Three bases of position power are _____.
(a) reward, expertise, and coercive power
(b) legitimate, experience, and judgment power
(c) knowledge, experience, and judgment power
(d) reward, coercive, and information power
Answer: (d) reward, coercive, and information power
The three bases of position power are:
Reward power – This arises from the fact that it can administer rewards such as salaries reviews, bonuses and promotions. Employees comply in order to receive awards.
Coercive power – This emanates from the capability to punish, such as demotion, loss of increase in salary; or lay off people. Employees comply to avoid punishments.
Information power- This relies on the control of knowledge required by others for work performance. They follow as they need the leader’s knowledge.
However, skill, experience and discretion can work for a leader’s power but the primary types of position authority include; control over reward and punishment as well as information distribution. These powers may be used by leaders to force employee obedience. But relying entirely on position power can spoil the leader’s credibility and damage relations. The judicious use of position power by effective leaders is complemented with personal powers coming from trust and respect.
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