Power And Leadership Management

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Sony Chaudhary

Introduction:

Leaders are not automatically endowed an unlimited amount of power over subordinates. Leaders also differ in terms of the sources of bases upon which power over subordinates can be exerted. There are five different powers that affect leadership which include expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power and coercive power.

The first base of power is labelled coercive power. The basis of the influence is the fact that one person can punish another. Thus, subordinates may do what a leader request because the leader has the power to fire the subordinates. Although the threat of punishment may give a leader considerable power over subordinates, coercive power generally is not a very efficient base of power.’

The second power base described by French and Raven is labelled reward power. This is essentially the opposite of coercive power. That is subordinates do what the leader wants because the leader has the ability to reward them in some way. For example, a subordinates may comply with a leader request that he or she work overtime because the leader has the power to grant this employee a larger pay increase when raised are given out.

The Third power base is labelled legitimate power. This power emanates from the position that one holds in an organization. In most organization settings, the fact that one employee’s is another employee is another employees supervisor means that the supervisor has a legitimate right to make request of the other person. Note that this legitimate right is independent of the person holding the position.

The Fourth power base is expert power. This is power based on the fact that an individual is perceived as an expert on something to ask a group of subordinates to work on a weekend may bring the group before making the request. When exchange is used as an influence tactics, the leader offers subordinates something in return for complying with the request, or perhaps offers them a share of the benefits that accrue when a task is accomplished.

The fifth is Pressure. This involves the use of demands, threats, or persistent monitoring to make subordinates comply with a request. Suppose a supervisor wants to make sure a subordinate is on time every morning. One way to do this would be check the person’s desk to see if he or she is present by the required time. Although pressure may at times get leader the behaviour they desire, this almost always comes in the form of compliance on the part of the employee.

Leadership Roles:

Once out of the family there are other groups and social relationships in which we must find our place. Leadership roles can be ascribed and defined by social groups and one passes some entrance test or exam to enter them (e.g., lawyer, doctor) which legitimizes the use of power. As we saw in chapter five, in some societies obtaining the recognition of manhood legitimizes the use of certain types of power and authority (e.g., over women). Historically, leaders could be given their roles `as of right' (e.g. by an institutionalized class or caste system). In fact many leadership positions (Kings, Emperors, and so forth) were family determined. Even today the family of origin and the social rank of the family can significantly influence a person's chances and aspirations to leadership positions. Top leaders of social institutions are rarely those who have risen through the ranks, but usually begin their claims from class-bestowed privileged positions. But the importance of the rank of one's family is also noted in many non-human primates. Females especially, usually obtain their rank from their mother's and aunt's rank. As it has been for millions of years, we leave the family and emerge into the social world where rank is everywhere.

Exercising Power:

People often seek out leadership positions from which to use power and once there, their personality will influence how that power and position is exercised. So even though a social group may legitimize the use of power, and select an individual for leadership roles, the way power is exercised depends on complex interactions between the person exercising it and those on whom it is exercised. Some may become leaders even against their wishes, via their popularity or the personal values they express. John Lennon, for example, along with other pop groups of the time, had an enormous effect on the values of the young. However, he consistently denied that he wished to be seen as any kind of leader. He wanted fame for his music.

Leadership behaviors can be expressed in many contexts and at many different social positions. It involves various combinations of power such as directing the attention of others, and the ability/power to control, guide, influence, encourage or coerce the behavior and values of others. Nearly all humans have the ability to adopt leadership behaviors. Even in simple two-someone may be more the leader than the other, although they may swap roles from time to time. Thus, leadership behaviors can emerge in just about any social relationship; e.g., playground, street gang, terrorist group, church fete society, local cricket team, the hospital ward, business organization, and government. Leadership research also makes the distinction between task orientated leadership and person orientated leadership. The person orientated leader will attempt to manipulate the values and emotions of subordinates, getting them `devoted to the cause' that they will lead.

Trait and Process Leadership Models

Leadership, as one can say involves the following four things:

Motivating other people.

Some leaders and some must be followers.

The leaders comes front in time when needed or crisis and present innovative solution.

Leaders know what they want, to achieve and what their ambition is.

The behavioural theory of leadership was created after the followers of the trait leadership theory could not find enough traits to explain why some people choose good leaders and why some could only be followers. The reason is the most logical way was to explore how the leaders behaved in their daily activities and especially towards their followers. The leadership would make group of different behavioural patterns and activities together and then put a label on them calling them in styles.

Concern for task. This behaviour of leaders is represented by tangible and calculable achievement linked which improved productivity of the organization of labour and motivation the personnel.

Concern for people. This behaviour of leaders is represented by the tangible concern for people who works in the organization and have desire to establish proper relations rather than to treat them as units of production and corporate overhead. In this manner the leader establishes the group called the "old boy club" where each worker would become very much comfortable. Thus, if needed, each worker will give their best to do even more to make other ‘friends’ happy.

Directive leadership. This behavioural leadership style is represented by the leaders taking continuously and takes the decisions for other, and expecting the others rather to follow the instructions.

Participative leadership. This behavioural leadership style is represented by the leader’s goals to engage people make them busy to the task and increase their commitment by allowing them to make decisions for the company they work for.

As a rule the leadership would use any two of the four general leadership styles shown above, they redesign them or rename them, plot them on some graph and then establish mixed strategy. Many others leadership would use other combinations and plot other leadership styles and schemes based on the leadership behaviour.

Speaking about some practical situation, it is believed that those leaders engaged in participative and people-oriented leadership, they can enjoy better employee motivation and satisfaction leadership styles.

Four Framework Approach:

In the Four Framework Approach, Bolman and Deal (1991) suggest that leaders display leadership behaviours in one of four types of frameworks: Structural, Human Resource, Political, or Symbolic.

Four Framework Approach

This model suggests that leaders can be put into one of these four categories and there are times when one approach is appropriate and times when it would not be. That is, any style can be effective or ineffective, depending upon the situation. Relying on only one of these approaches would be inadequate, thus we should strive to be conscious of all four approaches, and not just depend on one or two. For example, during a major organization change, a Structural leadership style may be more effective than a Symbolic leadership style; during a period when strong growth is needed, the Symbolic approach may be better. We also need to understand ourselves as each of us tends to have a preferred approach. We need to be conscious of this at all time and be aware of the limitations of just favouring one approach.

Structural Framework

In an effective leadership situation, the leader is a social architect whose leadership style is analysis and design. While in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a petty tyrant whose leadership style is details. Structural Leaders focus on structure, strategy, environment, implementation, experimentation, and adaptation.

Human Resource Framework

In an effective leadership situation, the leader is a catalyst and servant whose leadership style is support, advocating, and empowerment. While in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a pushover, whose leadership style is abdication and fraud? Human Resource Leaders believe in people and communicate that belief; they are visible and accessible; they empower, increase participation, support, share information, and move decision making down into the organization.

Political Framework

In an effective leadership situation, the leader is an advocate, whose leadership style is coalition and building. While in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a hustler, whose leadership style is manipulation. Political leaders clarify what they want and what they can get; they assess the distribution of power and interests; they build linkages to other stakeholders, use persuasion first, and then use negotiation and coercion only if necessary.

Symbolic Framework

In an effective leadership situation, the leader is a prophet, whose leadership style is inspiration. While in an ineffective leadership situation, the leader is a fanatic or fool, whose leadership style is smoke and mirrors. Symbolic leaders view organizations as a stage or theater to play certain roles and give impressions; these leaders use symbols to capture attention; they try to frame experience by providing plausible interpretations of experiences; they discover and communicate a vision.

Power:

Power means many different things to different people. For some, power is seen as corrupt. For others, the more power they have, the more successful they feel. For even others, power is of no interest at all. The five bases of power were identified by John French and Bertram Raven in the early 1960’s through a study they had conducted on power in leadership roles. The study showed how different types of power affected one’s leadership ability and success in a leadership role.

The five bases of power are divided in two categories:

Formal Power:

Coercive

Coercive power is conveyed through fear of losing one’s job, being demoted, receiving a poor performance review, having prime projects taken away, etc. This power is gotten through threatening others. 

Reward

Reward power is conveyed through rewarding individuals for compliance with one’s wishes. This may be done through giving bonuses, raises, a promotion, extra time off from work, etc. For example, the supervisor who provides employees comp time when they meet an objective she sets for a project.

Legitimate

Legitimate power comes from having a position of power in an organization, such as being the boss or a key member of a leadership team. This power comes when employees in the organization recognize the authority of the individual. For example, the CEO who determines the overall direction of the company and the resource needs of the company.

Personal Power

Expert

Expert power comes from one’s experiences, skills or knowledge. As we gain experience in particular areas, and become thought leaders in those areas, we begin to gather expert power that can be utilized to get others to help us meet our goals. For example, the Project Manager who is an expert at solving particularly challenging problems to ensure a project stays on track.

Referent

Referent power comes from being trusted and respected.  We can gain referent power when others trust what we do and respect us for how we handle situations. For example, the Human Resource Associate who is known for ensuring employees is treated fairly and coming to the rescue of those who are not.

Personal power and uses:

Personal power is power that resides with an individual, regardless of his or her position in the organization. Someone usually exercise personal power through rational persuasion or by playing of followers identifications with him or her. An individual with personal power often can inspire greater loyalty and dedication in followers than someone who has only position power. Of course the influence of a leader who relies only on personal power is limited, because followers may freely decide not to accept his or her directives or orders.

The distinctions between formal and informal leaders are also related to position and personal power .A formal leader will have, at minimum, position power. And an informal leader will similarly have some degree of personal power. Just as a person may be both a formal and an informal leader, he or she can have both position and personal power simultaneously. Indeed such a combination usually has the greatest potential influence on the action of others. An individual with both personal and position power will have the strongest overall power. Likewise, a neither individual with neither personal nor position power will have the weakest overall power. Finally when either personal or position power is high but the other is low, the individual will have a moderate level or overall power.

The Uses of power in Organizations:

Power can be used in many ways in an organization. But because of the potential for its misuse and the concerns that it may engender, it is important that the mangers fully understand the dynamics of using power. But to maintain credibility, a leader should not pretend to know things that he or she really does not know. A leader whose pretension is exposed will rapidly lose expert power. A confident and decisive leader demonstrate a firm grasp of situations and takes charge when circumstances. Managers should also keep themselves informed about development related to tasks that are valuable to the organization and relevant to their expertise.

A leader who recognizes employee concerns works to understand the underlying nature of these issues and takes appropriate steps to reassure subordinates. For e.g. , if employees feel threatened by rumours that they will lose office space after the next move, the leader might ask them about this concern and then find out just how much office space there will be and tell the subordinates, a leader should be careful not to flaunt expertise or behave like a he know everything.

Suppose a manager has asked subordinates to spend his day finishing an important report. Later, while the manager is out of the office, the manager boss comes and asks the subordinates to drop that project and work on something else. The subordinates will then be in the awkward position of having to choose which of two higher-ranking individuals to obey. Exercising authority regularly will reinforce its presence in the eyes of subordinates. Verifying compliances simply means that leaders should find out whether subordinates have carried out their request before giving rewards otherwise subordinates may not recognize the linkage between their performance and subsequent reward. The request that is to be rewarded must be both reasonable and feasible; of course, because even the promise of a reward will not motivate subordinates who thinks a request should not or cannot be carried out.

The same can be said for a request that seems improper or unethical. Among other things, the follower may see a reward linked to an improper or ethical request. Finally if the leader promises a reward that subordinates know she or he cannot actually deliver, or if they have little use for a reward the manager can deliver, they will not be motivated to carry out the request. Further, they may grow sceptical of the leaders’ ability to deliver rewards that are worth something to them.

Power, Influence, and Leadership:

A great deal of power people have in organizations comes from the specific jobs or titles they hold. In other words, they are able to influence others because of the formal power associated with their positions. For example, there are certain powers that the president of the United States has because of the office (e.g., signing bills into law, making treaties, declaring war, etc.). These remain vested in the position and are available to anyone who holds it. When the president’s term expires, they transfer to the new office-holder.

A true leader is able to influence others and modify behavior via legitimate and referent power. Presidents Truman and Johnson used their position (or office or power) effectively and were much better able to manipulate groups and people to achieve their ends. Presidents Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton relied on personal persuasion and were able to sway the nation as a whole, as well as Congress, business, and labor, by charisma and communication. President Roosevelt effectively used both position and personality.

The key to this framework is that leadership as an influence process is a function of the elements of the leader’s sources of power and the degree of acceptance with the interests and needs of the subordinates. In the figure, sources of power are divided into personal and organizational. Legitimate, reward, and coercive powers are organizational and are part of the leader’s job. Policies and procedures prescribe them.

Conclusion:

The power and bases of leadership is the day to day needs of human beings, and what i found while doing these assignments is Leader didn’t came in the earth by god gifted. They make them self to become a good leader the one who have desire to become a leader he or she should work on it, give effort, gain knowledge, and practically do some research so that he or she could lead others. There are five sources of power that can be grouped into two categories: organizational power (legitimate, reward, coercive) and personal power (expert and referent). Generally, the personal sources of power are more strongly related to employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance than are the organizational power sources. One source of organizational power—coercive power—is negatively related to work outcomes. However, the various sources of power should not be thought of as completely separate from each other. Sometimes leaders use them together in varying combinations depending on the situation. A new concept of power, referred to as "empowerment," has be become a major strategy for improving work outcomes.