The concept of power is present in various areas of all organizations. However, power is not something that should necessarily be viewed negatively. There are types of justifiable power that may be important to criminal justice organizations. The primary role of power in the administration of criminal justice should be to obtain obedience from subordinates of all types and to transform this power, over time, into acceptable forms of authority (Stojkovic et al., 2008 ). It is for this reason that power is an important attribute of criminal justice agencies. It is important as a criminal justice manager, and as an agency as a whole, to have legitimate authority. Power that is non-coercive and works for the good of the organization is beneficial for gathering information, resources, and compliance. Legitimate, expert and referent power can be effective in achieving goals (Stojkovic et al., 2008). Legitimate power assumes that those in traditional positions of authority are the holders of power and exert their authority over the recipient of power because their internalized norms justify the necessary degree of conformity (Stojkovic et al., 2008). Legitimate power is most useful within criminal justice agencies because it takes into account culture and social structure and operates within a hierarchy to promote successful delegation of tasks. Although political power has some advantages within a criminal justice agency, it is easily corruptible. and leads one to believe that legitimate power must be concentrated internally for an organization to succeed. There is a difference in the power structure from one group to another, and it has been found that power is primarily socially based. The key to successful power structures that work for all situations... middle of paper ...... question. An example of this exists when two correctional officers of the same level seek the same promotion and one becomes unable to function in a professional or friendly manner toward the other due to the conflict. Right now, an entire organization is at risk of negative side effects from this one conflict. Once a conflict is brought to a personal level, it can move into overt conflict. During the overt phase, behaviors that may be hidden or obvious will arise to reveal the conflict (Stojkovic et al., 2008). The emergence of negative behaviors during a phase of overt conflict may occur between two officers, or even between supervisors and subordinates, who will knowingly irritate or sabotage the interests of the other person. The consequences of conflict begin after the issues causing the conflict have been resolved..