ABSTRACT
Power seems intimately involved in the origin, continuation, and resolution of almost every conflict. The initiation of social change seems to involve power, and power inevitably emerges in resistance to social change. Theory of power is intimately related to our theory of human motivation. This chapter suggests that motivated human behavior emerges whenever a harmonious configuration of several subjective motivational factors arises or is stimulated in a responder. It describes directive power as coercion and manipulation, and presents in those categories the use or the threat of force, the conditional offer or withdrawal of rewards, and the intentional distortion or withholding of information. Leaders typically shift the nature of the power they use when they move from establishing an initial power base to using that power base against outside forces. The successful use of synergic power requires the initiator to help responders assimilate the information needed to undergird a motivational state that will lead them into cooperative action.
