superior frames & transits decisions with
the expectation that these will be
accepted by the subordinate
O Basic objective behind authority is to
influence the behavior of subordinates
Decentralization of Authority
O Decentralization is a systematic delegation
of authority at all levels of management and
in all of the organization.
O “Everything that increasing the role of
subordinates is decentralization and that
decreases the role is centralization”
O Authority in retained by the top management
for taking major decisions.
O Decentralization pattern is wider in scope.
Advantage of Decentralized
Organizational Structure
O Empowering Employees
O Relieving Burden
O Preparing for Emergencies
O More Efficient Decision-Making
O Ease of Expansion
O Increases motivation
Delegation of Authority
O Allowing someone to act on your behalf
to perform tasks (consume resources)
that are available to you
O Delegator should be empowered to
delegate to anyone he needs to, subject
to certain organization controls.
 Steps in Delegation
I– Introduce the task
D– Demonstrate clearly what needs to be done
E– Ensure understanding
A– Allocate authority, information and resources
L– Let’s go
S- Support and monitor
Importance of Delegation
O Lessening of Burden
O Leads to better decisions.
O Spreads up decision making process.
O Tool for Motivation
O Creates a formal structure.
O Development of managerial functions.
O Growth of Inter-relationship.
 Art of Delegation
“ To entrust to another. To empower another
person to act ”

O Delegation is the act of empowering others

to accomplish a task. Although it seems like
one of the hardest to accomplish. The job of
a leader is to see that all the works gets
done – not to do it all themselves.
3 Elements of Delegation
O Authority – in context of business
organization, authority can be defined
as the power and right of a person to
use and allocate the resources
efficiently, to take decisions and to give
orders so as to achieve the
organizational objectives. Authority
should be accompanied with an equal
amount of responsibility.
O Responsibility – is the duty of the person
to complete the task assigned to
him. A person who is given the
responsibility should ensure that he
accomplishes the tasks assigned to
him. Responsibility without
adequate authority leads to
discontent and dissatisfaction
among the person.
O Accountability – means giving
explanations for any variance in the
actual performance from the
expectations set. Accountability
cannot be delegated. Accountability,
in short, means being answerable f
or end result. Accountability can’t be
escaped. It arises from
responsibility.