Many individuals wish they had
power, the kind of power that would make them feel or be in control of anything
or anyone. However, most of these
individuals have no idea what power truly is, and what its true implication is.
Often time the word power is poorly used
by people which results in creating confusion among society. As
stated by Yukl (2013), “Power involves the capacity of one party (“the agent”)
to influence another party (the “target”), but this influence has been
described and measured in several different ways; the term may refer to the
agent’s influence over a single target person or multiple target persons, sometimes
the term refers to potential influence over things or events as well as
attitude or behavior” (page. 186). Certainly, power is an extreme talent to
posses, and it must be understood in other for it to be properly used to its
full extent. Power in the hands of the
right person (leader) with the right mindset can be an amazing combination for
a successful organization and effective leader.
However, power along isn’t
sufficient to make a leader a powerful person.
A leader must also possess great influential skills that would encourage
his or her follower to follow him. Leaders should lead with examples that his
or her followers are looking forward to see from a leader. If the followers see some common skill or
passion from their leader, then they can easily relate to the leader and that
would induce the followers to be more committed to the leaders. As identified by Yukl (2013), “The
psychological explanation for interpersonal influence involves the motives and
perceptions of the target person in relation to the action of the agent and the
context in which the interaction occurs” (page.186). Certainly, the theoretical concept of
influence is the ability to find a common group with your target agent and
persuade that individual with your ideas in a way that would intrigue the
individual to relate and follow you as a leader. However, at the same time
there must be a common good so the individual would not feel used or
manipulated.
Sources and Nature of the Power I Bring to My
Work Place
I’m
currently a team leader for the company I work for. As a leader, I do my best
to be as transparent as possible to all my followers. I communicate with my
team clearly daily both about work related items as well as non-work related
items, like family, kids, and activities or plans for the weekend. I believe if
the workers know that their leader don’t just care about the work being done,
but also about their well being then they would be more please to come to work
daily and do the best they can to help the company succeed as well. The source
of that power come from my family, my parents raised me as a caring individual
who cares about the environment and the people around me and thought me how to
become a leader. My education has also helped contribute to the source of my
power. It has taught me how to become an effective leader.
Power Usage
The power
that my personality brings to work is used in a leadership method and at the
same time with a friendly approach. I believe in creating and maintaining a
friendly work environment that would put my followers at ease and willing to
contribute and participate. I follow a
participative leadership method. As
identified by Yukl (2013), participative leadership involve as leader’s use of
decision procedures that allows other people such as subordinates to have an
input over decision that will affect them. Certainly, my power from leadership include
the usage of multiple decision making that allow my followers to contribute and
have some influence on the decision making as well. My power isn’t used in a way to belittle my
followers; however, it encourages them to contribute to the team and
organization.
Power Relation
That power enables me to put myself
in the place of my followers to have a better perspective of leadership and
understand what it is my followers are looking for in other to perform well at
work. To my opinion, a great leader is a great follower. Sometime, a leader has to be able to trade
“shoes” to get a better picture of the environment and relate to his or her followers. Hence, I have led my team for about 4 years
and have not had any high quality LMX situations within my workplace or group
that are dysfunctional.
Reference
Yukl, G. (2013). Power and Influence Tactics. In Leadership
in organizations. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
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