Diagnostic skills help a manager visualize appropriate responses to a situation. One situation managers often face is whether to use power to solve a problem. This exercise will help you develop your diagnostic skills as they relate to using different types of power in different situations.

Exercise Background Several methods have been identified for using power. These include:

1. Legitimate request—The manager requests that the subordinate comply because the subordinate recognizes that the organization has given the manager the right to make the request. Most day-to-day interactions between managers and subordinates are of this type.

2. Instrumental compliance—In this form of exchange, a subordinate comply to get the reward the manager controls. Suppose that a manager asks a subordinate to do something outside the range of the subordinate’s normal duties, such as working extra hours on the weekend, terminating a relationship with a longstanding buyer, or delivering bad news. The subordinate complies and, as a direct result, reaps praise and a bonus from the manager. The next time the subordinate is asked to perform a similar activity, that subordinate will recognize that compliance will be instrumental in her getting more rewards. Hence the basis of instrumental compliance is clarifying important performance-reward contingencies.

3. Coercion—This is used when the manager suggests or implies that the subordinate will be punished, fired, or reprimanded if he does not do something.

4. Rational persuasion—This is when the manager can convince the subordinate that compliance is in the subordinate’s best interest. For example, a manager might argue that the subordinate should accept a transfer because it would be good for the subordinate’s career. In some ways, rational persuasion is like reward power except that the manager does not really control the reward.

5. Personal identification—This is when a manager who recognizes that she has referent power over a subordinate can shape the behavior of that subordinate by engaging in desired behaviors: The manager consciously becomes a model for the subordinate and exploits personal identification.

6. Inspirational appeal—This is when a manager can induce a subordinate to do something consistent with a set of higher ideals or values through inspirational appeal. For example, a plea for loyalty represents an inspirational appeal.

Exercise Task With these ideas in mind, do the following:

Is a manager more likely to be using multiple forms of power at the same time, or using a single type of power?