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Mentor Response – Power and Politics
The mentor response is a classic example of participation and trust (pulling) influence style. Every employee in the organization participates equally, and there is an atmosphere of collective learning in the organization, as witnessed form the response. Each employee has the power of information, and he uses it for the welfare of the organization. In an organization countless hours are spent in functions involving knowledge transfers such as orientation, training, and supervision. When each employee takes up the onus of imparting his knowledge to his colleague, and the members of the top management are willing to ignore the hierarchy and learn from the subordinates, the company incurs huge savings in terms of man-hours.
The main outcome of this method is that each employee feels he is valuable, and he is aware that his opinion matters. This practice will highlight to the employees that the company is open for suggestions, and any area of uncertainty or mistakes can be pointed out without the fear of reprimand. In many organizations, the employees would be more knowledgeable about the operations than the managers, and much can be gained out of encouraging them to share the wisdom they gained through experience.
Management is often defined as a role, which involves exerting authority and power over others. However, in the modern day business scenario, management is more of a process where each employee manages themselves. Such approach will also improve the employee attitude towards hierarchy, power distance and authority. When managers and employees treat each other as equal and acknowledge that both have opportunities to learn from each other, the power distribution becomes horizontal rather than vertical. In such relationships, power and authority need not flow through formalized channels and the relationships are not legalized. There would be mutual respect and it will enable creation of tacit knowledge.
Works Cited
Bauer and Erdogan. Organizational Behavior. Edition 1.1. New York, 2010. Print.
