The meaning of “power”

This investigation attempted to (a) determine how individuals in positions of status and authority respond to the concept of power, and (b) develop an instrument that could be used to measure an individual's power orientation. The inquiry represented a preliminary step toward explorations of the theoretical proposition that there is a relationship between power orientation and overt communication behavior. The responses of over 500 individuals in supervisory positions in business, industry, government, and law enforcement to items reflecting thirty‐seven possible “meanings” of power were factor analyzed. The following six power orientations explain much of the variance in the way individuals are oriented toward the concept of powers (a) power as good; (b) power as resource dependency; (c) pofer as instinctive drive; (d) power as political; (e) power as charisma; and (f) power as control and autonomy. A forty‐item Power Orientation Scale was developed to measure these orientations.