Organizational behavior describes five forms of power that individuals in a group can exercise over each other. These bases of power can be divided into two categories: formal and personal (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 471). Formal power is granted by a person's position in an organization's hierarchy and includes legitimate, coercive, and reward powers. Legitimate power is the broadest of formal powers and “represents formal authority to control and use organizational resources” and involves compliance by those in subordinate positions (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472) . Coercive and reward powers each focus on obtaining compliance from another individual, although they use opposite means. Coercive power is based on fear and includes the threat to remove or deny something of value to another person within the organization, while reward power seeks compliance by offering something of value in exchange for adhering to a policy or to a goal (Robbins, & Judge, 2007). , p. 471). Personal power does not require the formal authority of the organization and is, instead, gained from an individual's differentiating traits (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472). Personal power is recognized in the forms of expert power and referent power. Expert power is gained by those who have specialized skills or knowledge, such as lawyers, doctors, and various other specialists on whom people depend (Robbins and Judge, 2007, p. 472). Referent power is maintained by people who are respected, admired, or envied by others. Individuals with referent power are able to “exert influence over others because of their charismatic dynamism, likability, and emotional effects” on others (Robbins, & Judge, 2007, p. 472). These five power bases are laid out in the ... .... middle of paper ......tion when it comes to presenting financial statements, so Employee 2 retains considerable power over the manager in this regard. Finally, the relationship between Employee 3 and the sales department shows less obvious signs of dependence and power held by one party. Employee 3 does not have the experience or unique professional qualifications of Employees 1 or 2, but he possesses traits that others in the sales department admire. By selling a proposal to the sales department, Employee 3 is able to grow professionally, and the sales department expects to increase sales by implementing Employee 3's plan. In this case, both parties have a similar degree of dependence on the other and both use their powers for the betterment of all involved. References: Robbins, Stephen and Judge, Tim. (2007). Organizational behavior. Prentice Hall