Abstract

The writers investigated the managerial power bases on work autonomy and supervisory satisfaction in Malaysian industrial environment.  The effect of ethnicity was also explored.  Data from 210 respondents from technical and non-technical staff of manufacturing companies indicated that supervision of industrial people were most acceptable through the practice of referent, expert and reward power.  Among the power bases, reward power was most often exercised when high work autonomy was accorded.  The work autonomy was found to be positively correlated with the satisfaction with supervision.  Along the racial line, the Malays rated their superior more positively on the referent power base than Chinese, while the Chinese rated their superior as more coercive than did the Malays

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