Leadership Challenge: Using Sources of Power Ethically

Leadership Challenge: Using Sources of Power Ethically The misuse of power is constantly revealed in the business environment by the actions and characteristics of executives, leaders, supervisors, and managers. In reiterating the definition of power is having the know-how, to influence others to do something that they wouldn’t normally do (Lussier, 2008). The tactics that leadership uses are categorized into nine influential tactics: ? Rational Persuasion ?Inspirational appeal ?Consultation ?Ingratiation ?Exchange ?Personal Appeal ?Coalition ?Legitimating ?Pressure Most of which are likely used by leadership (Katzenstein, n. d. ). List and explain the sources of power that the CEO of a large company typically has at her disposal. The source of power in business a CEO has is Expert, Referent, and Legitimate Power. C. E. O. is defined as Chief Executive Officer; the CEO is known to have the great power of delegation (Ellis-Christensen, 2012). There are many definitions of expert power and one definition is â€Å"Expert Power is stated as resting on the belief of employees that an individual has a particularly high level of knowledge or highly specialized skill set. Managers may be accorded authority based on the perception of their greater knowledge of the tasks at hand than their employees† (Turner, 2012). Referent Power is the use of personal power (ones’ attractiveness, respect, loyalty, and worthiness) to influence others to do your request. Referent power is like a role-model type of power, it uses your adoration from others toward influencing them to do something (Thomas, 2002). Legitimate Power is used from a person position and/or title. Legitimate power in is used to demand the others, regardless of their commitment or cooperation. This type of power tends to place distrust in the leaders capabilities in operating a business. Therefore, it is actually the title/position of a person rather than the person itself that carries this power. Describe how these powers can be used to avoid the various operational, administrative, and ethical problems experienced by companies. Business Problem 1 The business problem that may occur is a machine is down due to electrical issues and no backup machine or alternative available. Influence tactic The influence tactic used in this business problem will be consultation and inspiration appeal. The consultation was chosen to meet with the managers to see what can be done to improve on these problems and if it is feasible to obtain. In choosing the inspiration appeal is to encourage the employees not to get discouraged and thank them for doing a great job. Source of Power The source of power used in this situation for consultation is Reward, coercive or legitimate. The power used for Inspiration appeal is Referent power. Why this influence tactic addresses the problem I thought these influence tactic was best suited for the situation in handling this business problem. When such problems occur on the job, it sometimes tends to discourage the workers from getting their job done or begin to doubt the company obligation to that specific area leaving them wondering if it was intentional or not. Business Problem 2 The business problem that is experience too often in this problem is issues with checks and missing work time. Although payroll handles the issuance of checks, it still falls under administrative problems. Influence tactic The influence tactics used in this business problem are Legitimating, Rational persuasion, and Pressure. Source of Power The source of power for legitimating is legitimate power. The source of power for rational persuasion is expert power and the source of power for Pressure is Coercive power. Why this influence tactic addresses the problem I chose these for a number of reasons, one is legitimating can swing both ways. The employer will need a legitimate reason as why they should give you the correct amount of hours that the employees claim they are missing. In a sense the employee can request a statement showing the calculation of their hours. The employee can use pressure in pursuit of getting this problem corrected. Business Problem 3 The business problem that sometimes occurs is unethical business practices. Unethical business practices like dumping good at loss making prices just to earn market shares or to oust a new competitor from business, colluding with competitors to fix higher prices, using high pressure selling tactics, using deceptive advertising, etc. re also some things that need to be looked at (Patil, 2012). Influence tactic The influence tactics used in this business problem are rational persuasion, coalition, and legitimating. Source of Power The source of power for rational persuasion is expert power, the source of power for coalition is coercive power, and the source of power for legitimating is legitimate power. Why this influence tactic addresses the problem I thought that these tactics were definitely used in coe rcing influences on others, especially to benefit that particular person. Unethical business practices happen all over the world, most often never get address in order to prevent it from happening again and again. Unethical practices are used by businesses legitimating why they must have or need; even use coercive power to intense or sway the answer in their favor. Rational persuasion is basically similar to coercive power, the general idea is to lure the favor toward the persuader way. References Ellis-Christensen, T. (2012). What is a CEO? Retrieved on January 22, 2012 from http://www. wisegeek. om/what-is-a-ceo. htm Katzenstein, J. (). Influence Tactics. Retrieved on January 22, 2012, from som. csudh. edu/depts/adjunct/jkatzenstein/†¦ /Influence%20Tactics. ppt Lussier, R. N. (2008). Ethical Power and Politics. Retrieved on January 22, 2012, from highered. mcgraw-hill. com/sites/dl/free/0073210552/†¦ /chap010. ppt Patil, S. B. (2012). Ethical Issues in Business. Buzz. com. Retrieved on January 22, 2012 from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/ethi cal-issues-in-business. html Singh, A. (2009). Organizational Power in Perspective. Leadership & Management in Engineering, 9(4), 165-176. doi:10. 1061/(ASCE)LM. 1943-5630. 0000018 Thomas, J. C. (2002). Leadership Effectiveness of Referent Power as a Distinction of Personal Power. Retrieved on January 22, 2012 from http://www. jctnet. us/Professional/MOL/LEAD605/ThomasJMicroBP$2. pdf Turner, M. C. (2012). Leadership Styles and Bases of Power. Reference for Business Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd Ed. Retrieved on January 22, 2012 from http://www. referenceforbusiness. com/management/Int-Loc/Leadership-Styles-and-Bases-of-Power. html