IMUS UNIDA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Quality. Christian. Education. 11
Philippine
Politics and
Governance
Lesson 3: Nature,
Dimensions, Types and
Consequences of Power
WHAT IS POWER?
The ability to achieve a desired outcome and, in politics, is
usually thought of as a relationship.
The capacity of a person, team or organization to influence
others.
NATURES OF POWER:
1. Latent
Power is something that people have and may or may not choose to
use.
It is a weapon or tool; it may never be used, and just having it
may make its use unnecessary.
2. Relative
The power one person has over another depends largely on thing
such as the expertise of one person to another and the
hierarchical level of one relative to the other.
3. Perceived
power is based on one person’s belief that another has certain
characteristics.
4. Dynamic
power relationships evolve over time as individuals gain or lose
certain types of power relative to others.
DIMENSIONS OF POWER
1. CHANNELS
The channels of power are the way in which power is enacted. They
can perhaps more readily be remembered as 'head, hands and
heart'.
a. Physical power -This is power derived from material or
physical advantage. Individually, it can come from strength
or skill, such as the power of a wrestler. Physical power
also comes from having things that are not designed to hurt
people.
b. Informational power-This is derived from knowledge. Power
often comes from the control of access to information, where
you can permit or offer access to others. Knowledge is
power, as they say.
c. Emotional power- This is the social power of affect, using
emotion to get what you want. Charisma is a form of
emotional power, including the power of oratory and the use
of subtle body language. Threats are often emotional in the
effect they have.
2. Intent
These form the intent of the person using power, helping or
hurting others.
a. Positive power- this is power used for good, with the
intent of helping others. It is used to protect and
nurture, or at least do no harm. It is based on love,
care, concern and pro-social values.
b. Negative power- This power that is used either to
directly harm other people or with no care or concern
about them. It is based either on greed and selfishness
or on other negative emotions such as fear and hate.
3. Deliberateness
These are the deliberateness of power, the triggers which
lead to power being used.
a. Reactive power- This is power that is used in response
to situations, for example where a person has the power
to say no or to restrict access in some form. In some
countries, crimes are considered as being less so when
they are deemed as being reactive.
b. Proactive power- This is power used consciously and
deliberately, for example using your physical strength
to attack someone. This is where Values, Morals and
Ethics are more significant, as they imply deliberate
intent, premeditation and forethought.
TYPES OF POWER
1. LEGITIMATE
the power a person receives as a result of his or her position n
the formal hierarchy of an organization.
Acts as a formalized way of ensuring that there is someone to
make a decision and that someone is responsible.
2. REWARD
power that achieves compliance based on the ability to
distributes rewards that others view as valuable.
It is the concept of do this and get that. if you do this, you
will receive something in return.
3. COERCIVE
The power is based on fear of negative results.
It relies on threats, bullying, and “or else” language to
“motivate” those that are beneath them.
4. EXPERT
the influence is based on special skills or knowledge.
It is power that comes from having insight or information that
others don’t have access to.
5. REFERENT
Influence is based on possession by an individual of desirable
resources or personal traits. The desire to please.
This is the power and ability for an individual to attract others
and to build loyalty within them.
CONSEQUENCES OF POWER
Power and consequence are often closely related. The basic principle
is that a person with power has the ability to create consequences for
the target person, who takes these consequences into account when they
are deciding whether to comply with a request or refuse it.
1. Punishment
A very common attribute of power is that the wielder of power
has the ability to coerce the target into compliance through the
threat of some kind of punishment. The basic transaction is
hence 'Do as I say or else, I will harm you in some way'.
2. Prevention
Some people do not have the power to directly punish, though
they may have the ability to withhold something or prevent the
target person getting what they want.
Prevention in business situations could be loss of cooperation
or stopping the person from getting promoted.
3. Power loss
There is also consequence for the person wielding the power.
Sometimes use power of power leads to gaining more power as the
dominated person becomes cowed and hence easier to persuade in
future.
An example of losing power when it is used is where you have
helped a person in the past and they feel obliged to comply when
you ask something of them in return.
