What does it mean to be an efficient leader? In an organization, the boss, manager, CEO, CFO, etc. are some of the many positions we label as leaders. These are the people who overlook the entire organization and assure everything is running effectively. The ways in which a leader acts towards their subordinates results in how well the subordinates complete the tasks and duties they are assigned. In the year 1959, two researchers known as French & Raven created a design of types of power leaders present to their employees. These types of powers are as follows; reward, coercive, legitimate, referent and expert (Porter, Angle, & Allen, 2003). Most leaders utilize multiple types of power in their practice. However, some bases of power in the leader may be predominantly seen by the subordinates. We have all uncovered different types of leaders in our lives. Whether the leader be a teacher, our parents, our boss, or even the president of the United States, leaders use different tactics to attempt to laud their followers. I am going to relate the bases of power to current events in our social world in which predominately show these bases of power in specific situations. Discovering bases of power of leaders in situational organizational scenarios and in everyday life can determine the efficiency of the leader.
Reward power occurs when leaders give physical objects of value to their subordinates (Porter et, al, 2003). For example, in the TV show Undercover Boss, the leader of a company goes incognito in the lower levels of their organization. At the end of every episode, the “undercover boss,” reveals themselves. When the boss reveals themselves, they usually reward the subordinates who have done well to benefits such as money, paid vacations, cars and more. The leaders on this show are using reward power to motivate the employees who do well to keep doing their jobs efficiently (“About Undercover,” n.d.). Next, coercive power occurs when a leader uses punishment to receive a desirable outcome from a subordinate (Porter et, al, 2003). For example, in the popular television show, The Apprentice, Donald Trump attempts to influence the participants on the show to succeed at their tasks so they do not run the risk of getting fired. The least efficient participants on the show get terminated and have no chance of winning an allotted amount of money and working for Donald Trump himself. The influencing factor of threatening to take away a positive stimulus is known as punishment (“The Apprentice,” n.d.). Legitimate power is known as subordinates responding to a leader because of their positioning in the hierarchy of the organization (Porter et, al, 2003). An example of legitimate power can be represented by citizens responding to police officers. Most people respect police officers because of their reputation of being the “keepers of the law.” Therefore, people usually obey police officers sanctions because of their status in everyday society.
Next, referent power depends on how much the subordinate identifies with or wants to emulate the leader (Porter et, al, 2003). Personally, my mother had referent power over me. As a child, I used to tell my mom we were, “the same girl.” I aspired to be just like my mom because she was my role model. I did not want to do anything wrong by her either. Anything she does not approve of did not assimilate with actions I wanted to partake in, so I always tried my best to do everything she asked of me. Lastly, expert power involves an erudite leader who flaunts their knowledge to their subordinates. This perception of knowledge results in the admiration and respect of the subordinates towards the leader (Porter et, al, 2003). A very relevant example of expert power are professors in our courses. Students look up to professors because they know a lot more about a particular topic than the student does. Students respect and listen to their professors in lecture because most students are interested in gaining more knowledge from the professor.
We can determine the efficiency of the basis of powers by observing the situation in that present moment. A leader should not be subjected to using solely one basis of power throughout their entire reign. Using a combination of basis of power have been proven to be the most effective in organizational leadership (Roberts, n.d.). Throughout my experience of learning social psychology, I have learned human behaviors and reactions are mostly based off of the situation. Using a combination of these types of leaderships will give leaders the best results in being an effective leader due to the ambiguity of everyday situations.
References:
About undercover boss. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2017, from http://www.cbs.com/shows/undercover_boss/about/
Porter, L. W., Angle, H. L., & Allen, R. W. (2003). Organizational influence processes.
Roberts, C. (n.d.). 5 types of power in businesses. Retrieved October 6, 2017, from
http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/5-types-power-businesses-8315.html
The apprentice plot. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2017, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364782/plotsummary
Great post! I find very interesting that you linked the course concepts to a TV show. I’m sure you see the show now from a different perspective which will probably make it even more enjoyable for you. I have experienced this myself, with TV shows, movies or even life situations where concepts from class provide me with a different and interesting perspective.
I have never watched Survivor, but I’m familiar with the reality plot. I agree with you, is definitely part of the show to keep the contestants from reaching ‘peak efficiency’ as part of Tuckman’s final stage of performing (Lesson 7, PSU). The idea is for them to have to achieve certain things or overcome certain situations in a short period of time. Perhaps the idea is also to put to test the ability to work under pressure, work fast, work around conflict, etc. I’m sure some people stand out more than others. The environment really brings out every contestant’s characteristics. To see this, they have to remain within conflict and stress, therefore like you explain, contestants reach two steps of Tuckman’s developmental stages of groups and is over.
Now I wonder, is this just a lucky guess? Is it possible that to produce such a TV show, psychology professionals are involved? I have asked myself this same question with other TV series. For instance, lawyers for Suits, doctors for Grey’s Anatomy, police and science professionals for CSI, etc. Perhaps in these cases, it is more evident. So, good job applying psychology to Survivor!
I went online searching for an answer to my question and I found it. According to CBS News, the production of the TV show does involve a psychologist. Dr. Gene Ondrusek, chief psychologist for the Center for Executive Health at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California. According to the article, the psychologist not only interacts with contestants, analyze the dynamics between them but also helped choose them in the first place! (Survivor Psychologist, 2002). Although this article is from the year 2002, I’m sure psychology is still involved in the production of the show. I also found a book that might be of your interest. It is called, The Psychology of Survivor: Leading Psychologists Take an Unauthorized Look at the Most Elaborate Psychological Experiment Ever Conducted… Survivor! By Richard J. Gerrig. Apparently, the author joins psychologists and fans to explain why the show is so famous and psychological issues in the show, among other things.
I really enjoyed your post, good job!
References:
Pennsylvania State University. (2017). Organizational Life AND Teams. [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from http://cms.psu.edu.
Staff, C. S. (2002, January 31). Survivor Psychologist. Retrieved October 07, 2017, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/survivor-psychologist/
https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Survivor-Psychologists-Unauthorized-Psychological/dp/1933771054