Leadership and Power
Power is the ability to influence the behavior of people and is usually closely associated with social and political authority. Though some people associate power with evil and injustice, power by itself is not bad and especially if it is obtained in the right way using the proper mechanisms. Power is expressed in various ways, for example, citizens express their political power through electing their leaders who in turn exercise the power bestowed on them through governing the people. Power and leadership go hand in hand since it’s hard to possess one and fail to have the other.
Different people and organizations have a different classification of power, but generally, five types of power are broadly accepted and apply to almost all organizations. The five types of power are legitimate, reward, coercive, referent power and expertise power and though they are other minor categories, all kinds of power can fall into the above five categories. Legitimate power refers to the type of power that is as a result of an individual holding a particular position in an organization and, therefore, it is usually associated with titles and other physical attachments. Legitimate power is thus a result of both perception and reality since the people are aware of the ability of the leader because of his formal position and at the same time the subordinates have the perception of the leader being able to exert some power. Reward power as the name portrays, is associated with the ability of a leader to confer some types of benefits to his juniors such as promotions, salary increase, and other favors. Therefore, reward power is expressed through rewarding employees in the case of an organization for complying with the requirement and wishes of the person in authority.
Coercive power enables leaders to use threats, withdraw of benefits and other forms of negative influence to control the behavior of the juniors and as such it is not very popular since it is prone to be misused. It makes employees submit to the requirements of the senior not only because of respect or being in agreement but also out of fear of losing job or demotion. Both reverent power and expertise power can be classified under personal power since they relate to the individual abilities of the people who possess them. Referent power is associated with charismatic ability and interpersonal skills whereas on the other hand expertise power is as a result of possession of certain knowledge that is not common with the other workers. Referent power can thus be out of being respected and trusted as a leader, but expertise can be because of the skills and experience gained as a result of specialization and working for a long time. Influence refers to the ability of a person to affect the character of another person, his way of thinking and his development. As opposed to power, a person does need to have a formal position to have influence since any person who people admire and respect because of some exceptional accomplishments is likely to have a lot of influence. For example, a football celebrity though he may not have any formal power is more likely to have a lot of influence on the behavior of young people more than all the people who have an official position that give them authority. Also, influence unlike power, cannot be coercive since it occurs subconsciously as people admire some particular individuals because of their charisma, achievements, interpersonal skills and other accomplishments (Bacon, 2011).
It is evident that there are various types of powers all of which are closely associated with leadership and authority both in business organizations and non-business organizations. It is also clear that though power and influence are closely associated, there are some fundamental differences between them.
References
Bacon, T. R. (2011). The elements of power: Lessons on leadership and influence. New York: AMACOM American Management Association.
