Power vs. Control — What's the Difference?
By Urooj Arif & Fiza Rafique — Updated on April 30, 2024
Power refers to the capacity or ability to influence the behavior of others or the course of events, while control is the exercise of restraint or direction over someone or something.
Difference Between Power and Control
Table of Contents
ADVERTISEMENT
Key Differences
Power is a broader concept that encompasses the ability to influence or command outcomes, individuals, or resources, often implying a potential for coercion or persuasion. In contrast, control is more specifically the act of directing, regulating, or restraining processes, people, or systems to achieve a desired outcome.
While power can exist in various forms, such as political, social, or economic, and derives from different sources like authority, knowledge, or social connections, control involves the mechanisms or techniques used to manage and operate within those frameworks. Control is a manifestation of power applied to specific situations.
Power is inherently about potential or capacity, suggesting a latent ability that may not be currently active but can be invoked as necessary. On the other hand, control is an active practice, requiring ongoing application and adjustment to maintain order and direct actions.
The dynamics of power are often about relationships and interactions between people or groups, where influence and authority play significant roles in shaping behaviors. Conversely, control can also pertain to non-human elements, such as controlling a machine, a process, or a system, where human influence is aimed at mechanical or procedural outcomes.
In an organizational context, power refers to the ability of individuals or groups to influence decisions and command resources, shaping the direction of the organization. Control, however, focuses on the systems and procedures in place to regulate operations and ensure compliance with established standards and objectives.
ADVERTISEMENT
Comparison Chart
Definition
Capacity to influence or command
Exercise of directing or restraining
Scope
Broader, potential influence
Specific, applied influence
Application
Varied, can be social, political, etc.
Often operational, procedural
Focus
On potential and capacity
On regulation and execution
Examples
Leadership influence, economic power
Traffic control, process management
Compare with Definitions
Power
Power can be visible or invisible, often embedded in institutions.
Institutional power dictates how rules are applied in society.
Control
Control involves direct regulation and oversight of actions or systems.
Air traffic control manages the safe flow of aircraft.
Power
Power is the ability to influence outcomes or people.
The president's power allows for significant policy changes.
Control
Control can be achieved through rules, regulations, or direct intervention.
Financial control includes budgeting and auditing.
Power
Power can derive from various sources such as position, knowledge, or connections.
A CEO uses her power to influence corporate strategy.
Control
Techniques of control vary across different environments.
In software development, version control is critical for tracking changes.
Power
The exercise of power can be ethical or coercive.
Charismatic leaders use their power to inspire followers positively.
Control
Control is essential in maintaining system stability and efficiency.
Process control in manufacturing ensures product quality.
Power
In society, power dynamics shape relationships and social structures.
Media power influences public opinion and cultural norms.
Control
The aim of control is often to ensure conformity and prevent errors.
Quality control in factories minimizes product defects.
Power
The ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way
His powers of concentration
The power of speech
I will do everything in my power to help you
Control
The power to influence or direct people's behaviour or the course of events
The whole operation is under the control of a production manager
The situation was slipping out of her control
Power
The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events
She had me in her power
A political process that offers people power over their own lives
Control
A person or thing used as a standard of comparison for checking the results of a survey or experiment
Platelet activity was higher in patients with the disease than in the controls
Power
Physical strength and force exerted by something or someone
The lyrical power of his prose
The power of the storm
Control
A member of an intelligence organization who personally directs the activities of a spy
He sat with his KGB control as the details of his new assignment were explained
Power
Energy that is produced by mechanical, electrical, or other means and used to operate a device
Generating power from waste
Power cables
Control
A high card that will prevent the opponents from establishing a particular suit
He has controls in both minor suits
Power
The rate of doing work, measured in watts or less frequently horse power.
Control
Determine the behaviour or supervise the running of
He was appointed to control the company's marketing strategy
Power
The product obtained when a number is multiplied by itself a certain number of times
2 to the power of 4 equals 16
Control
Take into account (an extraneous factor that might affect the results of an experiment)
No attempt was made to control for variations
Power
A large number or amount of something
There's a power of difference between farming now and when I was a lad
Control
To exercise authoritative or dominating influence over; direct
The majority party controls the legislative agenda.
Power
Supply (a device) with mechanical or electrical energy
A nuclear-powered submarine
The car is powered by a fuel-injected 3.0-litre engine
Control
To adjust to a requirement; regulate
Rules that control trading on the stock market.
Valves that control the flow of water.
Power
Move or travel with great speed or force
He powered round a bend
Control
To hold in restraint; check
Struggled to control my temper.
Power
The ability or capacity to act or do something effectively
Is it in your power to undo this injustice?.
Control
To reduce or prevent the spread of
Used a pesticide to control insects.
Controlled the fire by dousing it with water.
Power
Often powers A specific capacity, faculty, or aptitude
Her powers of concentration.
Control
To verify or regulate (a scientific experiment) by conducting a parallel experiment or by comparing with another standard.
Power
Physical strength or force exerted or capable of being exerted
The power of the waves.
Control
To verify (a financial account, for example) by using a duplicate register for comparison.
Power
Effectiveness at moving one's emotions or changing how one thinks
A novel of great power.
Control
Authority or ability to manage or direct
Lost control of the skidding car.
The leaders in control of the country.
Power
The ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority
How long has that party been in power?.
Control
One that controls; a controlling agent, device, or organization.
Power
The military strength or economic or political influence of a nation or other group
That country projects its power throughout the region.
Control
An instrument.
Power
A country, nation, or other political unit having great influence or control over others
The western powers.
Control
Controls A set of such instruments.
Power
A supernatural being
The powers of evil.
Control
A restraining device, measure, or limit; a curb
A control on prices.
Price controls.
Power
Powers(Christianity) The sixth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
Control
A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of a scientific experiment.
Power
The energy or motive force by which a physical system or machine is operated
Turbines turned by steam power.
A sailing ship driven by wind power.
Control
An individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a scientific experiment, as a group of subjects given an inactive substance in an experiment testing a new drug administered to another group of subjects.
Power
The capacity of a system or machine to operate
A vehicle that runs under its own power.
Control
An intelligence agent who supervises or instructs another agent.
Power
Electrical or mechanical energy, especially as used to assist or replace human energy.
Control
A spirit presumed to speak or act through a medium.
Power
Electricity supplied to a home, building, or community
A storm that cut off power to the whole region.
Control
(transitive) To exercise influence over; to suggest or dictate the behavior of.
With a simple remote, he could control the toy truck.
Power
(Physics) The rate at which work is done, expressed as the amount of work per unit time and commonly measured in units such as the watt and horsepower.
Control
(construed with for) To design (an experiment) so that the effects of one or more variables are reduced or eliminated.
Power
The product of applied potential difference and current in a direct-current circuit.
Control
To verify the accuracy of (something or someone, especially a financial account) by comparison with another account.
Power
The product of the effective values of the voltage and current with the cosine of the phase angle between current and voltage in an alternating-current circuit.
Control
To call to account, to take to task, to challenge.
Power
See exponent.
Control
(transitive) To hold in check, to curb, to restrain.
Power
The number of elements in a finite set.
Control
Influence or authority over something.
The government has complete control over the situation.
Power
(Statistics) In a statistical test, the probability of correctly rejecting the null hypothesis when it is false.
Control
The method and means of governing the performance of any apparatus, machine or system, such as a lever, handle or button.
Power
A measure of the magnification of an optical instrument, such as a microscope or telescope.
Control
Restraint or ability to contain one's movements or emotions, or self-control.
Power
Chiefly Upper Southern US A large number or amount. See Note at powerful.
Control
A security mechanism, policy, or procedure that can counter system attack, reduce risks, and resolve vulnerabilities; a safeguard or countermeasure.
Power
(Archaic) An armed force.
Control
(project management) A means of monitoring for, and triggering intervention in, activities that are not going according to plan.
Power
Of or relating to political, social, or economic control
A power struggle.
A power base.
Control
A control group or control experiment.
Power
Operated with mechanical or electrical energy in place of bodily exertion
A power tool.
Power car windows.
Control
A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register.
Power
Of or relating to the generation or transmission of electricity
Power companies.
Power lines.
Control
(graphical user interface) An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box Ctrl.
Power
(Informal) Of or relating to influential business or professional practices
A pinstriped suit with a power tie.
Met with high-level executives at a power breakfast.
Control
(climatology) Any of the physical factors determining the climate of a place, such as latitude, distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation.
Power
To supply with power, especially mechanical or electrical power.
Control
(linguistics) A construction in which the understood subject of a given predicate is determined by an expression in context. See control.
Power
The ability to do or undergo something.
Control
A spirit that takes possession of a psychic or medium and allows other spirits to communicate with the living.
Power
(social) The ability to coerce, influence, or control.
Control
A checkpoint along an audax route.
Power
(countable) The ability to affect or influence.
Control
A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register; a counter register.
Power
Control or coercion, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction).
Control
That which serves to check, restrain, or hinder; restraint.
Power
The people in charge of legal or political power, the government.
Control
Power or authority to check or restrain; restraining or regulating influence; superintendence; government; as, children should be under parental control.
The House of Commons should exercise a control over all the departments of the executive administration.
Power
(metonymically) An influential nation, company, or other such body.
Control
The complete apparatus used to control a mechanism or machine in operation, as a flying machine in flight;
Power
An army, a military force.
Control
Any of the physical factors determining the climate of any particular place, as latitude,distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation.
Power
Effectiveness.
Control
In research, an object or subject used in an experimental procedure, which is treated identically to the primary subject of the experiment, except for the omission of the specific treatment or conditions whose effect is being investigated. If the control is a group of living organisms, as is common in medical research, it is called the control group.
Power
Physical force or strength.
He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium.
Control
The part of an experimental procedure in which the controls{6} are subjected to the experimental conditions.
Power
Electricity or a supply of electricity.
After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days.
Control
The group of technical specialists exercising control by remote communications over a distant operation, such as a space flight; as, the American Mission Control for manned flights is located in Houston.
Power
A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy.
Control
To check by a counter register or duplicate account; to prove by counter statements; to confute.
This report was controlled to be false.
Power
The strength by which a lens or mirror magnifies an optical image.
We need a microscope with higher power.
Control
To exercise restraining or governing influence over; to check; to counteract; to restrain; to regulate; to govern; to overpower.
Give me a staff of honor for mine age,But not a scepter to control the world.
I feel my virtue struggling in my soul:But stronger passion does its power control.
Power
A large amount or number.
Control
To assure the validity of an experimental procedure by using a control{7}.
Power
Any of the elementary forms or parts of machines: three primary (the lever, inclined plane, and pulley) and three secondary (the wheel-and-axle, wedge, and screw).
The mechanical powers
Control
Power to direct or determine;
Under control
Power
A measure of the effectiveness that a force producing a physical effect has over time. If linear, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the displacement of or in an object) ÷ time. If rotational, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the angle of displacement) ÷ time.
Control
A relation of constraint of one entity (thing or person or group) by another;
Measures for the control of disease
They instituted controls over drinking on campus
Power
(mathematics)
Control
(physiology) regulation or maintenance of a function or action or reflex etc;
The timing and control of his movements were unimpaired
He had lost control of his sphincters
Power
A product of equal factors (and generalizations of this notion): , read as " to the power of " or the like, is called a power and denotes the product , where appears times in the product; is called the base and the exponent.
Control
A standard against which other conditions can be compared in a scientific experiment;
The control condition was inappropriate for the conclusions he wished to draw
Power
(set theory) Cardinality.
Control
The activity of managing or exerting control over something;
The control of the mob by the police was admirable
Power
(statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true.
Control
The state that exists when one person or group has power over another;
Her apparent dominance of her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her
Power
In Christian angelology, an intermediate level of angels, ranked above archangels, but exact position varies by classification scheme.
Control
Discipline in personal and social activities;
He was a model of polite restraint
She never lost control of herself
Power
(transitive) To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device).
This CD player is powered by batteries.
Control
Great skillfulness and knowledge of some subject or activity;
A good command of French
Power
(transitive) To hit or kick something forcefully.
Control
The economic policy of controlling or limiting or curbing prices or wages etc.;
They wanted to repeal all the legislation that imposed economic controls
Power
To enable or provide the impetus for.
Control
A mechanism that controls the operation of a machine;
The speed control on his turntable was not working properly
I turned the controls over to her
Power
Impressive.
Control
A spiritual agency that is assumed to assist the medium during a seance
Power
Same as Poor, the fish.
Control
Exercise authoritative control or power over;
Control the budget
Command the military forces
Power
Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power.
Control
Lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits;
Moderate your alcohol intake
Hold your tongue
Hold your temper
Control your anger
Power
Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm.
Control
Handle and cause to function;
Do not operate machinery after imbibing alcohol
Control the lever
Power
Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; - called also passive power; as, great power of endurance.
Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power.
Control
Control (others or oneself) or influence skillfully, usually to one's advantage;
She manipulates her boss
She is a very controlling mother and doesn't let her children grow up
The teacher knew how to keep the class in line
She keeps in line
Power
The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government.
Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent.
Control
Verify or regulate by conducting a parallel experiment or comparing with another standard, of scientific experiments;
Are you controlling for the temperature?
Power
The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity.
And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Control
Verify by using a duplicate register for comparison;
Control an account
Power
A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host.
Never such a power . . . Was levied in the body of a land.
Control
Be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something;
He verified that the valves were closed
See that the curtains are closed
Control the quality of the product
Power
A large quantity; a great number; as, a power o good things.
Control
Have a firm understanding or knowledge of; be on top of;
Do you control these data?
Power
The rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power.
Power
A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc.
Power
The product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number.
Power
A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power.
Power
Mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc.
The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received belief.
Power
The degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface.
Power
An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment.
Power
Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power.
Power
Possession of controlling influence;
The deterrent power of nuclear weapons
The power of his love saved her
His powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade
Power
(physics) the rate of doing work; measured in watts (= joules/second)
Power
Possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done;
Danger heightened his powers of discrimination
Power
A state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world
Power
(of a government or government official) holding an office means being in power;
Being in office already gives a candidate a great advantage
During his first year in office
During his first year in power
The power of the president
Power
One possessing or exercising power or influence or authority;
The mysterious presence of an evil power
May the force be with you
The forces of evil
Power
Physical strength
Power
A mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself
Power
A very wealthy or powerful businessman;
An oil baron
Power
Supply the force or power for the functioning of;
The gasoline powers the engines
Common Curiosities
What is control?
Control is the direct regulation or guidance of operations, processes, or people to achieve specific goals.
Is control a form of power?
Control is a specific application of power, typically aimed at direct and immediate regulation.
How does power differ from control?
Power is about the potential to influence, while control is the active management and regulation of entities or processes.
What is power?
Power is the capacity to influence people or situations, potentially involving coercion or persuasion.
Can you have power without control?
Yes, one can have the power (potential influence) without actively controlling situations or outcomes.
How do power dynamics affect workplace relationships?
Power dynamics can dictate hierarchy and influence interactions and opportunities within the workplace.
What role does control play in safety and regulations?
Control mechanisms are vital in enforcing safety standards and regulatory compliance.
What are examples of power not involving control?
Soft power, like cultural influence, affects others indirectly without explicit control mechanisms.
How do organizations use power and control?
Organizations use power to shape policy and strategy, while they use control to manage daily operations and enforce standards.
Why is control important in management?
Control is crucial for ensuring that organizational objectives are met and resources are used efficiently.
Can a person control without having power?
Yes, individuals may be given control over certain tasks or systems even if they do not wield broader power.
What is an example of power in a political context?
A politician may have the power to enact laws, influencing societal structures.
How do societal norms influence power?
Societal norms can establish who holds power and how it is acceptable to use it.
How do different cultures perceive power and control?
Cultural perceptions can vary, with some cultures valuing explicit power and control, while others may emphasize more cooperative or subtle forms of influence.
What is an example of control in a technological context?
In technology, systems control ensures that all components function within specified parameters.
Share Your Discovery
Previous Comparison
Administration vs. Organization
Next Comparison
Height vs. WeightAuthor Spotlight
Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Co-written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
