Effective Use of Power, Influence and Authority

811 Words2 Pages

To compete in a global economy, organizations of all types are focusing on improving productivity, quality, and service. In each of these areas it is important to tap the talents of the available human resources in these organizations. Effective leaders must understand and depend on the interrelationship among organizational structure such as power, authority, influence and leadership. In addition how it abides in organizations and how it move others to accomplish the organization goals.

Power is the ability to obtain, retain, and motivate people and to organize informational and material resources to accomplish a task( Leadership, n.d). Power is central to the leadership process in the development of a manager’s self-confidence and willingness to support staff members ( Schmidt & Wilkinson, 1990). The desire for power is universal. From this vantage point, power should be accepted as a natural part of any individual organization. Power is not evenly distributed among individuals or groups, but every individual has some degree of power.

Competence and intelligence are prerequisites for handling power in a healthy leader. Leaders have a responsibility to recognize and develop their own power to coordinate and uphold the work of staff members. Motivation for power, or a need to have an impact on others, is highly desirable for people with management responsibilities. Leader who understand power, its bases and it responsibilities have an advantage for getting things did through others. In exerting power, leader never needs to separate their own ethical values and morals from a situation .

Power affects organization in the following ways: A nurse decides to sign up to care for more critical patients after hearing her n...

... middle of paper ...

...uations. In the hospital, for example, a nursing group may go through the motions of accepting the new manager expectation but look for sanction to act from another, thus creating conflict and confusion within the team.

To perform well as a leader, the leader must identify individual strengths, weaknesses, and potential; acquire knowledge of leadership, power, influence, and authority to get the right things done at the right time.

Reference

Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/47296047/Leadership

Leadershipdirect (n.d). Leadership Defined. Retrieved from

http://www.leadersdirect.com/leadership-defined

Schmidt, K. D.,Wilkinson, S. (1990). Intraorganizational influence tactics:exploration in getting one’s way. Journal of Applied Psychology 58(4):440-452.

Stewart, T.(1997). The new power game. Fortune, 135(1), 66-75.

Open Document