Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

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Part 4: Leading

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Coercive Power

Coercive power

is the power to force compliance by means of

psychological, emotional, or physical threat. In the past, physical coercion in organiza-

tions was relatively common. In most organizations today, however, coercion is limited

to verbal reprimands, written reprimands, disciplinary layoffs, fines, demotion, and

termination. Some managers occasionally go so far as to use verbal abuse, humiliation,

and psychological coercion in an attempt to manipulate subordinates. (Of course, most

people would agree that these are not appropriate managerial behaviors.) The more

punitive the elements under a manager’s control and the more important they are to

subordinates, the more coercive power the manager possesses. On the other hand, the

more a manager uses coercive power, the more likely he is to provoke resentment and

hostility and the less likely he is to be seen as a leader.

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Charlie Ergen, founder and

CEO of Dish Network, often uses coercive power. One former Dish executive says that

Ergen gets his way by “Pounding people into submission.” For instance, he requires long

hours, provides few paid holidays, routinely yells at employees, and commonly berates

people in meetings who disagree with him.

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Referent Power

Compared with legitimate, reward, and coercive power, which are

relatively concrete and grounded in objective facets of organizational life,