Power and Leadership in Organizations Essay -- Empowerment Business Man

The topic that I chose for my semester project is Power and Leadership. The main points within the main subject I am focusing on are Power in Organizations, Sources of Power, The Dark Side of Power, and Empowerment. I will define each, apply them to every day business situations and theoretically analyze the context. The topics that I have chosen will give good insight to what Power and leadership really are and how they are used in are everyday businesses organizations to give a general understanding of what it means to be powerful. The first topic that I have chosen is Power in Organizations. Power is the ability of one person to influence another. They can use this power to become leaders and to manage businesses. Power also brings influence on the behavior and attitudes of other people. This can be applied to customers and/or suppliers. The demand for power is common among the business world. There is a difference in power and authority. Only people who hold formal positions have authority, whereas all people at any level of an organized company have the power to influence other people. Authority is power. It is power on another level. Power is obvious and understood, while authority is vested in a particular position. An example of such a position of authority would be the CEO of a company or a GM. The distinguishing aspect however lies between the position and the need to become more powerful. Where there is power, there are also consequences that go along with it. It depends on how the power is used and to whom it is inflicted. The consequences range from a number of general effects. There are three specific examples of this. They are commitment, compliance, and resistance. Power is the stronghold for the three fold outcome that is brought on through consequences. The first consequence is commitment. It can be as simple as following through with the task at hand or lack thereof. It is best defined in this way, â€Å"when the followers welcome the influence process and accept it as reasonable and legitimate.† (pg. 98) Commitment can be shown through an employee’s ability to complete the task they are given by the person with more power than they possess. They will change their ideals to match that of the higher authority. If the CEO of a company says that his proposal is going to change, in the mind of the employee, they agree to change... ...e to stick with it or else the employees will think they have failed. Empowerment is a good tool to bring out new ideas and thoughts to the organization. It gives employees a sense of self worth and they become more motivated when they have some independence. All in all it is a good idea only if you approach it the way I have explained. A thing to think about is that two minds are better than one when it comes to completing a task. I n conclusion I have talked about powers and leadership. The information that I have given all ties together in the sense that in an organization you have people with different types of power. The source of the power is what type of power they have and how the convey it to the employees. The most important topic I think is the dark side of power thus allowing your organization to become unfit for normal operation. Just because you have power doesn’t make you superior to other people it just puts you in charge. That is why I feel that empowerment it such a great idea it allows every one to have somewhat the some status or feeling in the company, this would allow you to be a better cohesive organization in hole.