The topic that I chose for my semester project is Power and Leadership. The main points within the main subject I am focusing on are Power in Organizations, Sources of Power, The Dark Side of Power, and Empowerment. I will define each, apply them to every day business situations and theoretically analyze the context. The topics that I have chosen will give good insight to what Power and leadership really are and how they are used in are everyday businesses organizations to give a general understanding of what it means to be powerful.
The first topic that I have chosen is Power in Organizations. Power is the ability of one person to influence another. They can use this power to become leaders and to manage businesses. Power also brings influence on the behavior and attitudes of other people. This can be applied to customers and/or suppliers. The demand for power is common among the business world. There is a difference in power and authority. Only people who hold formal positions have authority, whereas all people at any level of an organized company have the power to influence other people. Authority is power. It is power on another level. Power is obvious and understood, while authority is vested in a particular position. An example of such a position of authority would be the CEO of a company or a GM. The distinguishing aspect however lies between the position and the need to become more powerful.
Where there is power, there are also consequences that go along with it. It depends on how the power is used and to whom it is inflicted. The consequences range from a number of general effects. There are three specific examples of this. They are commitment, compliance, and resistance. Power is the stronghold for the three fold outcome that is brought on through consequences.
The first consequence is commitment. It can be as simple as following through with the task at hand or lack thereof. It is best defined in this way, “when the followers welcome the influence process and accept it as reasonable and legitimate.” (pg. 98) Commitment can be shown through an employee’s ability to complete the task they are given by the person with more power than they possess. They will change their ideals to match that of the higher authority. If the CEO of a company says that his proposal is going to change, in the mind of the employee, they agree to change...
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...e to stick with it or else the employees will think they have failed.
Empowerment is a good tool to bring out new ideas and thoughts to the organization. It gives employees a sense of self worth and they become more motivated when they have some independence. All in all it is a good idea only if you approach it the way I have explained. A thing to think about is that two minds are better than one when it comes to completing a task.
I n conclusion I have talked about powers and leadership. The information that I have given all ties together in the sense that in an organization you have people with different types of power. The source of the power is what type of power they have and how the convey it to the employees. The most important topic I think is the dark side of power thus allowing your organization to become unfit for normal operation. Just because you have power doesn’t make you superior to other people it just puts you in charge. That is why I feel that empowerment it such a great idea it allows every one to have somewhat the some status or feeling in the company, this would allow you to be a better cohesive organization in hole.
According to French and Raven (1960), there are five types of power. They are reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, and referent power. It is easy to apply each one of these types of power to Captain Miller and his approach to leadership.
Sears Holdings is a company in transition. Now, faced with adversity and the threat of bankruptcy looming its leadership has come under scrutiny. “Great leaders not only have drive; they want to lead. Also important is a high need for power, a preference to be in leadership rather than follower positions. A high power need induces people to attempt to influence others, and sustains interest and satisfaction in the process of leadership. When the power need is exercised in moral and socially constructive ways, rather than to the detriment of others, leaders inspire more trust, respect, and commitment to their vision (Bateman, pp 399, 2007).”
“A manager manages using authority-or the right to get others to do things by virtue of their positional power. While a leader leads through the ability to influence other people to do things using a certain degree of personal power or charisma” (McLean, 2005, p. 16). By definition, leadership is about influence. Therefore, it is impossible to discuss the theme of leadership without including followers or to try to explain the idea of team building without explaining the influence of a leader. While each concept is unique, both have a direct affect on the other. A leader is not a leader without someone following him or her and a team will always develop a leader whether indirectly or directly appointed. However, leadership and team building are much like the preverbal chicken and egg; and many theories have developed over several years trying to explain the influence on each other and the successful development of teams and leaders.
Tost, L., Gino, F., & Larrick, R. P. (2013). When power makes others speechless: the negative impact of leader power on team performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 56(5), 1465-1486. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0180
Leadership is definitely about power and an effective leader is able to utilize both types of powers rather than relying on one or the other. Formal power can be used by leadership to remove obstacles or roadblocks faced by employees and to make both hard and easy decisions regarding the organization. Inspiration, influence, trust, and loyalty are all elements that create a high performing and content staff and all these elements are related to the use of informal power. It is important for an effective leader to create a balance between both kinds of power in order to effectively motivate and influence their staff using power.
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.
The scenario clearly illustrates how each of the five powers are used. It is evident that they can have a powerful influence with the productivity and influence within organization. The relationships between the powers and dependencies in the scenario are excellent examples because they perfectly exemplify why and how motivational influences exist in any scenario where bases of powers and dependencies exist.
The leadership is a privilege and it is such a privilege and an honor which will carry the tremendous responsibility which will inspire others to direct them to accomplish goals and vision of the organization. Leadership is about influencing the people, by producing direction, purpose and motivating in order to accomplish the mission, vision and improving the organization. The leadership philosophy is evolved based on the experiences, both positive and negative, in most of the initiatives and activities that we undertake. It is also one among the collaboration and teamwork within which the team members can utilize each other’s strengths to counter the weaknesses of the individuals. By observing, introspecting and experimenting we can developed a leadership paradigm which is inclusive, collaborative and proactive. We can develop the ability to recognize which will approach in order to reach the productive conclusion. The great leaders know their limitations and are capable at utilize their strengths and also the strengths of others to compensate.
Vecchio, R. (Ed.). (2007). Leadership: Understanding the dynamics of power and influence in organizations (2nd ed.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
The literature generally suggests that effective leaders express their needs and motives in ways that benefit the organization. These needs or motives, are considered to be; tenacity, power, drive and work ethic (DuBrin et al. 2006). The power motive is significant, as it plays a major role in the relations taking place within the organization. Power over others is an inevitable part of leadership, but it also carries with it the risks associated with the misuse or abuse of power (Wikipedia, 2008).
Unfortunately, being inspiring to employees is not enough. These situations occur when employees face challenges in accomplishing goals. In such situations, a leader needs to exercise power and influence to push forth the desired goals. While the course identified five sources of power, I believe only three should be considered for an effective leader. The first is legitimate power (6), which is often considered the first source of power in the organizations I have worked in. The source of power comes...
Empowerment is the feeling of control, the ability to make our own decisions, the confidence to achieve autonomy and well-being.
Employee empowerment can be described as giving employees' accountability and ability to make choices about their work without managerial authorization. Good managers are expected to assist employees to improve job success by supporting, training, leading and giving advice. Employee empowerment can increase employees' motivation, job satisfaction, and loyalty to their companies. The power that managers comprise should now be shared with employees with confidence, assertion, inspiration, and support. Work decisions and the ability to control an individual’s amount of work are now being relied upon at lower-level management positions (Fragoso, 1999). Groups of empowered employees with little or no supervision are now being formed and these groups are being called self-managed teams. These groups can now solve work problems, make choices on schedules and operations, learn to do other employees’ jobs, and are held accountable for the quality of their finished products.
Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. The most important aspect of power is dependence; a person’s power increases if someone is dependent on them, or if they have something the other needs. Some people have power that they don’t use or may not even know they have.
Thus, to be effective in the empowerment process, empowerment requires that managers and staff members, who play a critical and essential role in the entire empowerment process, must define their empowerment, not assume or guess at their roles. Managers should never permit ambiguity about the power or its exercise. The consequences of its expression (both positive and negative) should also be clearly defined at the outset of the empowered relationship between managers and staff (Rapp, et al., 2006; Porter, 1998). The core of employee empowerment process is: show people what they have to know, teach them how to do it, give them the tools they need, and they will do a job that will meet, and often exceed, expectations. The key words here are "show," "teach" and "give." So if you want empowered employees, you have to prepare them for the job. This means that empowerment is a process of things linked with each other to form empowerment at the end (Gresham,