It is evident that power is a commonly discussed subject in Organizational Behavior's literature (OB). Somech and Drach-Zahavy (2002) point out that French and Raven's (1959) typology has been one of the most popular approaches for interpersonal influence bases of power conceptualization. We can observe the influence of the understanding of French and Raven (1959) concerning power and influence and the frequent use of the typology of power presented by them in OB books published in Brazil. However, progresses accomplished by Bertran Raven are not discussed. Based on that, this paper aims rescuing the words of French and Raven (1959) in order to present the authors' original idea, without the influence of paraphrases and translations, since this procedure can contribute to the best understanding of the concepts "power" and "influence". Besides, the Power/Interaction Model of Interpersonal Influence, developed and discussed in several texts by Bertran Raven, is presented. Based on Impression Management theories, the original Power/Interaction Model is analyzed from a critical perspective and an alteration of the original Power/Interaction Model conception is proposed.
power; influence; interaction; impression management