Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History - Essay Example

It has been described as the probable rate and amount of influence of a person or a position occupant (Bass, 1981)[1]. Similarly, power can be measured in several different ways. For example, it can be measured in terms of target perceptions or in terms of the objective characteristics of an agent and the agent’s position (Yukl & Van Fleet, 1992)[2]. The capacity for individual and organizational transformation must be accompanied by moral responsibility, for transformational leaders shape powerful social and institutional cultures, which may either, be liberating or oppressive.

Sources of Interpersonal Power may be 1) Expert -- based on knowledge and expertise, 2) Referent -- extent to which subordinate likes or identifies with supervisor, 3) Legitimate -- job title, 4) Reward -- the ability to reward subordinates, and 5) Coercive -- ability to punish subordinates.[3] While Sources of Political Power (Yukl, 1989)[4], Control over decision processes, 2) Forming coalitions, 3) Co-optation, and 4) Gaining influence in large organizations likely to be more a matter of political power than individual power. While t            leader-member relations, task structure, and position power to deal with the situation, determines the best kind of leader. Again, effective leaders are might be those who attract and make their followers as similar to themselves as possible in terms of potential for quality work and team-building capabilities. But also the supervisory style should include supportive, directive, and participative approaches to propel the team towards achievement. Again, power may also be positively used for effective decision-making, which constitutes rationality of decision, acceptance of the decision by the subordinate, and effective time given to make the decision. The power of a leader also may stimulate interest among followers to view work from new perspectives, generate awareness of the mission, develop colleagues and followers to higher levels of ability and potential, and motivate colleagues and followers to look beyond their own interests to those of the group. Thus this idea may be contested further by saying that leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their employees, even while generating awareness, acceptance, and mission that give them the powers to make employees look beyond their narrow interests and see a bigger organizational goal, together with a heightened capacity and commitment towards greater productivity.

Thus, leadership defines itself naturally as “the process of using power to obtain interpersonal influence.”[5] The question then arises, why must leaders achieve success at influencing the behavior of other people at work? Harry Truman puts it quite well when he says, “Leadership is the ability to get men to do what they don’t want to do and like it.”[6] In short, the core problem for leaders in any organization involves getting others to do what is required to accomplish the organization’s goals and how effectively and powerfully they can motivate them and intellectually stimulate them towards a common goal or mission without harming their integrity or self-worth. Leadership activities of setting a direction, aligning people to that direction, motivating, and inspiring are less administrative in terms of direct use of power, but interpersonal and powerful in action.