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Scott Harris
UNIV 392
June 9, 2016
Coercive power is power based on the fact that the individual holding
the power can punish or elicit fear. Though it sounds terrible to say, I
used coercive power when I babysat five children, five days a week for
ten hours a day last summer. Cora, Anna, Pipo, Gabby and Christopher
were eighteen months to six years old, the prime whining age. When I
was a child, if ever I whined for anything, be it a glass of milk or a trip
to the playground, I did not get it. Thus, I learned very quickly that if I
wanted something I needed to ask in a normal tone of voice. This is the
same sort of coercive power I utilized when navigating the summer
days with five young children. If one child whined, I would respond I
cant understand you, when you can talk like we normally do then we
can discuss who gets to ride the bike next or something along those
lines. Thankfully, children pick things up quickly and by understanding
that they werent going to get the bike or a say in what we did next if
they whined, they stopped doing so around me.
Reward power is based on the individuals ability to reward. One
of the children I was a nanny for last summer, Anna, was four years old
and still not potty trained. Her parents were going through a nasty
divorce and no one was really giving her the attention she needed. I
started by pulling her aside from playing with the others every so often
to ask her to try to go to the bathroom. I know the old saying that if
you give a man a fish hell eat for the night, but if you teach him how
to fish hell eat for the rest of his life. So, I bought a huge book of
Works Cited
Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004. PDF.