Bertram H. Raven

Social Power in School Consultation: A Contemporary View of French and Raven's Bases of Power Model.

Abstract This article (a) offers an updated view of French and Ravens (1959) bases of social power model, (b) describes Ravens (1992) power/interaction model of interpersonal influence, and (c) applies elements of both to the practice of school consultation. In contrast to Martin (1978), who proposed that only expert and referent power pertain to school consultation, it is posited here that all six power bases (coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent, and informational) are attributed to and used by the school psychologist-consultant in working with teacher-consultees. Social power and influence are explored relative to typical events occurring during school consultation, such as the consultees implementation of an intervention with integrity. The article concludes with a brief research agenda concerning the further exploration of social power within consultation.

Kurt Lewin Address: Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control

A power/interaction model of interpersonal influence is applied to the analysis of religions as mechanisms of social control. The original six bases of power presented by French and Raven (1959)—coercion, reward, legitimate position, expert, referent, and informational—are expanded to include variants of these bases: personal reward and coercion and legitimacy of equity, reciprocity, and responsibility (Raven, 1992). Over centuries, certain sages, seers, and chieftains, feeling that they knew what was best for their people individually and collectively, have attempted to utilize these power resources (e.g., to counter tendencies toward murder, theft, adultery, mayhem, or harmful dietary practices). To implement power strategies, various preparatory devices were developed, which include the establishment of a Deity, whose ultimate reward and coercive power is enhanced by omnipotence; whose omnipresence establishes necessary continual surveillance; and whose ultimate expertise follows from omniscience. Much of what has been developed in holy works, and in supportive art and literature, can then be seen as further preparing the bases of power for social control. Tensions result when a populace that is educated to expect informational power is faced with a religion that emphasizes extreme coercion, reward, ultimate legitimate and expert power.

Bases of social power, leadership styles, and organizational commitment

Affective organizational commitment reflects the extent to which organizational members are loyal and willing to work toward organizational objectives (Meyer & Allen, 1997). In particular, affective organizational commitment holds very important implications at all organizational levels (e.g., turnover rates, performance, and citizenship behavior). Whereas previous research has evinced the positive influence of transformational and charismatic leadership styles on affective commitment toward the organization (Bass & Avolio, 1994), little is known with regard to the nature of this relationship. In line with the interpersonal power/interaction model, the present investigation aimed to investigate the mechanism at play between transformational leadership style and affective organizational commitment. Specifically, we hypothesized that transformational leadership style would increase affective organizational commitment through its effect on willingness to comply with soft bases of power. In two studies, we subjected the foregoing hypotheses to empirical scrutiny. In Study 1, the proposed mediation model was empirically supported with Italian employees in the public sector. Attesting to the robustness of our findings, Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 with Italian employees from the public and private sectors. In addition, Study 2 replicated Study 1 using a different measure of transformational leadership. Both Study 1 and Study 2 provided results consistent with our hypotheses. Specifically, the present paper reports empirical evidence that (1) the more participants report having a transformational leader, the more willing they become to comply with soft (but not harsh) power bases, (2) in turn, greater willingness to comply with soft (but not harsh) power bases increases ones affective organizational commitment. These findings provide additional support for the interpersonal power/interaction model and pave the way for new research directions.

Consequences of Social Power and Causal Attribution for Compliance as Seen by Powerholder and Target

72 subjects read six scenarios in which a supervisor used different bases of power to successfully influence a worker to alter his method of work. Half the subjects were asked to take the perspective of the supervisor in answering the questions and half that of the worker. Information power was perceived as most effective in inducing private acceptance of change. Information, reward, and referent power were most conducive to mutual evaluation and liking. Coercive and legitimate power were least effective in both respects. Subjects were more likely to attribute compliance to the workers will if referent, information, or reward power was used, less so if coercion or legitimate power was used. Supervisors, as compared to workers, were particularly likely to assume responsibility for inducing change, feel confident that change would continue, and evaluate the other favorably. Theoretical implications for social power and attributional mediation are discussed.

The Likelihood of Use of Social Power Strategies by School Psychologists When Consulting With Teachers

The Interpersonal Power Inventory (IPI) has been applied previously to investigate school psychologists engaged in problem-solving consultation with teachers concerning students having various learning and adjustment problems. Relevant prior findings include (a) consultants and teachers both perceive soft power strategies as more effective than harsh power strategies when consultants are attempting to influence teachers who are described as initially reluctant to comply with requests, and (b) compared with male consultants, female consultants view soft power strategies as more effective. Moving away from judgments of perceived effectiveness, this study investigated the likelihood of use of specific power strategies by school psychologists when consulting with teachers. It was hypothesized that (a) psychologists overall would report a greater likelihood of using soft versus harsh power strategies, (b) female psychologists would report a greater likelihood of using soft power strategies than male psychologists, and (c) psychologists overall would report a greater likelihood of using direct informational, positive expert, and positive referent power versus the remaining eight power strategies measured by the IPI. A U.S. sample of 352 school psychologists (71% female) completed a version of the IPI modified to examine likelihood of use. The first hypothesis received strong support; the second, no support; and the third, moderate support.

The Dynamics of Groups

MISUNDERSTANDING persists, particularly among educators, concerning the nature of group dynamics as a field of study. The misunderstanding arises in large part from failure to observe the focus of group dynamics as scholarship and research in basic social science. Group dynamics as a scientific discipline operates on the principle that it is fruitful to consider a group as a dynamic interactive unit, that it is possible to study such a unit through carefully controlled research, and that theoretical developments from these studies can be usefully applied to everyday life. The more than 100 research-based articles and books on this subject which appear each year attest to the first two of these assumptions. Cartwright and Zander (13) edited the first comprehensive book with group dynamics in the title, encompassing representative experiments with theoretical chapters which attempt to integrate the results into the theoretical framework of Lewin. Hare, Borgatta, and Bales (37) offered a broader representation of studies, growing out of various theoretical viewpoints in psychology and sociology, and provided an annotated bibliography of 584 items. The literature was also reviewed by Kelley and Thibaut (50), Klein (55), and Lorge and others (60); Sprott (79), Stogdill (80) and Schutz (72) provided theoretical integrations with specific research suggestions. Bonner (10) presented a review of prior investigations with several chapters on applications. Other texts, such as those by Gordon (35) and Thelen (84), offered insights based on careful observations of training laboratory groups and suggested applications. This chapter considers principally research on small groups rather than applications of theory. Perception of persons has not been considered since it is covered in Chapter I.

Comparison of surveillance and control activities of infection control nurses and infection control laboratories in United States hospitals, 1976–1977

To study the impact of the professional background of infection control personnel, we compared the characteristics and activities of 107 infection control nurses (ICNs) with those of 13 infection control laboratorians (ICLs), all in hospitals with 300 beds or more. Although the two groups performed similarly in many respects. ICNs spent more time teaching, whereas ICLs spent more time and appeared more proficient in investigating outbreaks. Staff nurses at hospitals with ICNs found the infection control person more visible on the wards and more available for discussing infection control matters. ICNs appeared less hesitant to speak up to personnel not following correct handwashing techniques. ICNs and ICLs appear to offer different skills that should be considered when filling different infection control positions.