You can increase the likelihood that you’ll survive and thrive in your organization if you learn how to develop a power base. Remember, because you have power doesn’t mean you have to use it. But it’s nice to be able to call upon it when you do need it. Four sources of power can be derived from your job. Another three sources are based on your personal unique characteristics.

• All management jobs come with the power to coerce, reward, and impose authority. Coercive power is based on fear. If you can dismiss, suspend, demote, assign unpleasant work tasks, or write a negative performance review on someone, you hold coercive power over that person. Conversely, if you can give someone something of positive value or remove something of negative value—like control pay rates, raises, bonuses, promotions, or work assignments—you have reward power. And all managerial positions provide some degree—though within specific limitations—to exert authority over subordinates. If you can tell someone to do something and they see this request to be within your formal job description, you have authority power over them.

• In addition to coercive, reward, and authoritative power, many managerial positions also possess information power that comes from access to and control over information. If you have data or knowledge that others need, and which only you have access to, it gives you power. Of course, you don’t have to be a manager to have information power. 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 important knowledge from getting into others’ hands.

• You don’t have to be a manager or control information to have power in an organization. You can also exert influence based on your expertise, admiration that others might have for you, and through charismatic qualities. If you have a special skill or unique knowledge that others in the organization depend on, you hold expert power. In our current age of specialization, this source of power is increasingly potent. If others identify with you and look up to you to the extent that they want to please you, you have referent power. It develops out of admiration and the desire to be like someone else. The final source of influence is charismatic power, which is an extension of referent power. If others will follow you because they admire your heroic qualities, you have charismatic power over them.

• Based on these sources of power, we can say that you can increase your power in organizations by (1) taking on managerial responsibilities, (2) gaining access to important information, (3) developing an expertise that the organization needs, or (4) displaying personal characteristics that others admire.

Read through this scenario and follow the directions at the end of it:

Margaret is a supervisor in the online sales division of a large clothing retailer. She has let it be known that she is devoted to the firm and plans to build her career there. Margaret is hard-working and reliable, has volunteered for extra projects, has taken in-house development courses, and joined a committee dedicated to improving employee safety on the job. She undertook an assignment to research ergonomic office furniture for the head of the department and gave up several lunch hours to consult with the head of human resources about her report. Margaret filed the report late, but she explained the delay by saying that her assistant lost several pages that she had to redraft over the weekend. The report was well received, and several of Margaret’s colleagues think she should be promoted when the next opening arises.

Evaluate Margaret’s skill in building a power base. What actions has she taken that are helpful to her in reaching her goal? Is there anything she should have done differently?