Power - The 5 kinds !
From Art of School Leadership - by Thomas R. Hoerr
Chapter 5. Wielding Power
Too often, backs stiffen and eyebrows rise when the word power is used in an organizational context. As a culture, we are often wary of power; as a profession, we are usually uncomfortable with power. What this really means is that we are uncomfortable with other people having power over us. For better or worse (actually, for better and worse), education attracts people who don't seek a great deal of power and who tend to hold an egalitarian world view. As a result, we may have difficulty seeing that there is nothing inherently negative about power; what matters is how power is used.
Power is the ability to produce an effect; it is control, influence, and authority over others. Simply put, power is the ability to cause others to do what you want them to do. Yet there is nothing simple about getting and using power. As noted in Chapter 3, attitudes about power have changed. Today, the power that administrators need cannot be given to them; they must earn their power.
If administrators lack power or fail to use the power that they have (which is the same as not having the power in the first place), chaos ensues. Sometimes the chaos is loud, with disagreements, destructive battles, a lack of clarity about the organization's direction, or outright rebellion. At other times the chaos is quiet, characterized by a high degree of apathy, with each person following his or her own path, moving toward and arriving at a range of destinations. In either case, if the person running the school lacks power, it bodes poorly for everyone, including the students. Of course, power that is used negatively bodes poorly as well. How power is used is a significant factor in a school's culture and in determining whether or not that school attracts and supports strong teachers.
Before discussing forms of power and how school leaders might cultivate them, take time to reflect on the kinds of professional power that you currently have. Please complete the power inventory presented in Figure 3 on p. 70. The implications of your responses will be discussed at the end of the chapter.
Five Kinds of Power
Five Kinds of Power
The classic model of social power, set out by French and Raven (1959), identifies five different sources of power: reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert. Each of these stems from a different power base. Whenever people do what we have asked or acquiesce to our demands, they are doing so in response to our having one or more of these power bases.
Typically, leaders possess more than one type of power and use these powers in combination with one another. None of us can ever possess all five kinds of power in any situation or with any individual, but an awareness of the power bases is helpful as we think about how to supervise teachers and move a school forward.
Leaders provide as much positive support as possible. ~Barry
Reward Power
Reward power is based on an individual's ability to give rewards to others. The rewards can be tangible or intangible. Although we may tend to think of rewards as tangible, intangible rewards are often the most important. When you tell a teacher that her lesson was superb (and recount exactly what made it superb), you are not just complimenting her. You are using reward power, which reinforces her past actions and influences her future behaviors. Asking a teacher if she would like to head a committee, take responsibility for making a presentation at a parent assembly, or supervise a student teacher is also using reward power. Each of these roles signifies a vote of confidence and is a reward for performance. (However, these examples work as rewards only when the teacher views them as rewards. Some teachers might think that these responsibilities are a burden. A good administrator will know her teachers well enough to anticipate correctly what they perceive as a reward.)
I feel terrified when I hear that an inspector is coming to evaluate me. I wish I could be swallowed by the ground. ~Mahmoud