Subject

Leadership and change management

Submitted to
Sir kaleem Ahmad
Submitted by
Maryam ehsan ulllah
Assignment no
02
Department
Lbs (bba 08)
Sap id
70056593

The university of Lahore (Chenab campus)

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 Power in leadership

Introduction

An essential part of leadership is to influence the people you lead so that they'll follow your
instructions. For the purposes of this article we will refer to the people that the leader is leading
as followers. The influence of a leader will depend on a variety of factors including their
personality and the personality of their followers.The influence of a leader over his followers is
often referred to as power. There are different types of Leadership Power.

Definition of power in leadership

leadership does not exist without power Thus, we have to reflect on power in order to lay a
theoretical foundation of responsible lea- dership. This article attempts to discuss different
facets of the phe- nomenon of power. The aim is to give a concise summary of what a Christian
leader should know about power in order to use his/her power in an appropriate way.Power is
the ability to influence other people. It refers to the capacity to affect the behaviour of the
subordinate with the control of resources. 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.

How to Use Power

There is a power paradox. Being in a position of power enables action: Those who are in
positions of power are more likely to take action that creates value for oneself and/or for others.
But finding yourself in a position of power also dulls your empathy, especially for others with
less power.  So those with power are less likely to consider things from others’ point of view.

The Need for Power

Conflict, defeat, and success give rise to the desire and search for power. Some call this normal,
but some psychoanalysts view power seeking as not conducive to psychical development. Yet
other psychoanalysts say that power can actually build the individual’s personality under certain
circumstances Power is sought to control and determine the future of departments and
organizations, the outcomes of interpersonal conflicts, and personal security and prosperity. The
more the disorganization or conflict in an organization, the more the need for power will be felt
and sought. When a person seeks not merely power, but control as well, conflicts tend to
increase.In addition, the hunger for power sometimes leads to the exploitation of individual fears
—a highly detrimental and abusive psychology—a negative trend for positive organizational

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development. It also transpires that those exploited may not be aware of their exploitation. In the
face of fear, though, people react differently: some acquiesce, some flee (absenteeism and
turnover).A sense of efficacy, achievement, and usefulness are in itself sources of power and
confidence for the individual. That a person feels they are contributing, and that what they do
makes a difference, is the essence of the subjective experience of power. Also, self-esteem and
self-worth are a source of power in one’s self. This source can be realized as an essential
contributor to the urge and acquisition of all power bases. In other words, some people seek
power to increase their own self-worth, which is not necessarily a motivation that is off-balance.

Personal motivation
One cannot lead without power. This insight was not always evident to the author. Born in
1962, my German school education was influenced by the so-called “’68-movement” which
was very anti- authority. I was, therefore, strongly sceptical about hierarchy and formal power.
In a somewhat naïve understanding of servant- leadership, lots of early give talks titled
“Leading without power”. It took me some time to understand the following three facts about
power:

 Power is more than formal power

 Power is not bad in itself

 One cannot lead without power

The lordship includes the ability to exercise power:

Man’s natural God-likeness consists in this capacity for power, in his ability to use it and
in his resultant lordship. Man cannotbe human and as a kind of addition to his humanity,
exercise or fail to exercise power; the exercise of power is essential to his humanity.

Skills for Exerting Power

The proper development and use of power base skills require clear thinking on behalf of the
manager, systematic arrangement of facts, and proper rendering. Logic, rationale, and
effectiveness should be considered essential when using these skills to convince others. The main
question then is how to recognize logic, rationale and effectiveness? For this, engineer-managers
are best advised to take. Indeed, the 2008 Body of Civil Engineering Knowledge highlights the
fact that civil engineers need social, communication, and humanities skills

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Distinction between Power, Authority and Influence

Power is the ability to influence someone else. Influence is the process of affecting the thoughts,
behaviour and feelings of another person. Authority is the right to influence another person.
Authority is a legitimate right to influence others.

(1) Authority is right to influence others but power is ability to influence people.

(2) Authority is legitimate while power is not.

(3) Authority confers legitimacy to power but power itself need not be legitimate.

Types of power

These five bases of P’s power are:

There are five basic sources of power that have been widely accepted

(1) legitimate (or formal or bureaucratic power);

(2) reward power;

(3) coercive power;

(4) expert power;

(5) referent power.

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 The first three power bases follow from a formal charter of authority the last two depend upon
the competence and qualities of the leader.To these five power bases, are base for achieving
organizational ends and objectives.

Formal Power

Legitimate Power

Legitimate power comes from having a position of power in an organization, such as being the
boss or a key member of a leadership team. This power comes when employees in the
organization recognize the authority of the individual. For example, the CEO who determines the
overall direction of the company and the resource needs of the company. Basically it is the
formal power and authority legitimately granted to the manager under charter by the
organization’s peers. This power is clearly assigned by written or verbal contract, and it outlines
the manager’s responsibilities. Based upon this sanctioned, authorized, and exalted position of
the manager, subordinates believe that the manager has the right to direct employee behavior or
else employees may face retribution.An excessive usage of formal power curbs motivation and
creativity (as will be seen later), while a lack of power prolongs decision making. Thus, both
lack and excess of formal power are detrimental to project success. A delicate balance must be
struck that is difficult to achieve with exactness, thereby rendering conflict inevitable.

Reward Power

Reward power is conveyed through rewarding individuals for compliance with one’s wishes.
This may be done through giving bonuses, raises, a promotion, extra time off from work.it is the
ability of the manager to confer or withhold rewards such as money, privileges, promotion, or
status (which, in itself, carries formal power). Objective determinations of rewards, reward
schemes, and other communicated courses of action help to defuse arbitrary practices in the
employment of reward power.

Coercive Power

Coercive power is predicated entirely upon fear: it makes the subordinate believe that he may be
deprived of something if he does not comply. Things the manager can deprive the subordinate of
are also the things mentioned under reward power: promotion, privileges, money, etc. Whatever
the tactics or origins used to foment the use of coercive power, coercion is akin to the forcing

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style of conflict resolution. this power is about conveyed through fear of losing one’s job, being
demoted, receiving a poor performance review, having prime projects taken away, etc. This
power is gotten through threatening others. 

Personal Power

Expert Power

Expert power is the manager’s influence over personnel based solely upon the manager’s
superior knowledge, expertise, and proven ability to perform. Given a fair opportunity, personnel
will choose to work with a competent person in order to enlarge their own sphere of
knowledge.Sometimes, employees will attribute the manager with expert power by virtue of his
occupation of the post, even though the manager’s actual expertise may be relatively low. This is
often to their own disappointment, for they are misled by their perceptions. Managers are
invariably in the envious position of being at the center of information transfer. They are thus
allowed superior and timely administrative information that contributes to the defined meaning
of expert power. Further, the manager’s have expert power due to:

(1) their genuine qualifications, abilities, and skills and

(2) the information they hold by virtue of being where they are.

Referent Power

Referent power comes from being trusted and respected.  We can gain referent power when
others trust what we do and respect us for how we handle situations.Referent power is based
upon the less powerful person’s identification with the manager. Shared identity, personality
personification, hero worship, shared culture, or idolization are some of the sources of referent
power. It is a kind of power an alert manager can use only when personnel perceive this power.
The power of charisma is an intricate part of referent power.

There are also some different types of

There is another power which introduced recently and known as best power to use in
organizations which is introduced by Cohen and Bradford (1990)

Reciprocal Power

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suggest that reciprocal power is highly effective and recommend it for use in organizations. This
power base follows from fundamental moral, Christian, and Confucian values: do unto others as
you would have others do unto you. Fulfilling people’s requests, doing them a favor, rising to
their real help (not just patronizing them), helping a friend in need, etc., enables the manager to
solicit help from them in return. It is a useful and harmless power base until it begins to be used
for surreptitious purposes.