Supervisees' Perceptions of Supervisors' Social Power in Speech-Language Pathology

Abstract

Most speech-language pathologists function as supervisees and supervisors at various points in their careers (Anderson, 1988). This study investigates supervisees' perceptions of their current and ideal supervisors' social power during the clinical supervisory process in speech-language pathology education. Perceived social power was measured by two modified versions (Wagner, 1994) of the Rahim Leader Power Inventory (Rahim, 1988). This inventory measures the five French and Raven (1959) social power bases: expert, reward, referent, legitimate, and coercive. Graduate supervisees completed one version of the inventory by rating their current supervisor and a second version of the inventory indicating their ideal supervisor. Results revealed significant differences among supervisees' perceptions of current versus ideal supervisors relative to expert, reward, referent, and legitimate power. Overall, these results have implications for supervisors in speech-language pathology who may wish to modify their perceived social power in order to enhance supervisory relationships.