Power - Sources

Meaning of power

The word ‘power’ is defined differently by different people. In simple words, power is the ability to influence other people. It is an exchange relationship that occurs in transactions between an agent and a target. The agent is the person who uses the power, and target is the receipt of the attempt to use power. White and Bednar have also defined people or things, usually obtained through he control of important resources.

Sometimes, people consider power, influence and authority as synonymous. However, these mean different meanings. We have just defined power as the ability to influence someone else. Power being an ability, individuals can learn to use it effectively. Influence is the process of affecting the thoughts, behaviour, and feelings of another person. Authority is the right to influence another person. In other words, authority is a legitimate right to influence others.

Bases Or Sources Of Power

Where does power come from? French and Raven have answered this question by identifying five sources a manager drives power. They are reward, coercive, legitimate, referent and expert power.

Reward Power: Reward power is based on the agent’s/manager’s ability to control rewards the target/employee wants. The common examples of reward power are managers control rewards of salary increases, bonuses, and promotions. This power is based on old saying that ‘wealth is power’. People comply this power because they get benefits out of its compliance.

Coercive Power :Coercive power is opposite of reward power. Coercive power is based on manager’s ability to cause an unpleasant experience for its people. To cerce someone into doing situation, it may be in the form of action for or threat for dismissal, suspension, demotion, or other method of embarrassment for the people working in organisations.

Legitimate Power : Legitimate power is power that is based on position and mutual agreement. Both the agent and target agree that the agent has the right to influence his employees. In organisational setting, such legitimate power is in the form of authority which is delegate to the positions of organisational members. In our culture, age has still certain premium and the aged people have legitimate power and the members of the society believe in his right to influence the decisions in their lives.

Referent Power : Referent power in an elusive power that is based on interpersonal attraction. The agent has referent power over the target because the target identifies with or wants to be like the agent. Charismatic individuals are often thought to have referent power. Such power may take place without organisational context as most of the people take somebody as ideal and behave accordingly upto a certain stage.

Expert Power: Expert power exists when the agent has information or knowledge that the target needs. It is based on the proverb, ‘knowledge is power’. For expert power to work, three conditions need to be fulfilled. First, the target must trust that the information given by the agent is accurate and correct. Second, the information given should be relevant and useful to the target. Third, the target must consider the agent a an expert. It is important to mention that if an agent considers himself/herself as an expert but not the target, then the expert power will not be effective.

Qualities of a Leader

Leadership means the ability to influence the behaviour of others hence a leader should have certain traits to be able to exert his influence on the group around him. Leadership qualities can be divided into two classes.

1.     Personal traits

2.     Managerial traits

Personal Traits

            A successful leader should have the following personal qualities.

Dynamic Personality

            A leader should possess a charismatic, charming, cheerful and bubbling personality. He should have vitality. He should be strong, have good health, and have a cool temperament and an optimistic outlook. His behaviour should be decent and he should be able to communicate clearly.

Intellectual Capacity

            A leader should be able to think scientifically and logically. He should be able to analyse a situation. He should be able to interpret both data and human behaviour clearly and concisely. He should have an insight into business problems.

Initiative

            A successful leader must be able to visualize and take a correct sequence of actions. He should have a good sense of timing. He should be able to apply intrinsic ideas. He should be able to develop new ideas and formulate new methods of doing things. He should have great creative ability and initiative. He should be able to inspire teach and guide people. Only then will he get the voluntary co-operation of the employees around him.

Foresight

            A successful leader should be imaginative. He should be able to visualize potential trends and on the basis of these develop polices and programs logically.

Emotional Stability

            A leader should have a balanced temperament. He should be emotionally stable. He should be able to overcome his own personal disappointments. He should also be able to correct his won inconsistencies.

Flexibility

            A leader should be flexible and have an open mind. But the final decision should be his and should be based on various inputs, which should reach a balance in the final decision. He must always try to accommodate as many points of view as possible.

Sense of Responsibility

            A leader must always be responsible for his actions. He should bear the burden of his decisions. He should not try to escape by putting them on somebody else. He should always remember,

1. That he derives his authority from his followers and
2. Authority and responsibility are inter linked.

Character

            A leader should be a man of great character. He should always remember that he is a symbol for his followers hence he must carefully consider the effects of his actions on grounds of morality and efficiency.

Managerial Traits

            A successful leader should possess the following managerial trait.

Technical Knowledge

            A leader should know the technical details necessary in his field. He should know them minutely and be able to apply them in hands on situation. Only then will his followers respect him. A leader who instructs but cannot do will never be respected.

Organizing ability

            The main aim of every leader is to organize what others are doing. To be able to do this he should be able to divide the organisation into segments and use his technical knowledge and knowledge of his followers’ capacity to divide work, allocate responsibility, direct the action, set goals and produce results. He should be able to bring together the money, materials, men and machines.

Ability to deal with people

            A leader should be able to deal with the behaviour of his followers under normal conditions and in emotionally stressed conditions. He has to inspire and motivate people in both the situations

Ability to judge and decide promptly

            A leader should use all the abilities mentioned above to judge both people and situations. He should also be able to act decisively promptly and effectively so that the organization benefits from his decision with the minimum amount of effort for his followers.

New Leadership Competencies

Leading Your Way Up

Leadership is evolving as business in India is cutting across boundaries, some of the leadership competencies that helped mangers to be successful are fast fading away giving into new competencies. Though these are still the prevailing expectations of managers, these competencies are becoming inadequate or in some cases irrelevant. 1. Forcefulness. Controling workforce and ensuring people do what they may be otherwise  inclined to ignore. 2. Motivate. The ability to inspire your people to do great work, the stock in trade was the carrot and stick approach. 3. Decisiveness. The ability to make quick decisions in absence of information. 4. Willfulness. Getting what they wanted and always ensuring that they are in pursuit of the same. 5. Assertiveness.  The ability of the leader to be outspoken and be in control of events happening around them. 6. Result- and bottom-line-oriented. Manager were always held accountable for setting standards, and achieving measurable goals. Profit maximization and cost minimization was the single minded goal. 7. Task-oriented. Ensures that everyone is kept busy and occupied. 8. Integrity and diplomacy. Leader led with tact and amiability. They were honest and respectful without letting things go out of their hands.

You get the idea. We have all worked in such environments and know managers who excel in this set of behaviors. But the fact is these leadership competencies are fast giving way in to new set of competencies that enable organizations to be successful. In an age where organizations are seen as a system - system consists of the dynamic interaction of various forces and factors that result in some complex situation. If you wish to understand your current situation—whether it is what you want or don’t want—you need to understand your system, the following set of competencies would gain more significance.

The New Leadership Competencies

1. The ability to think in terms of systems and knowing how to lead systems.

2. The ability to understand the variability of work in planning and problem solving.

3. Understanding how we learn, develop, and improve, and leading true learning and improvement.

4. Understanding people and why they behave as they do.

5. Understanding the interdependence and interaction between systems, variation, learning, and human behavior. Knowing how each affects the others.

6. Giving vision, meaning, direction, and focus to the organization