Learning About Power And Leadership In Organizations - Essay Example

Learning About Power, Politics And Leadership In Organizations Leadership, Power and Politics are three basic interrelated practices essential in running an organization aside from resources. Some people may interpret Leadership and Power interchangeably thinking that a person possessing power can be a Leader while others perceive that any individual positioned as a Leader will always have power. Some social scientists have postulated though that these two concepts are totally different from each other. Among others, Stephen Robbins pointed out that “Leadership focuses more on goal achievement, requires goal compatibility with followers and its influence is focused downward while Power is used as a means to achieve the set goals, requires follower dependency, and is used to gain lateral and upward influence.”[Rob05]. It is inevitable though that Politics will always come into play as one practices the tandem of Leadership and Power. “If power involves the employment of stored influence by which events, actions and behaviors are affected, then politics involves the exercise of power to get something done, as well as enhance and protect the vested interests of individuals or groups” ( Strategic Leadership) Inasmuch as this study would like to present a broader coverage on the application of power, leadership and politics, this study limits itself only to selected studies and salient issues. This academic paper presents a case study wherein the expected learning outcomes would include different perspectives about the skills on how to identify organizational problems, relate applicable theories and concepts related to the problem(s) and most importantly, learn how to draw viable practical techniques in resolving the identified problems. Keywords: power, power tactics, leadership, organizational behavior Background Power is a strong word. It connotes to something extraordinary just like having another person do something which you would not have done yourself. Power may have different meanings depending on how it is used in context. It could have good or bad connotations. For example, some people are caught saying “If you’ve got information, then you are sure to get to the top or lead because you got the power of leveraging yourself over the situation or over your competitors. This is better termed as the “Informational power” (French and Raven). On the other hand, S. Mallaby wrote about Power on a different perspective as he pointed out that “Power that is built on debt is often Power that will crumble” (Mallaby). How does “Power” apply to my position and work? Presently, I belong to the middle managerial level, given the designation of a Section Chief for Internal Affairs Group under the Planning and Programming Unit. I report directly to the Assistant Director for Internal Affairs Group who reports to the Bureau Director. I work in a typical government office which is adapts the bureaucratic hierarchical structure. Our Bureau is in charge of the purchase and distribution of health supplies needed in our town as well as the deployment of health workers. The Bureau’s upper and middle hierarchical structure include a Bureau Director, acting as the overall Head of the Bureau with two Assistant Directors, one for Internal Affairs Group who is tasked to handle planning and programming, finance and administrative concerns. (Refer to Attachment 1 -Organizational Structure.) The other Assistant Director handles the Bureau’s External Affairs to include Operations, Public Information and Other External Affairs Programs and Activities. These two top Assistant Directors directly report to the Bureau Director bringing to him issues specific to their group. Each Assistant Director has designated Section Chief and Assistant Section Chief. “Power in this bureaucratic office is the typical set up described by Max Weber’s in his paradigm stating that the level of power given to a bureaucrat is directly proportional to the level where you are positioned in the hierarchy” (Wallonick). In my case, I belong to the junior management level that is allowed to interact with the rank and file, senior managers and the executive officers of the Bureau. I am 27 years younger than my Supervisor, the Assistant Director for Internal Affairs who is in his middle 50’s and about to retire in a few years. I have been with the Bureau for 4 years now. In those four years, I have also accorded my Supervisor all the respect due him not only because of his position but also due to his seniority over me in terms of age. I am a dynamic and proactive junior executive who possesses IT, Economics and Marketing expertise. We also had no major work-related issues despite the often difference in opinions. In my years with Bureau, I have fully dedicated my skills, talents, expertise and effort to my work. I have spearheaded most of the projects in our Unit which garnered recognition or awards. My performance rating was either very satisfactory, if not outstanding. In fact, I was awarded Employee Model of the Year on my third year, a reflection of a job well done. I selflessly and diligently contributed to better the services that would reflect the prestige and reputation of the Bureau in the eyes of the public. I have also earned to some extent the respect, confidence and trust of my Supervisor as well as the Bureau Director. So to make the long story short, I was a bankable employee. The only weakness my Supervisor carries is that he is not receptive to change. He was criticized for being not receptive to the proposed innovations in the office which I tried to present. I made initial efforts to convince him to implement some new innovations and measures that would bring a 360 degrees turn around from 80% to improved Office efficiency to 99%, if not 100%. Unfortunately, he declined most plans for the simple reason that he was not convinced and deemed it too expensive for the Bureau. He was also afraid to change “status quo”. He also mentioned that he may not be able to cope up with such changes. Strictly work-related, I had intelligent arguments with the referred Assistant Director but at the end of the day, we tried to compromise on the issue. That is, I have to inform him of any innovation that must be made in the office and that it must pass his approval. In most cases, very rarely does our Office implement innovations and if that happens, it is on a very small scale which could be hardly felt. In effect, instead of moving forward, our services to the public still remain inadequate and inefficient. I believe it was my overall capability that ended me up doing all the nitty-gritty part (95% of workload) while my Supervisor will just have to sign the document for approval. I have also been given extra workload from other Units. The Assistant Director for Internal Affairs mostly relied on me. He does not sign any document for approval unless he sees my attached initials on the document that are bound to be sent out of Internal Affairs Group. This situation creates the impression that there is too much dependency of my boss on me because of trust, my expertise and reliability. Positive or not, this is totally not a good signal to perpetuate in such a working environment. According to John Gardner , "Power is the basic energy needed to initiate and sustain action or, to put it another way, the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it." (National Defense University). Formal and Legitimate powers are innate with Bureaucratic people like by authorized function and law (French and Raven). Based on French and Raven, each special expertise, skill and talents possesses the expert power which is applicable to the first to third levels of management in the Bureau’s organizational hierarchy (French and Raven). On the other hand, rewarding powers are inherent principally to the positions of the Bureau Director and Assistant Directors while referent power may be subjective depending on the individual’s charisma and established interpersonal relationship (French and Raven). Referent power as described by French and Raven are innate powers vested in the roles of the Bureau Director and the Assistant Section Chief. (French and Raven; Robbins). The weakness that may deter these powers would come from the limitation dictated upon by the Director or the Section Chief and those specified in the scope and rigidity of each functional role (duties and responsibilities). It is for this reason that an understanding of Power and Authority must be distinctively delineated: “Power is the ability to get things done by others. The principle of power is to punish and reward. Power can exist with or without authority. For instance an armed robber has power but no authority whereas authority is the power to enforce law and take command, and to expect obedience from those without authority. Authority can exist with or without power, for example a teacher has authority over the pupils but no real power” (“What is the Difference…”). With the dynamics in a bureaucratic workplace, many organizational challenges emerge which need immediate attention. Otherwise, operations and functional role expected of the Bureau will be left to suffer. Description of the Case Study Organizational problems are inevitable. They come and go as they are either left resolved, waived or unresolved. There are two-related problems which I need to resolve. The first one involves the delegation of work load and the defiance of the Assistant Bureau Director to accept innovations for the office. In this case, I should be able to convince him to change his stance regarding accepting innovations that would automatically lessen our workloads and facilitate easier processing of documents. Unfortunately, my Supervisor is not open to such and with that he is being criticized for rejecting anything that would threaten “status quo”. With regards to resolve the issue on delegation of authority and too much workload, selected political tactics will be opted to include consultation, rational persuasion, among others. (Robbins) The second problem that I have to resolve is the issue about the two elderly staff from another Unit who were transferred to our section. I was informed by my Supervisor that the Bureau Director informed him of a Special Order which issued the transferring two elderly rank and file employees to our Section. They were previously reported to be unproductive and unresponsive to do their tasks and thus, have become more of a liability to the Unit where they came from. Thus, it was deemed by the Bureau Director to give them new assignments and reassign them to our Section expecting that this was a good move to develop their potentials under the leadership of my Boss and me. After two weeks with us, it was observed that the newly transferred elderly staffs were again sitting on their assignments. What strategies could be worked out to address this problem? What techniques must I employ for to comply as well as win them to my side? Part II - Assessment of the Case 2.1 Organization Politics Mapping Technique (OPMT) It will be an understanding that whatever techniques recommended for future adoption will always be for a positive outcome and perspective. Woldring advocated that “before proceeding to mobilize resources and start using powers, it is essentially important that one has got to think what resources are available and study how and decide on what is the wisest thing to do” (Woldring, 2001). The key participants whom I have to practice techniques on leadership, power, influence, politics and political tactics are the Assistant Bureau Director for Internal Affairs and the newly transferred two elderly rank and file employees to my Unit. “Power in organizations is the capacity to influence in order to get things done”(Cohen and Bradford). Since all the key participants are part of the Bureaucratic realm, they share the common formal, bureaucratic legitimate and reward powers by virtue of the positions they are occupying (French and Raven). These are also the key players who make the decisions in running the Bureau’s operations. The Bureau Director has the highest influence and power in this bureaucratic environment followed by his two Assistant Bureau Directors. The role of the Assistant Bureau Director for Internal Affairs’ is to consistently ensure that adequate logistics requirements are sent to the Assistant Bureau Director for External Affairs when needed and to the entire bureau for that matter. The Bureaucratic set up in the Bureau follows the hierarchical set up. “The differences in hierarchical position and responsibilities create rigidity that sometimes gets in the way of necessary upward communication.” (Cohen and Bradford). “Specific tasks area assigned to each level of the hierarchy make each level interdependent from bottom to top” (Elements of Bureaucracy). Dealing with the Assistant Bureau Director for Internal Affairs Group One of the issues is the defiance of the Assistant Bureau Director for Internal Affairs to accept innovations in his realm because he feels threatened by new technology. He does not favor change from his point of view. How does one convince a high official of the bureau to change his stance? My initial presentation of the proposal for innovation perhaps did not present the complete perspective. So this time, adopting the study of Williams and Miller, it would be appropriate to bombard my Supervisor with all relevant information, data and facts that will let him understand the project better from all perspectives, therefore, a proposal designed for a “Thinker” (Williams and Miller). It is better to prepare and defend one’s presentation as if you are marketing your goods to a panel. Thus, the presentation needs to be flawless. Sizing up my Supervisor, he can be a combination of Thinker-Follower or Thinker-Follower and Controller, as the case may be as prescribed by Williams and Miller tandem. What is important is that when presenting the proposal, it has to be like selling a new product to the market and convincing your investors why they have to choose your product and not the others. Hence, you need to cover everything to guarantee that any question raised will have a convincing answer that will influence your audience. The second issue involves power sharing. Often power sharing is effective – but sometimes overdone by those who do not like the directive exercise of power and confuse it with dominance or bullying (Cohen and Bradford). “Power derives from a social situation in which one person has a capacity to do something and another does not, but wants it done” (Salancik & Jeffrey). The above are the impressions that describe the set up between the Section Chief and Assistant Bureau Director for Internal Affairs Group. As a “strategic model leader”, this issue can be resolved through political tactics like consultation, exchange of currencies like engage in positive exchanges, open communications, chart out the priorities and clear-out work boundaries and expected outputs. (National Defense University) Dealing with Stubborn Elderly Subordinates: “Conflicts between young bosses and older workers are inevitable” (Michalowicz). The "younger boss-older employee" dynamic is becoming more popular nowadays (Weiss). If other young managers perceive that elderly employees are more of a liability, well, Michalowicz, M. says otherwise: “The perception that older workers are less productive than younger ones is false. Research has shown that older workers' productivity does not fall but rises because of greater dependability, better judgment and accuracy” (Michalowicz). He continues: “Managing older employees requires respect, openness and humility. The first step in effectively managing employees who are older than their manager is recognizing their value. Managing older employees requires respect, openness and humility. Don't just talk to them, respect and use their experience, then put their skills to use.” (Michalowicz). In order to convince older employees to comply, the basic rule of reciprocity is highly recommendable as a strategy to gain positive reciprocity. In addition, Cialdini adds the need for the supervisor to show commitment, social proof and consistency. (Cialdini) In the same way, it comes as a prerequisite that: “Effective leaders must be comfortable with listening and caring, with working from positive reciprocity as well as hard-nosed calculation, pushing and assertion. Both directive and collaborative behavior are a requisite part of a manager’s repertoire. ”(Cohen and Bradford) Finally, an additional strategy to take into consideration to resolve this case would be the suggestion of Weick, that is on capitalizing “Small Wins” which means that “… the continuous application of a small advantage when steadily applied or practiced can have its greatest impact to improve the odds ”(Weick). Conclusion In dealing with strategies, time and again research studies have always pointed out that there is no one leadership style or management technique that can cut across or solve all organizational issues. It got to be a combination of two or more of the choices of styles and techniques. In short, this study claims that the essential insight which can be derived from this study is that whatever positive outcomes that have to be met will mainly depend on the dynamic personality power that one has developed in him. WORKS CITED Cialdini, Robert B., Ph.D. “Influence”. Icsahome.com. International Cultic Studies Association. (2011). Web. Accessed 09 May 2011 http://www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing20.html Cohen, Allan R. and Bradford, David L. “Power and Influence in the 21st Century”. 2005. Financial Times Prentice Hall. [PDF File] Accessed 14 May 2011 Cohen, Allan R. and Bradford, David L. “The Influence Model: Using Reciprocity and Exchange to Get What You Need – Management Transactions. 2005. Journal of Organizational Excellence. [PDF File] Accessed 16 May 2011 French, J.R. P. & Raven, B. Bases of Social Power. July 2000. Accessed 15 May 2011 http://www.slideshare.net/viteriange/bases-of-social-power-french-and-raven-2009339 Robbins, Stephen. “Organizational Behavior”. 2005. Pearson Prentice Hall. Accessed 14 May 2011 “Leadership Styles and Bases of Power”. Reference for Business, Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed., n.d. Accessed 15 May 2011 < http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Int-Loc/Leadership-Styles-and-Bases-of-Power.html > Mallaby, Sebastian. “You Are What You are”. Time Magazine. 09 May 2011. Accessed 10 May 2011 Accessed http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2067967,00.html Michalowicz, Mike. “How To Manage Employees That Are Older Than You” The Toilet Paper Enterpreneur.com. 2011. Accessed National Defense University. “Strategic Leadership: Leveraging Power and Politics”. n.d. 13 May 2011 Accessed Robbins, Stephen. Organizational Behavior. 2005. [Power Point File] 12 May 2011 Accessed . Salancik, Gerald R. and Pfeffer, Jeffrey. “Who Got Power and How They Hold On It.” 1977. 09 May 2011 Accessed Walonick, David S.,PhD. “Organizational Theory and Behavior”. 1993. Statpac.org. 14 May 2011 Accessed . Weick, Karl. “Small Wins”. 1998. Center For Applied Research [PDF File] Accessed 11 May 2011. Accessed http://www.cfar.com/Documents/Smal_win.pdf Weiss, Tara. “The 'Young Boss, Older Employee' Dilemma”. 2007. Accessed May 14 2011. Accessed Williams, Gary A. and Miller, Robert B. “Change the way you Persuade”. 2002. Harvard Business Review. [PDF File] Accessed 14 May 2011 Woldring, Roelf. “ Power In Organizations: A Way of Thinking About What You’ve Got, and How to Use It”. 2001. Workplace Competence International Limited. 10 May 2011 Accessed “What are the elements of Bureaucracy? n.d. kaschassociates.com. 16 May 2011. Accessed Attachment 1 Organizational Structure Read More