Power and influence
Introduction
Power is the ability to influence the behaviours of other individuals within a set of environment. Influence is the change caused to another individual’s behaviour and attitudes as a result of influence tactics. A leader should employ or use his/her power appropriate to influence the behaviours of employers towards the desired direction; usually achievement of a predetermined goal. The available influence tactics, however, are not applicable in all the situations. The leader should, therefore, adjust the leadership style to fit the situation or change the appearance of the situation to suit the
Significance of a leader’s power on followers and results
A leader with a substantial amount of power can employ a wider variety of influence tactics to trigger the behaviour of his/her followers. However, followers are represented in groups, and they may have more power than the leader. In this case, the influence of a leader may have no significant on the followers.
Power exists in five categories according to their basses. Expert power evolves from the expertise that a leader has in any field, i.e. the amount of knowledge that a leader posse. Greeter knowledge increases the amount of expert power. Coercive power relates to a dictatorship where the leader administers negative motivation to drive the employees toward the desired direction—legitimate power source out from the attached roles and position in an organization. The power of informal setting is temporary. Referent power is derived from the relationship strength between the followers and the leader. A healthy relationship will signify more power to the leader and an improved result/performance. The power that a leader exercise from controlling over a scare resource is termed as a reward power. A reward can be done intrinsically where the followers are gifted with compensation and praise or intrinsically, which involves the growth and development of the follower (employee).
Exercising a certain degree of power has a significant impact on followers and results. Reward power, for instance, should be done proportionately. Overemphasizing on the reward power can lead to low performance as the followers may perceive the act as manipulation of their doings and can result in resistance. Exercising of power thus should be judge from the performance or desired result and the perception from the followers. Excessive use of power may be inherent to the result and attitudes and behaviours of the followers. A case of coercive power should be avoided entirely in any organizational setting as it adversely affects the willingness of followers and a negative impact is transpose to the results.
Conclusion
Application of power should be suited to the arising situation. The mode and extent of the knowledge, especially for experts, has a significant impact on the results obtained. Generally, a leader should be careful in deciding on the power to use in influencing the behaviour and attitude of the followers. A leader with vast power has a broader scope/knowledge on the influential tactics, and the results from such leaders are usually high.