s5 stakeholders and communication Flashcards
Certainly. Positional power can come primarily from three sources:
Marijne:
Stakeholders hold varying levels of ability to influence change. This is referred to as their power over the change. There are two main categories of power – positional and personal.
Dan, please tell us more about positional power sources.
Marijne:
Stakeholders hold varying levels of ability to influence change. This is referred to as their power over the change. There are two main categories of power – positional and personal.
Dan, please tell us more about positional power sources.
Dan:
Certainly. Positional power can come primarily from three sources:
- Firstly, legitimate power is based on a person’s formal authority together with a shared belief amongst stakeholders that this person has a right to make demands of others and expect compliance from others.
For a change leader, legitimate power is unlikely to be sufficient, and incorporating a more engaging and collaborative approach is likely to increase the chances of success. - Secondly, reward power results from a person’s ability to compensate others for compliance. Change managers may not have much control over rewards however.
- The third type of positional power is that of coercive power. This is the ability to punish non-compliance. A change manager is unlikely to be in a position to exert this power, and it is rarely appropriate to use punishment to create desired results.
Marijne:
Thanks Dan. Steph, please could you take us through sources of personal power?
Steph:
Of course. I’ll describe three sources of personal power:
* Expert power is based on a person’s expertise and knowledge rather than their formal position. The experts can be considered the ‘go to’ person for questions related to their area of expertise, and they tend to become trusted sources of information.
* Secondly, referent power is related to a person’s charisma and presence. They tend to have effective networks due to their ability to connect with and relate well to others.
* The third source of personal power is known as informational power, where the person has access to, and control over, desirable information.
