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CHAPTER 6 • Organizational Structure and Design 211
• In addition to coercive, reward, and authoritative power, Based on J. R. P. French, Jr. and B. Raven, “The Bases of Social Power,” in D. Cartwright
many managerial positions also possess information power (ed.), Studies in Social Power (Ann Arbor: university of Michigan Institute of Social
Research, 1959), 150–67; B. J. Raven, “The Bases of Power: Origin and Recent
that comes from access to and control over information. If Developments,” Journal of Social Issues 49 (1993): 227–51; E. A. Ward, “Social
you have data or knowledge that others need, and which Power Bases of Managers: Emergence of a New Factor,” Journal of Social Psychology
only you have access to, it gives you power. Of course, (February 2001): 144–47; and B. H. Raven, “The Bases of Power and the Power/
Interaction Model of Interpersonal Influence,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public
you don’t have to be a manager to have information power. Policy, December 2008, 1–22.
Many employees are quite skilled at operating in secrecy,
hiding technical short-cuts, or avoiding showing others
exactly what they do—all with the intention of keeping Practicing the Skill
important knowledge from getting into others’ hands. Read through this scenario and follow the directions at the
• You don’t have to be a manager or control information end of it:
to have power in an organization. You can also exert in- Margaret is a supervisor in the online sales division of a large
fluence based on your expertise, admiration that others clothing retailer. She has let it be known that she is devoted
might have for you, and through charismatic qualities. If to the firm and plans to build her career there. Margaret is
you have a special skill or unique knowledge that others in hard-working and reliable, has volunteered for extra projects,
the organization depend on, you hold expert power. In our has taken in-house development courses, and joined a com-
current age of specialization, this source of power is in- mittee dedicated to improving employee safety on the job.
creasingly potent. If others identify with you and look up She undertook an assignment to research ergonomic office
to you to the extent that they want to please you, you have furniture for the head of the department and gave up several
referent power. It develops out of admiration and the de- lunch hours to consult with the head of human resources
sire to be like someone else. The final source of influence about her report. Margaret filed the report late, but she ex-
is charismatic power, which is an extension of referent plained the delay by saying that her assistant lost several
power. If others will follow you because they admire your pages that she had to redraft over the weekend. The report
heroic qualities, you have charismatic power over them.
was well received, and several of Margaret’s colleagues
• Based on these sources of power, we can say that you can think she should be promoted when the next opening arises.
increase your power in organizations by (1) taking on manage- Evaluate Margaret’s skill in building a power base.
rial responsibilities, (2) gaining access to important informa- What actions has she taken that are helpful to her in reach-
tion, (3) developing an expertise that the organization needs, ing her goal? Is there anything she should have done
or (4) displaying personal characteristics that others admire. differently?

Ontario Electronics Ltd. Experiential Exercise
To: Claude Fortier, Special Assistant to the President
From: Ian Campbell, President
Subject: Learning Organizations

First of all, thanks for keeping everything “going” while I attended articles about the topic, limit your report to five of what you
the annual meeting of the Canadian Electronics Manufacturers consider to be the best sources of information on the topic.
Industry Association last week. Our luncheon speaker on the Write a one-paragraph summary for each of these five articles,
final day talked about how important it is for organizations to be being sure to note all the bibliographic information in case we
responsive to customer and marketplace needs. One approach need to find the article later. Since I’d like our executive team to
she discussed for doing this was becoming a learning organi- move on this idea fairly quickly, please have your report back
zation. I’m now convinced that our company’s future may well to me by the end of the week.
depend on how well we’re able to “learn.” This fictionalized company and message were created for educational
I’d like you to find some current information on learning purposes only, and not meant to reflect positively or negatively on manage-
organizations. Although I’m sure you’ll be able to find numerous ment practices by any company that may share this name.