Module 3 Assignment – Power in Organizations

Have you ever been involved in union organizing, collective bargaining, or worked in a union shop? If so, share your experience. If not, locate a scholarly journal article that describes collective bargaining and describe how it works within an organization.

Have you ever worked in a healthcare facility that had Magnet accreditation, or had experience with shared governance? If so, share your experience. If not, locate a scholarly journal article that describes shared governance and explain how it could be implemented in your current facility.

Assignment Expectations:

Length: 1000 – 1250 words

Structure: Include a title page and reference page in APA format. These do not count towards the minimum word count for this assignment. Your essay must include an introduction and a conclusion.

References: Use appropriate APA style in-text citations and references for all resources utilized to answer the questions. At least two (2) scholarly sources should be utilized in this assignment.

Rubric: This assignment uses a rubric for scoring. Please review it as part of your assignment preparation and again prior to submission to ensure you have addressed its criteria at the highest level.

Format: Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or a PDF document (.pdf)

File name: Name your saved file according to your first initial, last name, and the assignment number (for example RHall Assignment 1.docx)

Submission: Submit to the D2L dropbox for grading prior to Monday at 11:59pm PST

 

MORE INFO 

Power in Organizations

Introduction

Power is a concept in social psychology that has many meanings. In this article, I will explain the different types of power and how they’re used by organizations.

Formal authority

Power is the ability to get people to do what you want. It’s formal authority, which comes from a position of power and respect in an organization.

The basic terms for different types of power are:

• Authority – The right or ability to give orders and make decisions on behalf of someone or something else (e.g., “I have no authority over my employees”).

• Responsibility – The ability to handle tasks and affairs according to a set standard (e.g., “I don’t have any responsibility here so I can go home early today”).

Coercive power

Coercive power is the use of force to get someone to do what you want. It can be used in many ways, including threats and out-and-out punishment.

For example: if your boss tells you that she’s going to fire you if you don’t finish a project by tomorrow morning, then coercive power has been used on her part. In this case, there’s no way around it; she has the ability (and authority) to make good on her threat. If there was no threat involved in firing someone from their job—if they simply quit because they just didn’t want it anymore—then we’d call that voluntary quitting instead of coercion because there was never any intention for anyone at all involved in quitting except themselves (#notnogotiating).

Reward power

Reward power is the ability to give rewards. The rewards can be tangible or intangible, positive or negative, short-term or long-term. Rewards come in many forms—from money to praise to recognition—and they’re often intrinsic: we like what we do because it makes us feel good about ourselves.

We often think of reward as something that’s given by an authority figure (like your boss) or an external source (like a company). But you don’t need someone else’s approval for this kind of behavior: you can create your own opportunities for rewarding others if you want them around more often! For example, try asking colleagues whether they’d consider having dinner with each other outside work hours once per month instead of just seeing each other on Monday mornings at 9am sharp every Tuesday morning after meetings end…

Legitimate power

Legitimate power is based on the belief that someone has a right to lead and people will follow because they believe that person has the authority to do so. Examples of legitimate power include:

• The power of a parent over a child

• The power of elected officials in government

• The power of executives at large corporations

Expert Power

Expert power is the ability to influence others through knowledge. Expert power is based on how much knowledge you have about a topic, as well as your expertise in that area.

For example: if an expert in computers knows everything there is to know about operating systems and software development, they will probably be able to get their point across with ease. On the other hand, someone who has never used Microsoft Word may not be able to come up with any useful suggestions or comments when discussing what changes should be made at work (unless they happen upon some insider information).

Referent Power

Referent power is the ability to get others to do what you want because they like you. It’s a form of social influence that can be used in the workplace, but it’s not always easy to spot—especially if you don’t have an open mind about how others perceive your leadership style.

Referent power can be used as a personal resource for individuals who have influential relationships with other people and organizations. For example, when someone has strong relationships with their boss or colleagues, they may be able to convince them that their idea makes sense for the company overall (even if it doesn’t necessarily align with their own personal goals). This type of relationship gives rise to referent power over time because these individuals are trusted sources of information and advice within their organization; they’re seen as leaders who can guide others toward success on behalf of everyone else involved—including themselves!

There are 6 sources of power

There are six sources of power that can be used by individuals and organizations to achieve their goals:

• Formal authority – The ability to command or control another person or group. For example, a teacher has formal authority over students in the classroom.

• Coercive power – The ability to force people into doing things they don’t want to do (or shouldn’t do), such as threatening violence or using physical force against others. This type of coercion often occurs between groups but can also exist within one individual if he’s strong enough physically or mentally; for instance, a criminal might employ coercive measures when trying to intimidate someone who knows something about his crimes—such as stealing money from drug dealers who have stolen drugs from him in the past—and prevent them from talking with anyone else about those crimes without getting their own hands dirty first!

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can see that there are six sources of power in organizations. These sources are related to the different types of influence that employees have on each other. The first three sources of power are formal authority, coercive power and reward power. Formal authority is a person’s position in an organization; coercion happens when someone uses threats or violence against another person; and reward power is when people give gifts or money to someone they know will do something for them in return (or else!). Legitimate power relates to being able to convince others through logic or evidence rather than force (which makes up the fourth category). Expertise comes last as it could be defined as knowledge/technical knowledge acquired over time by experience rather than studying formally together with others such as researchers working on new technology projects etcetera – this type of expertise tends towards specific areas like computer programming languages etcetera rather than general knowledge such as biology lessons at school where students learn about many topics like genetics, cell division etcetera not just one topic per section!