Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Soft Power: Examples and Definition

Soft power is the ability of a country, organization, or even a person to influence or attract others through cultural, ideological, or diplomatic appeal rather than military force or coercion. The concept was coined by American political theorist Joseph Nye to conceptualize the gentle and diplomatic ways by which nations can achieve their geopolitical goals. […]

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17 Classroom Management Styles

Common classroom management styles include the assertive discipline method, Ginott’s Method, and the pragmatic method. Teachers tend to develop their classroom management style based upon their teaching philosophy. A behaviorist teacher might use assertive discipline, while a progressive teacher might use choice theory. Other teachers might have a situational approach, where their style depends on

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25 Expert Power Examples

Expert power refers to the power a person garners from being recognized as an expert in the topic by followers or subordinates. Heldman, Baca and Jansen (2007, p. 348)1 define it below: “Expert power occurs when the person being influenced believes the manager, or the person doing the influencing, is knowledgeable about the subject or

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25 Reward Power Examples

Reward power is a type of power in leadership where leader has the capacity to distribute rewards as incentives to subordinates. It is “derived from having the capacity to provide rewards to others” (Northouse, 2010, p. 7)1. This is one of five sources of power proposed by French and Raven (1959)2 in their taxonomy of

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25 Coercive Power Examples

Coercive power refers to the power a leader has to distribute punishments or disincentives when their subordinates fail to comply or do not meet standards set by the authority. It is one of five sources of power in leadership proposed by French and Raven (French, Raven & Cartwright, 1959)1, and is the opposite of reward

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25 Legitimate Power Examples

Legitimate power refers to power that a person in leadership holds as a result of an established institutional hierarchy, such as a manager over their employees or a corporal over a private in the military. Scholars define it as below: “[Legitimate power] is authority that comes with a position and is therefore ascribed. The person

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