1. Leadership, power and authority

Leadership

Specific relationships between people with the ability to influence people towards the attained goals e.g. patients in public service. Is dynamic concept throughout life and social groups e.g. school and home and uses power to influence.

Leadership key pointsL

- Real leadership and perceived leadership are different. Scientific is more nuanced.

- Require agreements and understanding of organizational routines and efficiency to serve stakeholders well

Power

Potential ability to influence others behaviors where leaders use resources to affect changes in an employee´s behavior. E.g. resources are using salary to acknowledge goods performance and firing for poor performance.

Power key points:

- Organizational context matters since publicly funded companies may have different goals and power to influence other´s behavior compared to a privately funded company.

- Employees can affect employers behaviors because of their own generation that employers need to adapt to.

- Both leaders and followers use power to accomplish tasks.

Power dynamics are represented in cinematography

Blade Runner, The Corporation, Enron, and Trading Places

Power and influence within organization

· Both leaders and followers use power to get things done.

· The leader is only being a leader with a follower

Types of power within an organization:

- Legitimate power

- Reward power

- Coercive (demanding power)

- Export power

- Referent power

Legitimate power

- Legitimized by law or standard and comes from formal management position and the authority granted to it, ability to control over resources like hiring and firing.

Reward power

- Authority to give rewards to others such as recognition or opportunities. This power may not be visible but still hold influence.

Coercive (demanding power)

- Opposite of reward. Authority to punish or recommend punishment.

Export power

Results from one´s special knowledge or skill.

Referent power + 2 ways to acquire it

- Comes from one´s personality, characteristics that command respect, admiration and a desire to be like that person. No formal position is needed.

- Two ways to acquire this power: Being an expert accepted by others and being know as a good person.

6 ways to gain or influence power within an organization:

- Use rational persuasion by using data and sources to support your claims

- Help people like you, as you will be remembered.

- Rely on the rule of reciprocity by treating others as you want to be treated.

- Develop allies to achieve greater impact and common goals, as leadership happens with others.

- Be assertive and ask for what you want, even repeatedly if necessary.

- Make use of higher authority, especially in negative situations

Other sources of power:

- Personal effort: Being good as a person

- Network of relationships: Allies

- Information gatekeepers: Who control access to key individuals without holding a formal position e.g secretary or assistant. Have a lot of power and access to the leader.

Authority

The power to make decisions, control people, and/or the decision-making process. Power is the ability to influence decisions, while authority is the ability to influence the entire decision-making process.

3 types of authority (Weber)

traditional authority, rational-legal authority, charismatic authority

Traditional authority

Achieved through heredity, such as royal families or long-standing family businesses e.g. Paris Hilton, Bianca Ingrosso.

Legal-rational authority

Achieved through rational decision-making, such as experts in their fields or influential business leaders e.g. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates.

Charismatic authority

Comes from an individual's heroism or exemplary character, leading through perception and personal magnetism, not inheritance or rationality e.g. Martin Luther King, Diana Frances- charity, society changes.

"Dark side of leadership" and the "Dark triad", which encompass unethical behaviors that exploit others. This includes:

- The Machiavellian leader

- The narcissistic leader

- The psychopathic leader

The Machiavellian leader

Who believes that "the ends justify the means" and will do whatever it takes to achieve personal goals, even unethically. Thinks there's no way to stop them.

The narcissistic leader

Who demonstrates self-entitlement, self-importance, grandiosity, and manipulates others.

The psychopathic leader

Impulsive, lacks concern for others' feelings, does not understand the harm caused by their actions, and lacks remorse.

Leadership types that can negatively affect a company and its employees:

- The unethical leader

- The hypocritical leader

- The ethically neutral leader

The ethically neutral leader

Is ethical personally but doesn't explicitly include ethics in their leadership agenda, so employees may not be aware of their values.

o Is ethical inside based on personal values but they don´t act upon it and not made ethics as values part of their leadership agenda e.g. may be scared or they don´t really try to promote the ethical standards towards the company

Romanticizes leadership

Only focuses on the charm and success of a leader can determine organization's success when other things such as economic conditions also matter. Company performance is a complex outcome of various forces and are difficult to control.

- in the media e.g. movie, audio

- Perception say that they are a leader of something while ignoring other factors.

Does popularity align with effective leadership?

- Lee Lacocca got recognition as the national hero for saving Ford and Chrysler from bankruptcy. His leadership focused on simple principles: quarterly reviews (reports), gathering info, interpersonal skills and communication. His style was considered pretty conservative and relied on hard work rather than radical methods.