Final Paper Mgt 380
Reflective Paper MGT 380 September 20, 2010
While there are many factors that make leaders successful, power and influence behaviors and my gender will affect my leadership success throughout my personal and professional life. Properly using power and influence as a leader in the workplace is important, especially for women who may have a harder time as leaders in the workplace. This essay will describe the specific ways that power and influence and gender issues affect on leadership and how I will apply them in my life. Power and influence behavior jointly determine leadership effectiveness (Yukl, 2010).
Power is what is used to influence people. There are a number of types of power and the type of power used depends on many variables and situations. The French and Raven classified types of power are Legitimate Power, Reward Power, Coercive Power, Expert Power and Referent Power. Other types of power are Information Power and Ecological Power. Legitimate Power is where the leader has authority over the work activities and the target person complies out of obligation. This type of power is widely used in organizations. Reward Power is defined as the target person complies in order to obtain rewards that the leader controls (Yukl, 2010, Pg. 154). Reward power is used in many organizations and in my experience is combined with legitimate power. Coercive Power is power typically used in the military or maybe in prisons it is where the leaders use punishments to control the followers and where strict rules and regulations are present and where discipline must be maintained. Expert power is where the leader is believed to have special knowledge and skills on how to perform the job tasks. In my experience this is where the leader or manager would have most likely trained the target persons on how to perform the tasks or has performed the tasks and job duties themselves. In my last position at my current organization I reported to someone who
While there are many factors that make leaders successful, power and influence behaviors and my gender will affect my leadership success throughout my personal and professional life. Properly using power and influence as a leader in the workplace is important, especially for women who may have a harder time as leaders in the workplace. This essay will describe the specific ways that power and influence and gender issues affect on leadership and how I will apply them in my life. Power and influence behavior jointly determine leadership effectiveness (Yukl, 2010).
Power is what is used to influence people. There are a number of types of power and the type of power used depends on many variables and situations. The French and Raven classified types of power are Legitimate Power, Reward Power, Coercive Power, Expert Power and Referent Power. Other types of power are Information Power and Ecological Power. Legitimate Power is where the leader has authority over the work activities and the target person complies out of obligation. This type of power is widely used in organizations. Reward Power is defined as the target person complies in order to obtain rewards that the leader controls (Yukl, 2010, Pg. 154). Reward power is used in many organizations and in my experience is combined with legitimate power. Coercive Power is power typically used in the military or maybe in prisons it is where the leaders use punishments to control the followers and where strict rules and regulations are present and where discipline must be maintained. Expert power is where the leader is believed to have special knowledge and skills on how to perform the job tasks. In my experience this is where the leader or manager would have most likely trained the target persons on how to perform the tasks or has performed the tasks and job duties themselves. In my last position at my current organization I reported to someone who
References: Bowles, H. R. & McGinn, K. L. (2008) Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game. Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School. Retrieved September 3, 2010 from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5935.html Emerson, R. (1976). Social Exchange Theory. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 2, pp. 335-362. Retrieved September 19, 2010 from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2946096 Porter, M. E., Lorsch, J. W. & Nohria, N. (2008). The Seven Things That Surprise New CEO’s. Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School. Retrieved September 3, 2010 from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6039.html Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.