PES6250 Chap.3 Leaders, Managers and the Sources of Power
Leaders, Managers and the Sources of Power
Two definitions that have to stay separate
Leadership is described as the process by which a person influences and enables others to reach aspirational goals, resting on character strength, strategic vision and collaboration rather than on authority alone.
Management is described as maintaining order through policy enforcement and the oversight of daily operations, and elsewhere as planning, budgeting, organising and problem solving for operational stability.
The course draws the distinction and then refuses the hierarchy students usually add to it: successful sport managers blend the two, driving innovation while maintaining stability.
Five sources of power, and where each comes from
The course sets out five bases with sporting examples. Reward power is the ability to offer incentives, such as a starting position or a bonus.
Coercive power is the ability to administer punishment, such as benching a player. Legitimate power comes from a formal position, such as a team president making strategic decisions. Expert power comes from knowledge and skill, as with a legendary athlete turned coach. Referent power comes from respect and connection, as with a captain who inspires teammates.
The first three are granted by the organisation and arrive with a job title; the last two are earned by a person and do not transfer.
Why the opening move of a new appointment is usually wrong
A newly appointed manager holds the three positional bases on the first morning and neither of the personal ones, which explains why new appointments so often begin with a visible use of authority.
It is the only instrument available. It is also usually a mistake, because reward and coercive power both work by being available and degrade when used, converting a general expectation into a specific transaction.
An organisation whose leaders visibly exercise formal authority often is usually one whose leaders have run out of the other bases.
What leadership is for in a sport organisation
Three functions are named. Leadership brings athletes, coaches and supporters together behind one shared vision, which is coordination. It inspires excellence and shapes organisational culture, which is standard setting.
And it carries ethical responsibility, guiding with integrity, which is constraint. The third is the one that distinguishes this sector, and the course names ethical guardianship explicitly as part of the role rather than as a personal virtue.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Leadership as a process of influencing and enabling
- 02
Management as planning, budgeting, organising and problem solving
- 03
Maintaining order against producing change, plotted as one axis
- 04
Five power bases, and the sporting example of each
- 05
Positional bases that arrive with the title against personal bases that are earned
- 06
Why a power base that must be exercised has already partly failed
- 07
Coordination, standard setting and ethical guardianship
- 08
Borrowing a base you do not hold rather than escalating one you do
Decide which power base to use when the informal leader is the obstacle
- 3Name the bases held on each side of the situation.
- 3Say what dropping the captain would actually deploy, and against what.
- 2Give the stronger play and the reason the formal lever stays unused.
Key terms
- Reward Power
- The ability to offer an incentive such as selection or a bonus. It works by being available and is partly spent each time it is used.
- Coercive Power
- The ability to impose a cost such as exclusion from a squad. It produces compliance reliably and produces resentment almost as reliably.
- Legitimate Power
- Authority that derives from holding a formal position, which arrives with an appointment and departs with it.
- Expert Power
- Influence that derives from demonstrated knowledge and skill, earned by a person and carried between organisations.
- Referent Power
- Influence that derives from respect and personal connection, which cannot be conferred by an organisation and is frequently held by someone without a title.
- Ethical Guardianship
- The part of a leadership role concerned with setting and holding standards, treated here as a job with identifiable decisions rather than as a personal quality.
Leaders, Managers and the Sources of Power FAQ
Is it fair to say an organisation has managers when it needs leaders?
Not as a stand-alone claim. It sounds analytical while asserting almost nothing, it cannot be falsified as stated, and it implies that planning and budgeting are dispensable, which in a sector with unstable revenue is the opposite of true. The course explicitly asks for a blend of the two rather than a preference between them.
If you want to make the argument, make it specific: name the decision that was not taken, say which end of the axis it sat on, and show what happened instead.
Why do the personal power bases matter more with volunteers?
Because the positional bases do not bite on people who are not paid and can leave at no cost. Reward power has little to offer, coercive power has nothing to withdraw, and legitimate power rests on an authority the volunteer has not agreed to be subject to in any enforceable way. What remains is expert power and referent power, which is why the person who actually runs a volunteer roster is often not the person with the title.
Can one person hold several bases at once, and does it matter?
Yes, and the combinations create specific problems. A coach who is also a former international holds expert power alongside positional power, which makes an instruction hard to distinguish from an opinion, and that ambiguity is a common source of dressing-room conflict.
A senior administrator who is also widely liked holds legitimate and referent power together, which is effective and makes it hard for anyone to raise a concern, because doing so costs a relationship as well as a disagreement.
Assessment move
Take a situation you have actually seen, in a club, a workplace or a team, where an instruction was ignored. Write down who had to change behaviour, which base the instruction rested on, and which base the person resisting was drawing on. Then ask what base someone else in the room held that could have been borrowed.
That single exercise is what converts the five-item list into something you can use, and it is the form both the worked example and the practice items in this chapter take.
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