Detective Doe Case Study

As a leader in a law enforcement agency Detective Doe has a lot of social power from many different sources. French and Raven’s 5 sources of power are very effective in describing the source Detective Doe’s social power in the workplace (1959). It is extremely important for him to use the appropriate power sources and not to abuse his power in any way as both a leader and representative of justice. Another thing he must ensure is that his team is motivated to work and not distracted by material compensation or other types of rewards. The environment of working in police work involves a lot of risk and it is crucial that a leader is able to influence and control their followers through social power. One form of social power Detective Doe uses is legitimate power (French & Raven 1959). At its simplest level Detective Doe is a higher ranking officer than his followers so they should feel obligated to follow his guidance. This specific form of social influence is one that Detective Doe uses inherently and prefers …show more content…
Detective Doe’s communication system with his followers allows him to be able to check in and help throughout any point of the group’s task. This allows him to offer advice on adjustments or affirmations that the group is operating efficiently in achieving their goals. Another form of feedback that Detective Doe finds important is feedback telling his team how close or far they are from achieving a goal. He noted people many times would ask about progress and if they were even close to finding something out about a specific crime or case. As Locke (1996) has also found goal setting is most effective when there is feedback showing progress in relation to a goal. People need to be able to check their progress in order to evaluate their various strategies and decisions so this is a powerful tool in order to help leaders and