Leadership and Power Concepts

Leadership and Power

• Power is the capacity to influence others' beliefs, attitudes, and actions.
• Leadership involves the use of power as part of the influence process.
• Six bases of power exist, impacting a leader's influence:
  • Referent Power: based on followers' admiration and liking.
  • Expert Power: based on perceived competence.
  • Legitimate Power: based on formal authority.
  • Reward Power: based on providing rewards.
  • Coercive Power: based on punishment or penalties.
  • Information Power: based on possessing valuable information.
• Power can be categorized as Position Power (legitimate, reward, coercive, information) or Personal Power (referent, expert).

Leadership and Coercion

• Coercion involves influencing others against their will using threats or negative rewards.
• Coercion is not an ideal leadership style; it prioritizes the leader's goals over shared objectives.
• Leading effectively involves collaboration, not coercion.

Leadership and Management

• Management focuses on order and consistency (planning, organizing, staffing, controlling).
• Leadership focuses on change and movement (establishing direction, aligning people, motivating, inspiring).
• Management and leadership overlap; leaders need management skills, and effective managers need leadership skills.
• Both aim to influence a group toward achieving common goals.
• Some researchers differentiate management as more reactive and less emotionally involved, while leadership is proactive and more emotionally involved.

Leadership Definitions

• Leadership is an influence process guiding groups toward goal attainment.
• Leader and follower roles are interconnected.
• Traditional approaches focused on leadership as a trait (innate qualities).
• This text presents leadership as a learnable process available to everyone.

Types of Leadership

• Assigned Leadership: based on formal position or title.
• Emergent Leadership: based on actions and follower support.