Okuzeka
Management & Leadership vocabulary · Leadership Styles and Skills

Coercive power

Meaning in management & leadership, with examples

nounCommon term

In management & leadership, coercive power means: Influence arising from the ability to impose outcomes that others want to avoid.

In Turkish: zorlayıcı güç

How it is used

Use analytically for influence through threatened negative consequences, not as a recommendation for management practice.

Example sentences

  1. The case study examined coercive power when staff complied mainly to avoid losing preferred shifts.

    Compliance is linked to an anticipated negative consequence.

  2. Frequent reliance on coercive power damaged trust in the department's leadership.

    The example separates immediate compliance from a longer-term relationship cost.

Common collocations

  • use coercive power
  • reliance on coercive power
  • authorityThe official power or right to make decisions, give instructions and use resources, usually linked to a person's role in an organisation.
  • psychological safetyA shared belief within a team that people can speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes or disagree without being punished or embarrassed.

More terms: Leadership Styles and Skills

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: