In this paper I will look at the four major leadership styles, their characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, and in what situations a particular leadership style is desired. Additionally, I will look at my leadership style and how I acquired this style throughout my career.
Autocratic leaders also known as authoritarian leaders are leaders that have absolute authority over subordinates, are in control of the situation they are in, dictate and enforce orders, rarely consult with or ask opinions of others, are highly task driven, and the emotional needs of people are a low priority. The advantage of an Autocratic leader is they typically achieve results quickly; they would make a great leader during the time of crisis or when a project
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Like the types of leadership, the choice of which power to use is highly situational. There are six basic types of power:
• Legitimate Power – This is power that comes from holding a position within an organization
• Reward Power – This is power a leader has to reward subordinates for a job well done.
• Coercive Power- The power that comes from being able to punish and intimidate a follower.
• Networking Power – Otherwise known as connection power, a leader uses his contacts as a source of power.
• Expert Power - This kind of power comes from an expert knowledge of the task that needs to be accomplished, this kind of power can be extremely strong.
• Charismatic Power – The ability to influence followers based on the leaders personality. Politicians often use this kind of power to get follower’s to support them.
Probably the most difficult part of leadership is to know what leadership style is best to use, by carefully evaluating their own skills and the situation a good leader can adjust the leadership style as needed to be effective as possible. This requires the leader to be flexible and adapt as needed to maximize the
power is not based solely upon always having the upper hand, but rather it is knowing when to
Coercive power involves the use of threat to obtain compliance; it forces people or an individual to submit to authority in fear of losing something important.
Power. It is defined as the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. Throughout time, certain individuals have acquired power in their society as a way to govern and keep order among their community. Power is not a new concept; it was used in the past by many emperors, kings, and queens, and is still being used by presidents, prime ministers, and dictators. Although, it has been used to further progress societies into what the world is like today, not all power has been used for the best of mankind. But what goes awry to make power turn corrupt? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is illustrated how power can turn corrupt, when authoritative figures, who possess power, abuse it for their personal gain, rather than for the common good of the society.
Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do. We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth. Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn. When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.
Power simply can be defined as control over resources. This control allows for individuals to bring about change. The influence of power typically has a negative impact on individuals. It has even been said that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Typically, as an individual gains power they tend to be less inhibited and act more based on their personal desires disregarding what is ethically right. Oftentimes, individuals lose sight of their morals in attempts to gain more power and exploit other people. Indeed, it is true that “with great power comes great responsibility” and whether an individual lets that responsibility corrupt them is a strong measure of their personal character (Ferguson and Peterson,
Power- an ability || physical strength || controlling influence || a person of great influence
At this point, with an understanding of what power is, what it means, how it is created and the various means through which it is expressed, one can begin to conceptualise how it is that power functions within a given society. Symbolic, cultural, social and economic capital distribute and perpetuate power within a society, through a cycle of transformation whereby these capital resources can be interchanged and manipulated to the advantage of individuals who have
They further stated that most leadership forms a new paradigm for understanding both the lower and higher order effects of leadership style. The style of leadership which is adopted by a leader is influenced by the leader’s background, personal experience, religion, political affiliation, ideology, inclination, culture and even orientation without necessarily being based on the dynamics of the situation. The major leadership constructs consist of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and lazzirfair leadership others that are going are common are democratic and autocratic types of
According to the "Power and Leadership" essay written by Paula Braynion, "the first thing one encounters when trying to understand power is a difficulty in arriving at a concise definition, as there are many and varied definitions and perspectives seeking to explore and explain the concept." (Braynion, para 1) There are two main kinds of power to look at when figuring out how power and leadership relate. The first kind of power is formal power which is obtain by an individual from having a formal or privileged position in an organization's hierarchy, for example a VP or a CEO would have formal power over his or her employees. The second kind of power is known as informal power or influential power, this power is based on the ability to influence others rather than the ability to control rewards and punishment. Informal power is the result of peers and other employees choosing to follow an
In autocratic leadership style, the leaders take direction ship and make decision in own. They do not transfer any domination to the others.
McShane and Von Glinow define Power as “the capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others” (300). Furthermore, they state that power derives from five main sources and four main contingencies like the following figure illustrates.
Power when acquired is meant to be used to achieve some purpose(s). Appropriate use of power leads to the achievement of desired goals and objectives. Ineffective use of power or failure to use power when the need arises has been described as the major cause of defective functioning of a system (Omisore & Nweke,
Power is authority and strength, which is any form of motive force or energy, ability to act, or control. When too much power is given, a dictatorship government can form, in which all decisions are made by one authority. In the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell the author portrays how “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).
In medical term is refers as “the ability to influence other people despite their resistance,” (Whitehead, Weiss, & Tappen, 2010).
Over the course of my professional career in different organizations in the past three years, I have worked under many managers. This has been a learning curve for me to understand the different managing styles and leadership characteristics of people. One of the managers whom I worked under, was the lead in a government project which also happened to be my last project before I took a break for continuing my studies, is a person I admire till date. I learned several life lessons in addition to the technical subject associated with the industry. This paper demonstrates the leadership styles exhibited by my manager with suitable examples.