Diana: Her Life & Her Legacy - Essay Example

French and Raven’s theory Affiliation: Leaders are renowned and very powerful people. They gain their power from different sources and through different ways and hence the differences in leaders even though they may be performing similar roles. Different scholars have tried coming up with different theories in explaining the sources of power but the most renowned is that of French and Raven. They came up with five different sources of powers in 1959 and which have been used and effectively for that matter to date in trying to analyse and understand different types of leaders be they of organizations, politicians or even the fictional leaders in movies or books. The knowledge of the sources of power will also enable individuals know how to approach the individual among other traits that are explained in the theory. This paper will explain in detail the five sources of power by French and Raven which include legitimate, coercive, expert, referent and reward power (Day, 2014, pg. 39). There will also be two examples of renowned leaders using different types of these powers and their leadership effectiveness. Legitimate power is also known as position or official power. According to Hazy, Goldstein and Lichtenstein, (2007), this is power given to a leader based on their position of authority in an organization. The position in an organization that people hold comes with responsibilities and in order to effectively carry out the work and lead the people to success, the leader is granted powers and authority and this is the legitimate power as the person has earned it. This type of power is mostly seen in leaders such as presidents and vice presidents of countries or organizations, managers and even Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). This power gives permission and authority to reward, punish, control resources as well as command respect from others just merely from the title one holds and the power that comes with the title. Coercive power is a type of power that uses force and punishments as a motivator and to make people carry out their work or effectively perform. Leaders with this type of power instil fear in their employees or subjects and hence making they perform under duress and threats. The power may be used formally or informally. Formally, it is used in organizations and institutions where the leader can threaten to fire the employee remove the benefits or even withhold salary if deadline is not met or certain productivity mark attained. Some leaders even engage in physical abuse to make their point known such as some husbands do to their families (informal use of the power). This kind of power is used by dictators and bullies and may lead to negative impact on the recipient (Lunenburg, 2012, pg. 3). It is mostly short lived and may even lead to revolution or demonstrations. Expert power also known as knowledge or skills power is power derived from an individual’s knowledge, skills or abilities that makes him or her stand out from the rest and perform well. These people holding this kind of power use it to the benefit of others more than of their own selves and the experts’ help others succeed as well in the short or long run. Because of the expertise, most people trust the holders of this type of power and rely on them completely for assistance. This type of power has tangible evidence of the knowledge, skill or ability such as through certificates. Expert power is held by people such as the doctors, lawyers, academicians, engineers and other people in various careers and who use is to help people more than they benefit (Zheng, 2010, pg. 272). This type of power yield positive results and is genuine. Referent power is also known as personal or charismatic power and people holding this kind of power are regarded as role models with huge number of followers and listeners who emulate them and even try to model them (Schriesheim and Neider, 2006, pg. 176). People dress like them, quote them have photos of them with them at all times and some even have made shrines of them. They have the desire to meet them (for those who are alive). These referent leaders aim to make positive impact on their immense followers and try to make them happy at all times while still trying to live their lives. This type of power is held by celebrities, some political leaders and religious leaders. In more cases, even if the referent leader does something wrong or negative or incite, their followers still remain by their side and still follow them. Some of the renowned people with this kind of power include Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, and Mahatma Gandhi among others. Reward power is the opposite of coercive power since the leaders do not use punishment or force (Marturano and Gosling, 2008, pg. 94). Every individual likes to be rewarded as a form of appreciation and motivation and reward leaders use their power to do exactly that. They make people carry out tasks and roles and even change their behaviour and give them reward in the end. People have a motive to work as they know they will be rewarded. They behaviour is controlled by the leader as long as people get what they want in the long run. If people are not performing or changing their behaviour in the required manner, the leader can withhold the reward or what people want until they can do what is asked or required of them. This is the kind of power the developed nations use on the developing nations by rewarding them with grants and aid or sanctions until they become democratic. Princess Diana who was the wife of Prince William the son of Queen Elizabeth was known as the people’s princess. She held both legitimate and referent power and used it effectively to transform the world socially. Princess Diana was a royalty and royalties were known to distance themselves from common people as they held high prestige in society but according to Ali, (2011) she defied this royalty notion which in the end was one of the reasons why she got divorced by her husband. Her position as the princess commanded legitimate power and she used it to access different countries and gain fame due to her humanitarian actions. However it is her referent powers that has made her remembered by and that has made her still remain as the role model and charismatic leader to many people over a decade after her tragic death in a road accident. She was the true definition of humility, transformation, kindness, inner beauty, selfless among many other positive qualities (Holden, 1997, pg. 87). She completely transformed the social world and status of people as they were previously viewed by the world. She made people aware of the AIDS disease and that it was not contagious as had previously been thought. She interacted with AIDS patients freely, those who has leprosy and had been rejected as outcasts by their own families and communities, she helped the children, the people with disabilities and treated everyone with equality and humanity they deserved. She offered assistance in form of charities running over hundreds of them as well as physically visiting the areas where the charities were located (Owen, 2007, pg. 37). Her passion for world peace is also among the things that she will remembered by and which has continually made her a referent leader. She openly condemned war and especially the use of land mines which left many people maimed and disabled for the rest of their lives. She appealed directly to political leaders about war and even visited the war torn areas to assist the sick, the wounded and the marginalized. Her ability to show empathy and use her social influence to offer help made her the greatest woman leader to live on social matters and the greatest humanitarian. Mahatma Gandhi was the Indian version of Martin Luther King whose influence and great leadership qualities are still appreciated to date even though he died in 1948. He was not only a spiritualist, politician, moralist but a civil activist as well. He possessed referent power and made great followers to date. His main philosophy and which is being employed by many great leaders to date is a non-violent approach no matter the harshness or difficulty of the situation. Amongst his greatest qualities include forgiveness, persistence, truth, love and the greatest of them all is having faith and believing in oneself (Wolpert and Wolpert, 2002, pg. 177). Mahatma Gandhi fought for the freedom of India from the colonization of the British who were extorting them as well as benefiting from the raw materials that were rightfully for Indians. He used this through a non-violence approach and his great oratorical skills and commanded great following. According to the BBC, (1998), in the past and even present times, it is hard to find a political leader who is a great spiritualist and who advocates for not only non-violence in solving disagreements but preach forgiveness. The world leaders of today resort to violence and retaliation as well as revenge and this is the reason the world is more engaged in war than before. Indians did not shed any blood under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and even though their freedom took longer than that of most colonial countries, the country remained peaceful and was eventually able to forgive the British and even became their allies (Dalton, 2013). Persistence and perseverance as well as being selfless are what many people who are leaders or those aspiring to be leaders should practice. It is the selfishness of people that lead them to being coercive leaders or even legitimate leaders who enforce punishment in order to get profit and increase their productivity leaving those they lead to despise them. The greatest of his effective leadership also came from the quality of believing in himself. All people leaders or not ought to have faith in themselves. The leaders should follow the footsteps of Gandhi and believe that they can be great leaders making great positive changes without having to cause pain, punishment and negative effects on their followers. They simply have to change tactics and follow Gandhi’s leadership for maximum effectiveness. In conclusion, there are five types of sources of leadership power as theorized by French and Raven which are legitimate, referent, expert, coercive and reward power (Elias, 2008, pg. 17). Different leaders whether formal or informal hold these different types of powers. There have been several great world renowned leaders whose leadership power has led to positive results. The two of these leaders and whose effective leadership power is still felt to date are Princess Diana of England and Mahatma Gandhi of India. They both had referent power which attracted and continues to attract many people to follow their examples and leadership qualities even decades after their death. Reference Ali, M. (March 30th, 2011). “Royal rebel: the legacy of Diana.” The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/30/diana-princess-wales-royal-rebel- legacy BBC. (January 29th, 1998). “The lost legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.” BBC News. 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