...How much position and personnel power do leaders need to be effective? Power has been the subject of much research. The purpose of this essay is to establish how much power leaders need to be effective. Although effective leaders rely more on personal power than on position power, some position is important in order to get the job done. The amount and type of power required depends on the situation, whether the influence is upward, downward or lateral, whether goal congruence exists, the size and make-up of the group as well as the targeted outcome (compliance or commitment). Too much position power should be avoided as it can lead to abuse of the power and hence negative outcomes, yet too little position power will limit a leader from being effective. Also research has found complex interrelations between power bases. Effective leaders need a moderate amount of position power to make decisions, implement changes and punish ongoing belligerent behaviour and they need fairly high level personal power to create relationships, trust and respect and persuade target persons of the benefits of undertaking a task or project and therefore obtain commitment rather than simple compliance. While effective leaders have great skills in influencing target persons, they must also be receptive to influence from others. Leadership is about influencing people to achieve the objectives and goals of the organisation, tasks or projects. Effective leaders influence subordinates to carry out their...
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...Basis of Power Brian R. Gates BCOM 230 November 14, 2011 Katalin Ogle Power—in a business environment—is defined as the potential for one individual to exercise influence over another individual. That potential may never be realized, but for an individual to possess power one can infer that other individuals are dependent upon the person who holds the power. Power can be derived from two basic sources: personal and formal. There are five bases of power that exist, and the base of the power ultimately affects how people react to that power. Formal Power Formal power stems from an individual’s place in the hierarchy of an organization, and includes three bases of power: coercive power, reward power, and legitimate power. Coercive power results from the potential negative impact upon the dependent individual from the person holding power. Reward power is the exact opposite—with the power derived from the ability of the individual holding power to positively impact the dependent person. These two bases of power very often occur simultaneously. If a manager tells a subordinate to perform a certain action, there are potential outcomes derived from each of these power bases. If the subordinate successfully performs the action, the manager could give the subordinate a bonus, a raise, or a better position within the organization (reward power). If the subordinate does not successfully execute the directive, the manager can demote the subordinate or withhold bonuses...
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...Section V – Article 1-6 Power and Influence is the topic for section V, it discussed six of the most important ideas on power and influence. It also defined power as the resource that allows leaders to influence people to do what they would normally not want to do. The first selection from the section is by Niccolo Machiavelli titled, “Is it better to be Loved than to be Feared,” from the book “The Prince”. Machiavelli’s whole idea is that it is better to have both loved and feared but if it’s not possible to have both, then it’s better to be feared because fear is more reliable than love. He proposed that a relationship based on love alone tends to be fickle, short lived, and easily terminated when there is no fear of retribution. While on the other hand, relationships based on fear tends to last longer because individual must be ready to ‘pay the price’ before terminating the relationship. He also made a warning about how leaders have to be careful and not let the fear turn into hatred because hatred usually educes unconcealed behavior in terms of retaliation, undermining, and possibly attempt to overthrow or rebellion. The second article, “The Bases of Social Power,” by John R.P. French Jr. and Bertram Raven discussed about five major bases of power, which are, expert power, referent power, reward power, legitimate power, and coercive power. Leadership and power tends to go hand-in-hand because people follow those that are powerful, the person with power lead while others follow...
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...Power and Politics An individual sets out in life, and in work, to achieve his or her own goals, and to promote his or her own interests. Therefore, in a hierarchal setting of an organization, individuals will naturally contend for their own interests. Aided by the use of personal power, politics, influence, and empowerment, many individuals achieve their goals within organizations. Through analyzing power and politics in the workplace and organization, one may understand the organizational behavior that is touched by power and politics in the workplace (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Leadership Practices that Influence Organizations A key organizational management and leadership practice that influences an organization is the exhibition of power and the resulting influence that exhibit of power has on organizational behavior. According to Schermerhorn, et. al., “Power is the ability to get someone else to do something you want done, or the ability to make things happen or get things done the way you want. The essence of power is control over the behavior of others” (p. 214, 2008). In contrast to power, which is the energy behind making people behave in a certain way, “influence is what an individual has when he or she exercises power, and it is expressed by others’ behavioral response to that exercise of power” (Schermerhorn, et. al, p. 215, 2008). Together, power and influence in an organization or workplace are fundamental behavioral practices that influence an organization...
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...Chapter 13 - Organizational, Political, and Personal Power Power = the ability to influence due to the origin of the power ** Having power gives one the potential to change the attitudes and behaviors of individual people and groups ** Ex: A scientist who is an expert witness in court has power due to his or her expertise Authority = the rights one has due to one’s position. -right to command, accompanies any management positions and is a source of legitimate power, although components of management, authority, and power are also necessary, to a degree, for successful leadership Ex: Human Resources office has the authority to negotiate one’s rate of pay, but not the authority to fire that employee Authority-Power Gap - Right to command does not ensure that employees will follow orders = Gap between position of authority and subordinate response Types of Power Reward power = obtained by the ability to grant favors or reward others with whatever they value Coercive power = the opposite of reward power, is based on fear of punishment if the manager’s expectations are not met Legitimate power = position power; authority - power gained by a little or official positions within an organization Expert power = gained through knowledge, expertise, or experience. - having critical knowledge allows a manager to gain power over others who need that knowledge Referent power = power that a person has because others identify with...
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...Strategies for increasing supervisors’ personal power through informal channels Who’s the boss? White paper | 4.10.12 Emily Durham Contents Executive summary Personal biography The effects of power within organisations Sources of organisational power Developing the personal power of supervisors Recruitment approaches Development approaches Minimising the drawbacks of organisational power Reference ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 9 1 Emily Durham | Strategies for increasing supervisors’ personal power through informal channels Executive summary This paper highlights the influence of power within the workplace. Different sources of power are discussed, as well as the consequences of having employees who possess more informal power than their supervisors. Recommendations are made to increase supervisors’ levels of personal power, which can be implemented at both the recruitment stage and through development of supervisors. Personal biography Emily Durham has a BA, majoring in Psychology and English, and is currently working towards gaining a BA (Hons) with a focus in Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology. 2 Emily Durham | Strategies for increasing supervisors’ personal power through informal channels The effects of power within organisations Power can be defined as the ability to overcome adversity in the attempt to influence others’ behaviour and opinions, with the intention of obtaining...
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...CIERA JACKSON GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY: LDR-610 PROFESSOR BRIAN GAHAN APRIL 2, 2014 Personal power can be changing behaviors, habits, and personal traits. Some people may think personal power comes from within. When you have the desire to change something about yourself that will benefit you in the long term then you possess a personal power. When you have influence over others and it comes from the person and not from the position that they hold within a company or organization that is real personal power. In the Thomas Green Article there are different types of power that people hold and distinguish. Naturally work etiquette comes with development and finding what works effectively for a company. Generally Green’s work technique does not side with Frank Davis approach and measures. For instance; Thomas doesn’t follow up with Frank on his outlook with his sales appointments with his clients. Green doesn’t take into consideration when he receives orders and essential information. In reality Thomas Green has unsuitable work ethic and behavior for his new position. Frank has a pessimistic approach when it comes to the vision of his team and organization. Work ethic is very vital especially when you are in a new role or position. Setting goals and expectations have to be coherent and must be realistic. Thomas Green is the type of person who is bright and ambitious and has a plan that...
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...Sources of Power by Roberta D. Harris An Assignment Submitted to the George Herbert Walker School of Business and Economics in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course of Management 5670 Webster University 2013 Abstract One of the highest concerns about power is its effects on those who use it. The more people use power, the more they tend to notice situations in terms of power relationships, the more they are motivated to use power for their own personal end result. This risk in this use of power is stated in the statement “Power tends to corrupt; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Lynch, 1985) Plato was convinced that power would continue to corrupt unless philosophers became rulers and rulers were philosophers. The five bases of power defined by French and Raven denote the classical reason why one person influences others as well as the foundation for most research on power. Recently, other sources of power have been defined, explaining other sources of influence. I discussed the five indicators for accessing power and identified the five sources of social power which includes reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power and expert power. (Frenche & Raven, 1968) Additionally, I discussed other sources of power such as information power, persuasiveness, charisma, and social versus personal power. Keywords: power, indicators, reward, coercive, legitimate, referent,...
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...Power And Politics In Organizations One of the most desired human wants is power. In the business world, power and politics, to a large extent, determine the growth, stability and continual success of companies. Before comparing and contrasting power and politics in organizations it would be beneficial to define each term. For the purpose of this paper, power is defined as the exercise of influence or control over another’s behavior, while politics is defined as the tactics used to obtain a desired goal, position or status in a company. Two examples of the abuse of power and politics, as it relates to management and leadership in an organization, is the failure of the management of some companies to give credit where it is due and the underhanded practices used by others for career advancement. Power and politics are the top two elements used in a company that either can cause the downfall or success of that company. Knowing the positions of power and politics and the role they play in a company is critical to the awareness of organizational ethics and leadership practices. The organizational management and leadership practice of a company depend largely on power and politics. Power and politics within an organization involves resources, money, people, time and authority. Power is established by social responsibility, control, behavior, organizational culture, and empowered management teams. Politics is established by a personal structure surrounded by traditional and non-traditional...
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...Power is defined as a capacity that one person (or group) has to influence the behavior of another person (or group) so that the second person acts according to how the first person wants. There are two general sources of power, formal and personal; those sources of power can be broken down into different bases of power. Formal power can be coercive power, reward power, or legitimate power; personal power can be expert power or referent power (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Each form of power will be discussed on an individual basis to determine how the power affects communications within an organization. Formal power is based on an individual’s position within an organization; the individual gains power through the ability to coerce or reward, or from formal authority. “Coercive power is dependent on fear, suppression of free will, or the use of punishment for existence” (“Coercive power,” 2012). Others in an organization also use coercive power by withholding important information; knowing this important information has others dependent on them. As an employee, I feared losing my job when I was not moving as fast as my manager wanted me to during lunch rush. My manager had told me previously that I was not fast enough at assembling sandwiches as others; I was told frequently that this was a cause to be fired if I did not improve my speed. I did not let that manager have coercive power over me for long; I had another employee help me learn ways to speed up my sandwich making...
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...POWER BASE TERM PAPER Yusuf, Abdulkadir-633417 | BUS4070 | 24/07/2017 Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................2 Legitimate Power............................................................................................................................5 REWARD POWER........................................................................................................................7 Coercive power..............................................................................................................................9 Expert power.................................................................................................................................11...
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...Section A (What type of power was evident in this case and how was it used?) The Leadership Challenge The social setting of large and complex organizations can be characterized as highly diverse, highly interdependent, and rich in opportunities to generate power dynamics. The first characteristic, diversity, pertains to differences among organization members with respect to goals, values, outcomes, assumptions, and perceptions. Interdependence relates to the situation in which multiple actors have power over each other due to job-related interdependence. When a high degree of interdependence exists in the workplace, unilateral action is rarely possible. For all decisions of any significance, many people will be in a position to retard, block, or sabotage action because they have some power over the situation. The greater the diversity, and the greater the interdependence the more differences of power there will be. Because of the interdependence, people will not be able to resolve these differences either by edict or by walking away. As a result, high levels of diversity and interdependence in the workplace are quite naturally linked to conflicting opinions about action and thereby influence attempts to resolve that conflict. Thus, the leadership challenge becomes one of making diversity and interdependence work for organizational success. Whether the organization is private or public not-for-profit, the challenge is similar. Negative Power Dynamics That leader influence...
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...Managing: The Same or Different? Leadership is a very important component of management, but management is more than just leadership. It includes other tasks that do NOT directly involve influencing people. Managers Leaders Leaders Does Leadership Differ Across National Cultures? Paternalism – the leader is regarded as father who will take care of the subordinate in return for reasonable behavior and performance = order & harmony; eg: YifeiLi – MTV Greeter China P210 Leadership and the Use of Power Power – the capacity or ability to influence. “power tends to corrupt (and), absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Power can be used for good or bad. “The days of power is conspicuous by its absence. Powerlessness in the face of crisis. Powerless in the face of complexity.” P211 Types and Sources of Power Position Power – power based on a person’s position and rank in an organization (include legitimate power, reward power and coercive power) Personal...
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...1. Were there any abuses of power by the management and breach of fiduciary on the part of the directors? Yes, there are breached of fiduciary duties by the management or directors of Delima Enterprise Sdn Bhd. In general, directors take up a fiduciary position or relationship with the company. A fiduciary relationship is the relationship between a person in a position of trust in which the fiduciary and the person for whose benefit the fiduciary acts. In other words, a fiduciary’s powers are exercised on behalf of others who are being in a position of dependence. In this case, directors of Delima Enterprise Sdn Bhd have fiduciary duties to the shareholders and stakeholders of the company. In addition, they also control property in which others have an interest. According to Section 132(1) of Companies Act 1965, a director shall at all times act honestly and use reasonable diligence in the discharge of the duties of his office. The directors have the following duties as being in fiduciary position: a. Duty to exercise power in good faith and in the interest of the company. b. Duty to avoid conflict of interest. c. Duty to exercise power for the proper purpose. a. Duty to exercise power in good faith and in the interest of company The directors of a company must exercise their powers in good faith and in the best interest of the company as a whole. It means that, directors of the company must act in the interest of the shareholders as a collective group of...
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...After Lenin’s death, a power struggle ensued that resulted in a shift from collective leadership in the Soviet Union to Josef Stalin emerging and establishing his position as the individual leader of the state. To the majority of the Communist Party this was an improbable development as it was thought Trotsky would succeed Lenin. Trotsky had originally affirmed allegiance to the Mensheviks after the spilt of the social democrats in 1903, nevertheless the outbreak of revolution in 1917 witnessed Trotsky joining the Bolshevik party and playing a crucial part in the communist takeover that followed. He began his time in government as the foreign commissar and was principle negotiator in the peace terms with Germany; he then became war commissar and played a vital role in the preservation of the Bolshevik regime by leading the red army to victory against the whites in the civil war. It was down to these factors that Trotsky was seen as the evident heir of Lenin. As well as this Stalin had never posed any threat, Kamenev had described Stalin as ‘a small town politician… a man with no ideas or ambitions’ . However, Trotsky and other leading politicians such as Kamenev and Zinoviev underestimated Stalin’s abilities. Trotsky especially, felt secure as the next successor to Lenin and so when opportunities arose to eradicate Stalin from the party he made the mistake of not taking hold of them. For example, Lenin’s last testament called for the removal of Stalin however Trotsky failed to...
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