How Personal and Position Power Are Related

¶ … personal power. What is power? In an organization, power is the ability or potential of the leader to have influence over followers or subordinates. Power does not actually have to be exercised to be effective: so long as the realization of the potential to exercise influence is there and appreciated by followers, it is the same as actually being influential and therefore having power. In this sense, power is very often simply a perception that followers have with regard to a leader.

If they view the leader as having power, then he has it. If not, then he does not. Power is a transactional quality, in that it is determined by the flow of relationships, regardless of whether they are merely perceived or are actually real. The difference between position and personal power is this: position power is that which stems from the top of an organization downward to the lower level manager who is in the "position" referred to.

He derives his power/authority from upper level management and it is given him from a higher up in the chain of command. This is different from personal power which is given from one's followers and climbs upward in a bottom-up movement. It is based on the actions of the leader and whether or not he appeals to followers. If he does, then he wields personal power. These are the two main sources of power. Managers in any position have position power.

That does not necessarily preclude that they have personal power. A position power manager may have a lot of power in terms of the chain of command, but if he has no followers then he has no personal power. An individual with personal power, likewise, might have a lot of followers but no real influence within the chain of command (he has no position power in an organization). The two are not necessarily always distinct, separate or united.

They are different and for the most part independent of one another, but there can be overlap in the sense that a manager with position power may also have personal power by having a lot of followers and supporters, and vice versa. The two can also interact and impact one another as well. If one has a great deal of personal power, it can lead to one being given position power by upper management.

If one has position power but no real personal power, it can cause him to lose his position power. Position power, of course, is not dependent upon personal power and neither is personal power dependent upon position power, but the two can interact and influence one another. For example, the CEO of Enron Ken Lay has position power given him by the Board. He oversees the operations of the organization. However, as Enron's books are largely fraudulent, Lay begins to lose personal power.