Power and Leadership Effectiveness

Running head: POWER AND LEADERHIP EFFECTIVENESS
POWER AND LEADERHIP EFFECTIVENESS
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1POWER AND LEADERHIP EFFECTIVENESS
In the recent times, effectiveness of leaders is very vital to achieve success and growth
for the organization. Power and leadership qualities are closely related to each other (Teimouri et
al. 2015). It has been observed that various forms of power affect an individual’s success and
leadership. In 1959, Sir John French and Bertram Raven conducted an effective study relating to
power (Fukuyama 2015). Power is generally divided into five different forms, which can be
classified as coercive, legitimate, referent, reward and expert. When an individual is deemed to
be leader, they have the ultimate power to make effective decisions. Moreover, according to
French and Raven theory, social influences lead to the change in attitudes and beliefs of a leader
(Hingley, Angell and Campelo 2015). The social powers are thus defined as potential of such
influences that leads to change through available resources. The idea is therefore often used
throughout the workforce and in organizational communication for effective management.
French and Raven’s power theory are in initiated with observance and extent to which
power is dependent on present structural conditions (Karkoulian and Osman 2014). Dependency
is actually the base or degree relating to internalization that takes place among individuals
relating to social control. The first form of power is Coercive Power. It is the idea related to
coercion which means that an individual is forced to perform against their will. The objective
related to this is compliance. Thus kind of power leads to various problems. This includes
dissatisfaction at work and unhealthy behavior. Leaders with coercive power use threats like,
demotion or dismissal as their management style (Kent, Sommerfeldt and Saffer 2016). Reward
power is another form of power, which involves an individual’s ability to delegate matters to the
subordinates and reward them for their performance. The most popular forms are such as raises,
compliments and promotions. The leader should offer reward to those team players, who are
striving to achieve to make the leadership effective.

2POWER AND LEADERHIP EFFECTIVENESS
Legitimate power is the power that gives an individual the ability to connect certain
notion of responsibility or obligation towards the management. It is the most recognized form of
power as well as leadership. Often it is regarded as ‘title power’ as the power comes along to the
leader after being appointed to a particular position. The title or power is of great use while it is
held but is eventually goes as the title is taken back (Blois and Hopkinson 2015). CEO, owners
and other executives hold such power. Such kind of power is generally a weak form to convince
and persuade other people. The fourth power is referent power that is based upon the individual’s
right attitude (Özaslan 2017). This is usually the result of individual’s worthiness, perceived
attractiveness and charm. A leader that possesses referent power has good appreciation from
their environment. Therefore tends to have high number of influences. Referent power is often
treated with high admiration and charm. A leader having referent power also has lot of
influences.
The last form of power is expert power, which is based on the individual’s in-depth
information, expertise or knowledge. Leaders having expert powers are highly intelligent and
self-confident. They trust their inner power to fulfill all the roles and responsibilities within the
organization (Hunt 2015). A leader is effectively able to convince their subordinates as a result
of their expert knowledge and power. The expertise of the leader is demonstrated through
actions, credentials and reputations. Recently another form of power is also added by Raven,
Informational power, which is the sixth base of power. Information power is the ability to bring
about change by an agent of influence through adequate informational resources. According to
Raven informational leads to cognition and is accepted by the target of influence. In the age of
digitalization, informational power is rapidly relevant due to the abundance of information that is
easily available. The leaders with informational power possess knowledge that the community