Leadership, Power and Politics

competitiveness, Management and leadingConflict is a natural impression originating ascrib fit to individual and group interaction. It is a friction produced due to emotions and behaviors of citizenry takeing closely rubbing against sever entirelyy other. When heap from various backgrounds and beliefs work together, consciously or unconsciously they try to pass their own principles in work aspects creates booking.However, affair is non constantly destructive or regressive. When advantageously managed and directed, it has great utility in substantially improving an boldnesss functional and production aspects, along with helping individuals to evolve a reciprocal philosophy of work and cooperation. However, poorly managed conflict situation impairs the cheekal divulgecome, creating stress, introducing dissatisfaction and trim efficiency.Characteristics of ConflictThe round the clock work schedules, trans-national nature of jobs, and strain in todays existence acqui t worked together to make conflict an unavoid suit fit part in life of people. Work have-to doe withd stress, with pressures of deadline, lively levels of responsibility, problems of resource allocation and management, pockting, defining and achieving challenging goals, and all the term severe to coordinate with divers(prenominal) individuals give rise to perfect conditions for conflict to erupt within organizations (Bergman and Volkema, 1989). plainly before any attempt to resolve conflict it is important to understand the characteristics of conflict that an organization generally faces. agree to king (1990), a study of various organizational parameters indicated towards five characteristics of conflict . These atomic number 181. Conflict due to contrasting or oppose field of interests amongst or among individuals or groups.2. Recognition of these opposing interests by the interested parties3. Conflict centers on a perception by each side that its opposing party would i njure its interests4. Conflict is non a stage, rather a process and it results from the way individual and groups define their relations through the knightly interaction5. Actions and efforts by each party with the intention of negating others goals.Conflict management and attractership lead has a great social occasion to play in conflict resolution. A attracter with qualities with excellent communication, sagacity and negotiation empennage be instrumental in bringing the despotic outcome through the issues involved in the conflict. As the business and incarnate management has realized, leadinghip greatly helps to alleviate conflict situation due to its inspirational value. drawship essentially near encouraging people to pocket billiards themselves together towards achieving common goals and objectives (Rosenbach and Taylor, 1998, 1. loss drawship further em agencys individuals, helps them to rise above their run and position within the organization to associate them selves and their colleagues with particular(prenominal) works, duties and responsibilities and en sufficients them to identify and set their own directions, work on commitment and take challenges. (Day and Halpin, 2004, 3). Its not move past that companies argon ready to invest hugely in drawship pay backment program, as a guaranteed way to emerge ahead than their competitors. indoors every social, institutional or organizational structure, a loss leader is incessantly looked upon the person with abilities to broach reconciliation and resolution in situation of conflict. Leadership entails elements of military unit and authority that atomic number 18 critical to acquire influence. in that location are five power bases for a leader, as identified by cut and Raven (1959). They are1. Legitimate power the power that comes by lawfulness of the position and command to control behavior.2. Coercive power It is the leaders control oer persuasion and ability to take symbolic pu nitory actions in case of dissent3. Reward power It is the leaders control over granting rewards4. Expert power These are the specialties that a leader attains due to knowledge and experience and that he is expected to possess and affair in conflict resolution5. Referent power This is the power over over subordinate or group members to identify the leaderLeaders whitethorn opt for one, some or a combination or all of these power bases to attain conflict management and resolution by influencing the psychological and social dimension of conflict, trust, and authority (Johnson and Short, 1994Leadership (Power and Politics)Leadership is not a characteristic that exists in isolation. As it is defined, leadership implies establishing coordination, orientation, cooperation, and collaboration among the lineing to follow up designated objectives and goals. It is possible when leaders tin inspire their followers with respect, admiration, discipline, office in the abilities of the leade r while organism helped to envision themselves as sceptred individuals (Brown and Lord, 2004, 2).A good leader has the ability to take over horizontal roughly complex, demanding and otherwise impossible condition by exhibiting individual(prenominal) integrity, ethical and moral traits and values that other can relate to and aspire to go down on in their own conduct (Laurie, 2000, 53). Here it is important to distinguish personal charisma from leadership, as personal charisma, being an person specific phenomena, can awe people provided hardly give them impetus to follow in the footsteps of the leader.Leadership is also means natural acquisition of power and potential to tilt its equation affect over the leaders and their followers. There inherent dangers associated with power, and for close of the people, the condemnationless adage-power corrupts suits justly.Power contains a enticement that is hard to resist and has potential to become the ultimate goal for a person rathe r the tool that was designated in helping to achieve the goals. But a genuine leader understands this irony of power and at that placefore believes that power should be shared with others so that it can grow. The real power of leaders is their ability to inspire others with a sense of power and confidence (Champy and Nohria, 1999, 165).According to Reigels (1979) theory of bankruptment, the relevant categories to leadership practices and conflict management are1. Optimism-faith in goodness of humanity. It works on the principle of faith in inherent goodness of humanity with a sense that goals and objective are achievable.2. Interconnectedness-responsibility for the whole. The principle is extension of sense of responsibility to greater issues affecting the world that connects individual with the entire humanity.3. The contradictory nature of things. It teaches about recognizing and respecting that contradiction occurs in people, their experience and circumstances.4. Life is charac terized by crises. Recognition that crises and conflicts are inbuilt of destiny of life and progress is achieved by incorporating them in the philosophy towards life.5. Kinship with others. It stresses on building associations and help in realizing that every one is important and deserves stir respect from others.6. The opposition. It teaches about t resemblingg opposition as contradiction, instead of showing it in negative perspective.7. Acknowledging others contribution. It stresses on frank and appreciative acknowledgment of success and achievements of others recognitionBaron, R. A. (1990). Conflict in organizations. In K. R. potato & F. E. Saal (Eds.), Psychology in organizations Integrating science and practice (pp. 197216). Hillsdale, NJ ErlbaumBergmann T. J., and Volkema R. J. ( 1989). Understanding and managing interpersonal conflict at work Its issues, interactive processes, and consequences. In M. A. Rahim (Ed.), Managing Conflict An inter-disciplinary approach (pp. 7-19). New York PraegerBrown DJ and Lord, RG, 2004, Leadership Processes and ally Self-Identity, Lawrence Erlbaum Mahwah, NJ.Champy J, Nohria N, 1999, The Arc of Ambition Defining the Leadership Journey, Perseus Books (Current Publisher Perseus PublishingCambridge, MA.Day DV and Halpin SM, 2004, Leader Development for Transforming Organizations Growing Leaders for Tomorrow, (edit) David V. Day, Stanley M. Halpin, Stephen J. Zaccaro, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.French, Jr., J.R.P., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases social power. In Dorwin Cartwright (edit.), Studies in social power (pp. 150-157). Ann Arbor, MI Researc Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for companionable Research, The University of MichiganJohnson, P.E and Short, P.M (1994). Exploring the Links among Teacher Empowerment, Leader Power and Conflict. Education. Volume 114. fill out 4. Page Number 581+.Laurie DL, 2000, The Real Work of Leaders A business relationship from the Front Lines of Management, P erseus Books (Current Publisher Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MARiegel KF. Foundations of Dialectical Psychology. New York Academic Press, 1979.Rosenbach WE and Taylor RL, 1998, coetaneous Issues in Leadership, (edit) William E. Rosenbach, Robert L. Taylor, Westview Press,Boulder, CO.      Leadership, Power and PoliticsLeadership is the process of influencing others to act to accomplish specific objectives. Leaders are the key movers of an organization and they are able to inspire and motivate their members to work towards the attainment of goals. In the past, leadership have been thought of as a quality that only the elite managers possess, even reality is, each one of us possess and may develop our leadership skills.Being a leader is not an easy job, it takes creativity, innovativeness, discipline, irritation and an open mind. It is said that leaders emerge in times of change and turmoil it is a fact that when the going gets tough, leaders are there to get things done.Opportunities for change however essential be sought out and seized by the leader. It is a indispensable element in the exercise of leadership, for leadership is at its best when there is an opportunity to grow, innovate and to improve. A leader can accomplish this by treating every job as an adventure, by deciding that each day is an opportunity to learn something spic-and-span or to discover better ways of accomplishing things, the leader is more able to protrude changes that would be for the greater good of the group.When a leader seeks purposeful challenges, it allows the leader to work with passion and commitment that is personally gratifying and hence is able to effectively work for the group. With that, the leader also find and create meaningful challenges for others, when members feel that they are valued and trusted by their leaders to be able to accomplish realistic and challenging goals, they become more connected and become better workers. This mean s that the leader provides his/her members too become per se motivated to rise to the challenge.As a leader, it is important that he/she make the workplace fun, happy people are more productive and they alike(p) going to work everyday because it is a happy place. as such, when an organization is so used to doing things in the same way, it leads to complacency and even deterioration, olibanum a leader must be able to question the condition quo, this would mean that as a leader he/she must actively look for systems or programs that have outlived its usefulness and be creative complete to provide new ideas.Renewing teams in any organization is necessary in order to breathe new life to the team, a shuffling of subdivisions or the movement of positions would reenergize the team and possibly generate new ideas and opportunities. Lastly, the leader should adopt an open approach to searching for opportunities. It is an give birthance of the leader that he/she does not have the monop oly of ideas and it is necessary to be aware of what is happening outside(a) and inside the organization.Being an effective leader also takes the ability to try out and takes risks and to learn from mistakes. Leaders if for some twist of fate have always been thought of as someone who can transform any organization form the brink of death to greater heights. But in reality, it is the scientific and objective leader who is able to appreciate the importance of carrying out mini look intos of new processes that would in the end be more cost-effective than to recoil and implement a program or process that have not been tested.Experiments are for introducing new products while creating or developing models in specific departments of new processes will give the leader an objective assessment of the scuttle of success or failure of the new process. The leader is not the mend experimenter, he/she must encourage other to experiment also, but at times it is faced with fear and apprehen sion, thus the leader should assure the members that it is just to experiment. When a person is so set in his/her ways then it is difficult to initiate change, the leader therefore must be able to break the mind set of its people, to become more open to new ideas and change.An enormous change may be anxiety provoking for members, the leader thus should break up the changes into small challenges that members can accomplish one at a time. People work better if they know that their ideas and feelings are respected and that if what they are doing is of their own choice, a leader should give each person the opportunity to make their own choices. A leader must learn how to say yes to the ideas and opinions of its members, by saying yes more frequently than but or no, it would be easier for the leader to also solicit the cooperation of its people. A leader is not a Greek hero who has supernatural powers, he/she can make mistakes and a accepted leader has the grace and humility to accept his/her mistakes and to learn from it.Lastly, a leader should also be able to prise the effectiveness of the new programs or changes that he/she has carried out in the order and this exercise should be a collaborative effort with input from the different members of the organization. Knowing what may cause the failure of an innovation would go a long way in improving that product or process.It is true that leaders emerge out of the difficulties or major changes in an organization, and being a leader is no easy job, and one can always make use of information that would help enhance or develop our leadership skills. I found this as the advantage of the models, it provides true-to-life examples of how a leader is able to seize opportunities for change and why it is important to experiment and learn from mistakes.The disadvantages of the concepts however is that it is too abstract and sometimes it is difficult to relate to a job as mundane as selling cigarettes and that most of the ex amples involve large organizations wherein leaders are often the head of the department or the organization. Although the chapters do provide pointers on what an ordinary person could do to become a leader and it is a practical guide. The chapters present the concept as a series of things to do or things to learn, and not all could be applied at the same time to a wholeness organization. In my experience as a cigarette store owner, I am limited by the products that sell the most I may provide my customers with new brands or novel cigarettes but since smokers tend to lodge to one brand.I may be able to innovate in all likelihood in giving freebies to loyal customers or be creative by using bonus coupons that they could exchange for premium brands. Moreover, I do not have a staff and hence my leadership skills are not harnessed. On the other hand I work part time in a gasoline station and work with other people but again a gasoline station is one of the most normal and stable organ ization there is. Thus, unless if the gasoline station gets interchange or merged with another store, then maybe it would be time for me to rise to that challenge.On the other hand, learning about leadership has been elicit and very challenging, it tells me that I can be a leader someday it also made me become aware of some of my personal characteristics that is akin to leaders. I would like to share to others what I have learned about leadership, sometimes we do not know that we possess the ability to be leaders if other people dont acknowledge it, I would also tell them of the things that a good leader should be able to accomplish.That said, there are different leadership styles which a person may favor and use in different situations. Leadership styles include peremptory leadership, bureaucratic leadership charismatic leadership, participative leadership, Laissez-faire leadership, relations-oriented leadership, servant leadership, task-oriented leadership, transactional leader ship and transformational leadership.Personally, I think that participative leadership is the best among the styles because although the leader has the final say in the decisions concerning issues on organizational change it allows the members of the organization to contribute their ideas and thoughts. This communicate that the leader value and respects its members and thus increase job satisfaction of members and cultivates a culture of collaboration and cooperation that every organization needs to get things done.ReferenceKouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2002). The Leadership Challenge. California Jossey-Bass