Your Personal Power Profile

Below is a list of statements that describe behaviors that leaders in work organizations can direct toward their followers.  Read each descriptive statement, thinking in terms of how you prefer to influence others.  Mark the number that most closely represent how you feel.  Use the following numbers for your answers:

1 = Strongly disagree

2 = Disagree

3 = Neither agree or disagree

4 = Agree

5 = Strongly agree

 

TO INFLUENCE OTHERS, I WOULD PREFER TO:

1. Increase their pay level - 1  2  3  4  5
2. Make them feel valued  -  1  2  3  4  5
3. Give undesirable job assignments -  1  2  3  4  5
4. Make them feel that I approve them -  1  2  3  4  5
5. Make them feel that they have commitments to meet  1  2  3  4  5
6. Make them feel personally accepted -  1  2  3  4  5
7. Make them feel important -  1  2  3  4  5
8. Give them good technical suggestions -  1  2  3  4  5
9. Make the work difficult for them -  1  2  3  4  5
10. Share my experience and/or training  1  2  3  4  5
11. Influence a pay increase  -  1  2  3  4  5
12. Make working here unpleasant  - 1  2  3  4  5
13. Make being at work distasteful - 1  2  3  4  5
14. Make them feel that they should satisfy their job requirements - 1  2  3  4  5
15. Provide them with sound job related advise - 1  2  3  4  5
16. Provide them with special benefits - 1  2  3  4  5
17. Influence promotions - 1  2  3  4  5
18. Give them the feeling that they have responsibilities to fulfill - 1  2  3  4  5
19. Provide them with needed technical knowledge - 1  2  3  4  5
20. Make them recognize that they have tasks to accomplish - 1  2  3  4  5

 SCORING YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE:

Compute your scores from the 20 questions according to the following procedure: 

• Reward Power – sum your responses to questions 1, 13, 16 and 17
• Coercive Power – sum your responses to questions 3, 9 11 and 12
• Legitimate Power – sum your responses to questions 5, 14, 18 and 20
• Referent Power – sum your responses to questions 2, 4, 6, and 7
• Expert Power – sum your responses to questions 8, 10, 15, and 19

 INTERPRETING YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE:

A high score (16 or greater) on any of the five dimensions of power implies that you prefer to influence others by employing that particular form of power.  A low score (8 or less) implies that you prefer not to employ this particular form of power to influence others.  These score represent your personal power profile.

YOUR TASKS:

1.  What do your scores suggest about your use of power to influence others?
2.  On what power dimensions did you score the highest and the lowest?
3.  Were the results of your power profile a surprise to you, or did you pretty much find what you expected?
4. How do you attempt to influence the people with whom your work?
5. If you hold power in an organization, what is its basis?  How do you prefer to exert power over others.

Please fully support your responses to the exercise questions.