Power Imbalance Assignment

Power
and authority issues can affect workplace relationships and task
groups. Reflect on past experiences with power imbalances, and how you
might want to change future interactions and responses.

Think
of a situation or circumstance in which you felt a strong power
imbalance between yourself and another person, in which the other person
had authority over some aspect of your life. Describe the power
imbalance; for example, this person may have had authority over some
aspect of your life, which gave him or her some control over your
happiness and life satisfaction, as well as over the achievement of your
personal goals and desires.

Explain how the person
used the authority and power to assist you or provide you with
something, or how they used it to prevent you from achieving something
you wanted. Write about the “objective event” but also about the
feelings you had at that time about the person, circumstances, and
yourself.

How will you use this past experience to guide your interactions in the workplace if you are in a position of less power?

What
things would you do if you are in a supervisory role, leader of a task
group, etc. to ensure group cohesion, positive relationships, and
productivity?

Your paper should be 1-2 pages double-spaced.

See the Assignment Files for the Grading Rubric for this assignment