Leadership issues you experience in your work as a political activist(democrat) - Essay Example

Unlike formal organizations, political activists are likely to find it troublesome to exert any position power, coercive power or even reward power. Nevertheless, political activists might exert referent power or expert power, but the fact is that considering the size and scope of the Democratic Party, it might take several years for a person to gain expert power. The point here is that leaders who are political activists find it difficult to retrieve a sustainable and influential source of power, in the absence of which they fail to emerge as strong leaders (Fiedler and Chemers 87).

There are no doubts about the fact that leaders can only build their credibility and command respect through living by a code of conduct and ethics. However, the fact is that in common practice, people differ in their personal definitions of “right” and “wrong.” Even within the Democratic Party, there are different viewpoints on issues such as same sex marriage, civil unions of same sex couples, abortion, foreign policy issues, fiscal issues, and others. It is likely that people would perceive their viewpoint or political position as the ethical and moral one, and in a political party, which is as large as the Democratic Party, these differing viewpoints and ethical perceptions are likely to cause disputes and disappointments, and it is for the leader to intervene and ensure harmony and consensus.

Important here to note is that the job of a leader is not to suppress the opposing viewpoints but to learn something from those opposing viewpoints and subsequently incorporate them in the overall agenda or at least, acknowledge their presence (Yukl 45). In an alternative scenario, there are times when leaders in politics realize that a certain political position is contrary to the ethical and moral standards but it gathers fervent support due to its necessity or context. In those situations, it becomes the ethical and moral responsibility of the leader to ensure that the leader leads his or her people in the “right” direction (House et al. 14). Even when compared to the corporate world, politics is the name of making tough decisions, regardless of its consequences and reception.

In order to gather support and command respect, leaders have to make popular decisions. However, political activists, while acting as leaders, are less likely to find any room for making decisions primarily to widen their support base, but they also have to take decisions that might directly hurt the interests of the followers or subordinates. The challenge for the leader in such a scenario is to persuade people about the inevitability of the decisions and to demand compromise with a promise of future favors and compliments.

In terms of the managerial grid, leaders have to ensure that they demonstrate a high concern for task and an equally high concern for people as well (Yukl 45). Quite understandably, in situations when the leader has to ask his or her subordinates and followers for compromises, it depends extensively on the relationships of the leaders with his or her subordinates that define his or her success in such ventures. Furthermore, credibility also plays a crucial role, as people would only give up their self-interests and viewpoints for a leader whom they can blindly trust.

Therefore, my goal is to ensure that I could earn the