Causes of the ProblemPower, Politics and Conflict Throughout the film there are very obvious abuses of power by managers in all three work environments. Power is the ability of an individual to influence the behavior of another individual and in return to oppose any unwanted pressure (Mann, 2013). In Nick’s case, his boss exercises his authority over Nick by hinting at the possibility of a promotion only to reward himself (Scott, 2011). Nick's boss controls who gets promotions, thus falsely giving Nick hope that he will receive a reward in the near future. This is clearly an abuse of the power of reward. Kurt's boss exploits his power by forcing Kurt to fire employees for no real reason (Scott, 2011). Kurt's boss abuses his legitimate power to force Kurt to do tasks he doesn't want to do. Finally, in Dale's case, his boss sexually harasses him, exercising her authority over him. Dale's boss threatens to punish him with blackmail if he does not comply with her desire to sexually harass him (Scott, 2011). This is clearly an abuse of coercive power. Although each o...