Leadership: Power
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Introduction
Organized leaders are people who excel in setting priorities; they are skilled at formulating simple solutions to problems and communicating the same to their team members, they do not hesitate to ask others for help, and they are always prepared to seek solutions problems that come their way through collaboration with others. To effectively lead their teams to success, leaders must articulate expectations to their team members clearly. In other words, an organized leader is one who appreciates working in a team and recognizes that for him or her to lead in an effective and organized manner, he or she must master the art of communication. Lack of effective communication skills would make a leader ineffective and disorganized.
The LMX theory is mostly used to explain ways in which leaders maintain their positions in groups and how they form relationships that can either hinder or contribute to growth. The theory is based on the assumption that leaders and members are connected in a two-way relationship, and that the level of loyalty, trust, support, and respect dictates the quality of relationships. Additionally, the model also assumes that the quality of relationships influences things such as performance, responsibility, and access to resources by subordinates. Further, the LMX theory argues that the quality of relationships usually results in out-group and in-group employees. Out-group employees usually receive fewer rewards, less attention, and less responsibility. In-group employees, on the other hand, receive greater rewards, more attention, and greater space from fulfilling responsibilities. These two classes of employees can be a hindrance to collective functioning because: a) it leads to preferential treatment because leaders tend to focus on employees in the inner group more, ii) it denies employees in the outer-group opportunities for advancement and chances to be had, and iii) it creates disharmony between employees in the outer-group and their leader and even employees in the inner-group.
Leadership: Power
In my opinion, I think the two go hand in hand. Tjosvold and Wisse (2009) define power as “the capacity to use power” (p. 224), and they define influence tactics as “the type of behavior used in an effort to influence the attitude and behavior of another person” (p. 209). Being in a position of power does not necessarily mean that one would be able to automatically influence the behaviors and actions of subordinates. While being in a position of power gives someone the potential or the capacity to influence, it does not mean that they will automatically influence others by exercising those powers (Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 207). The effectiveness of leaders in any organization depends upon their influence tactics.
If I was to choose between personal and positional power bases, I would go with personal power bases. Positional power bases are those associated with leadership positions that people hold in an organization, such as being a supervisor. These power bases include information, coercive, legitimate, and reward power bases ((Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 227). Power bases that are considered to be personal are expert and referent power. Expert power involves having adequate knowledge, professional experience, special expertise, and training (Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 226). With this kind of power, I will be able to influence others even without positional powers. On the other hand, referent power involves being able to associate and identify with others in the workplace, including superiors. This is very important to me because I believe that being able to good relations are very important. Whether in a position of personal or positional power, it is important that leaders should be able to have good relations with their supervisors and other superiors, and vice versa. Referent power enables leaders to build personal relations and influence their subordinates to follow their leadership (Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 226). According to Tjosvold and Wisse (2009), “one of the problems that managers confront is the ability to actually get things done” (p. 22). This implies that a person can have positional power, but without the right personal attributes or skills, experiences, etc. they will not be able to influence others to follow their lead.
Tjosvold and Wisse (2009) suggest that the two power bases are interrelated because they are, in most cases, used in combination (p. 229). For instance, giving rewards can be attributed to referent power, or the desire to build good relations with subordinates. Additionally, the use of one power base may influence use others (Yukl, 2006, as cited in Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 229). Additionally, “a change in the perception of reward power may affect the perception of coercive, legitimate, and referent power bases, but not expert power base” (Podsakoff, 1981, as cited in Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 229). Leaders must understand these interrelationships so that they can improve the performance of their subordinates using appropriate power bases. Because power bases can influence outcomes either directly or through influencing other power bases, understanding their relationship is important (Gaski, 1986, p. 63, as cited in Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 230). For example, “the positional power base influences the personal powerbase, which, in turn, influences criterion variables” (Tjosvold & Wisse, 2009, p. 230).
References
Tjosvold, D., & Wisse, B. (Eds.). (2009). Power and interdependence in organizations. Cambridge University Press.