This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance:

Let’s dive into the source of your power!  The heart of leadership is influence and influence is social power in action.  Social psychologists French and Raven studied phenomena of social power more than half a century ago. Their findings still help us today to understand influence.

Power vs Influence, what is the difference? 

Social power is the potential to influence other people. Social influence is the power used. A leader can have great power potential, but his influence might be limited due to his poor skills in using social power.

There are five basic sources of power: Legitimate, Reward, Coercive, Informational, Expert and Referent power. Let’s take a closer look into each one of them.

1.Legitimate power

Belief that a person has the formal right to make demands, and to expect others to be compliant and obedient. This is where you are hired, elected or appointed to a position that comes with legitimate responsibilities. So, say you′re a frontline supervisor you′re probably going at some point to make people′s schedule. That′s your legitimate responsibility. Its tied to your position. Prime minister, CEO, a policeman or a teacher also have legitimate power. Good thing with legitimate power is that we do not have to explain why we demand something from people, but it does not last forever – only as long as we are in the legitimate position.

2. Reward power

Comes from leader’s ability to compensate people for compliance. The compensation might include raises, money, promotions, training opportunities, compliments or just a smile. Im a middle-aged person and I still like a reward. If someone says Excellent job that’s a reward for me. Expected future reward motivates followers to stay in relationship. It doesn’t lead to internalization and depends on rewards awaluable. Once the rewards are gone so is the influence.

3.Coercive power

The flip side of reward power is coercive power. Leader can punish others for noncompliance. Threats and punishments are common coercive tools. Wise leader will use coercive power as a last resort because It creates distrust and conflict. This is the power source that you don’t want to over use if you want to influence people in long term. Otherwise, the followers will be motivated to leave the relationship.

4. Informational power

Its not tied to you as a person, it’s the power of the information you have. Once you share the information, the power is gone. On the other hand, if you hide the information, you will not be liked by followers for long. Sharing information in teamwork is crucial to success. Leader can use information to empower followers or with hold the information and create distrust. Sometimes, Information might be used as a bargaining tool. 

5. Expert power

If you have a high level of education and knowledge let’s say youre scientist, physician, lawyer or engineer than you have the expertise. Surgeon „knows how to operate “and patient obeys. The power of an expert is limited to the domain of his expertise. Don’t expect from a surgeon to give you fashion advise! Expertise enable leaders to generally outperform followers.  Raises trust and respect but only in one area.

6. Referent power

It is based on the resource of respect and/or love. Leaders with values, integrity and honesty raise respect and have great referent power.  Influencers and/or celebrities also use referent power. Great leaders prefer to use referent power because it makes everyone feel good. It improves relationships and social climate.  Whenever I talk about referent power in my lectures, people mention people like Oprah Winfrey. She has a lot of referent influence over people. She recommends books and then people read them, and they become bestsellers. She gives advice and people take it… It’s a kind of power where people want to follow you.

To be a joyful leader, one needs a more robust source of power than a title, an ability to reward or punish, or access to information – one needs a more personalized and advanced power sources like expert power and referent power. By understanding different sources of power, one can use the cocktail of powers to become an influential joyful leader. But, remember, great power comes with great responsibility!

A manager and employee were in the middle of their weekly one-on-one. When the manager gave some direction that seemed a bit unusual to the employee, she reasonably and honestly asked “why.” The manager responded, “Yours is not to ask why, yours is to do. If you must know, it’s because I told you so. And if you decide not to do this, your job is on the line.” 

True story!  

Yikes! 

What is going on here? 

This manager relied upon one of five types of power that are available to him. Here, he relied upon Coercive Power - or the ability to punish someone. In The Bases of Social Power, the seminal 1959 study by John R.P. French, Jr., and Bertram Raven power is defined as the primary source in achieving results or compliance from another individual. 

1959? Does this study still hold up, and how can a Project Manager leverage this knowledge? 

The Five, No, the Six Bases of Power 

First, this study is still relevant today. Understanding where you, and others, derive the power and authority to get things done will go a long way in making you an effective Project Manager. It also allows you to tune into how others are exerting influence or authority over you and how to respond appropriately. 

The original study included five bases of power; a sixth was added a few years later, and is included below. 

1. Legitimate - Legitimate power is the belief that a person has the formal right to make demands and to expect others to be compliant and obedient. Legitimate power appears in hierarchies such as the government or workplace. People are influenced by this type of power based upon social norms and rules of the workplace.
    
2. Reward - Reward power results from one person’s ability to compensate another for compliance. This compensation can range anywhere from an increase in pay, ability to set and provide bonuses, being given a new position or even a simple “thank you.” In terms of motivation, a reward is the carrot in the carrot-and-the-stick management style.
    
3. Coercive - Coercive power comes from the belief that a person can punish others for non-compliance. This sounds like, “If you don’t do this, your pay will be docked,” or, as in the opening example, threatening someone that they could lose their job. This is the stick in the carrot-and-the-stick way of getting things done. 
4. Expert - Expert power is derived from a person’s high level of skill and knowledge. It is evident with the person who has been with the company for 20+ years and knows where all the dead bodies are buried. Or, it can be manifested by statements such as, “Let’s make sure we check withfirst before we move forward.” 
5. Referent - Referent power results from a person’s perceived attractiveness, worthiness, or having earned the right to be respected. Referent power is not dependent upon a particular position or title in an organization. Rather, it is a personal power based upon respect and admiration from others. If you say someone has earned your respect, then they have referent power. 
6. Informational - Finally, Informational power comes from the ability to control the information that others need to accomplish something. This can be evidenced by providing the information that someone needs to do their job successfully, or, withholding information that could set them up for failure. 

Which base, or bases, of power do you gravitate towards? 

Why Does this Matter to You as a Project Manager? 

This is important to you as a Project Manager because most PMs work in a matrixed organization. People do not report directly to you; rather, they are “on loan” from a functional manager who has assigned them to one of your projects. So, you aren’t their boss, you don’t give them raises, nor do you conduct their performance reviews. Three of the six bases of power are minimized:. Legitimate, Reward, and Coercive.  

This leaves Expert, Referent, and Informational Power. 

Arguably, these are the three that can make you most effective as a Project Manager. This means you know what you are doing (Expert), you have earned people’s respect (Referent), and you are plugged into the proper information channels and will share with others (Informational). What’s nice about these three bases of power is that they are not dependent upon any position or title in the company. Managers can come and go, organizations can shuffle and reshuffle, and you can continue to deliver results! 

Over time, as you advance in your career and project management journey, you’ll be able to add Legitimate, Reward, and even Coercive power to the mix. There’s a place for all six. It’s up to you to figure out the right ratios and when to use them. 

And, don’t worry about the employee at the beginning of this article. She used her Informational power and knew the job market was hot. She made a Legitimate decision to Reward herself with a better-paying job and set herself up as an Expert in a new company. Now that’s powerful! 

What is the French and Raven theory?

What are the 5 types of power?

What is meant by coercive power?

What are the 6 types of power?