Influencing Group Communication According to Wikipedia, power is a measurement of an entity’s ability to control its environment, including the behavior of other entities. Frequently power is seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power itself is accepted as endemic to humans as social beings. In 1959 a study of power was conducted by psychologists John French and Bertam Raven, and at this time power was divided into five separate and distinctive forms. Because leadership and power are closely linked to one another, it was shown how different forms of power directly affected one’s leadership and success. This idea is used most commonly with organizational communication and also throughout most of the workforce itself. The five bases of power that were derived from this idea are coercive power, reward power, expert power, legitimate power, and referent power. Each of these bases of power show different forms that an individual can use or does already use to communicate and ultimately receive what is desired. Out of the five bases of power, three of these bases are classified as formal powers. Formal powers are generally derived by accepted standards and do not have a casual side to them. These three powers are coercive, reward, and legitimate. Coercive power is based upon the idea of coercion; it involves forcing someone to do something he or she does not want to do. This power can be challenging to use because it typically has a negative impact, which can lead to lower satisfaction and commitment from the other person. Reward power is when a leader uses rewards or benefits with employees to receive the results they want. Forms of rewards in an organization can be as small as a box of chocolates, or as large as an increase in salary. Mostly this type of power is based on the idea that society is more prone to do things when there is an opportunity to receive