Power And Leadership: Leadership And Power

Leadership and Power

Describe power and explain how it relates to leadership

There are several definitions of power which include: first the ability to command influence over an individual or individual to follow one cause of actions (Vecchio, 2007). This means that an individual can control how others act and direct them to a specific cause of action. The second definition is an individual ability to control on an official capacity the conduct of others (Hogg & Knippenberg, 2003). This means that those who are controlled have an obligation to follow the instruction provided by the person in power. Power and leadership relate since a leader must have the ability to command influence on others by providing goals to be achieved and ways of achieving

The first type is reward power. This is the type of influence where a leader offers his or her subject a reward for completing a given task. The followers, in this case, are motivated by the set reward. For instance, a leader may offer gifts to employees with exceptional performance to act as a motivation for others to follow his or her command (Ogulnick, 2015). For this type of power to work, the reward must be appealing to the followers since it works as an incentive for them to accomplish the given role.

The second factor is that the followers must have trust in their leader that he or she will offer the promised reward if they complete their task. A leader must be able to provide the wishes of his or her followers to continue having control over them (Hogg & Knippenberg, 2003). The reward offered ought to be equal to the task completed to ensure commitment to objective set. A leader ought to be strategic on the type of reward offered to prevent his or her followers from being accustomed to the reward, since they will refuse to complete the set goals (Vecchio,

This is gained when followers are of the view that one has a right to lead them or offer instructions. Legitimate power may be due to the existing laws or a position held. For instance, a doctor has the ability to command patients due to his or her job. The fifth type is expert power. This occurs when followers believe that an individual has certain skills or knowledge that is unique to the society or group (Hogg & Knippenberg, 2003). For instance, an experienced member of a workforce may command others to follow him or her based on his expertise. The last is referent power. This occurs when one has certain qualities that others wish they can possess. Followers are dependent on their leader since they attempt to copy and identify with him or her to gain those qualities (Vecchio,