How does power and influence actually work together in the workplace? According to our lesson plan on the subject matter, power is known as the capacity to produce effects on others, or the potential to influence them (PSU W.C., Lesson 11, 2014). Essentially power is the actual actions that the leader portrays while the act of influencing comes from the change in behavior that the followers act out. So the question is what kind of person can have so much power and influence over their subordinates while they continue to respect and listen to them on a daily basis?

My husband is the perfect example of somebody whose power has influence over people’s reactions. For 7 years he has been employed with the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department. The uniform of the police officer conveys power and authority. When a police officer puts on his uniform, the public perceives them in a very different way. The minute my husband puts on his uniform he is automatically given power to tell the public when they are doing wrong and punish them if need be. Due to the power his uniform possesses, citizens behavior is influenced by forcing them to behave, respect and listen to everything that he says. Some say that the uniform he wears has a powerful impact on those who view it. So I guess the question is, do people respect him or the uniform?

French and Raven (1959) came up with five ways that individuals can influence others. These powers include: expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power (Northouse, 2013). Based on the example of my husband’s job, power is most definitely composed of these powers. Although there is not much reward power that police officers have, I feel it is a reward if I get pulled over and am let go with only a warning!

 

References:

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif. Sage.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). PSYCH 485 Lesson 7: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/07_lesson/01_page.html

 

As quoted by famous Chines philosopher Laozi, “A leader is best when people know he barely exists; when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves” (Schmitz, 2013). This quote fully exemplifies what the servant leadership approach is all about. Ultimately this type of leader will commit to serve the followers needed to get the job done. As the leader assists to mentor and serve the needs of others, it will push these individuals to become servants themselves and help others (PSU W.C., Lesson 11, 2014).

Those who are servant leaders possess seven different behavior traits. Each behavior offers a different contribution to the central focus of the servant leadership. First, a leader must learn to conceptualize the purposes and mission of their followers or employees. Second, they must be sensitive to others personal concerns and overall well-being. They must always put their follows before themselves, this is very important! By putting others before themselves they can help their followers to grow and succeed. Servant leaders should always behave ethically, allow their followers to be independent and make their own decisions and lastly they need to focus on creating value for the community. This can be done by encouraging followers to also become servant leaders and help others to accomplish their goals (Northouse, 2013).

Now what are a few examples of servant leaders? Abraham Lincoln is a great example of acting as a servant leader. Lincoln’s actions during the US Civil War are often cited as prime examples of servant leadership behavior (Hubbard, 2011). Still today, many scholars look to his preservation of the Union during his conflict and the freeing of the Southern slaves. While Abraham Lincoln did not take the easy road, he chose to fight for what others believed in and fought to abolish slavery knowing that it would be more beneficial to the people he was serving in the long run, even if they did not realize it at the time.

Another leader is the famous Martin Luther King. We know that Dr. King was the voice of the people as he is so fondly remembered as such. Dr. King certainly did not choose the easy road when he assumed a leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement and chose to champion the non-violent approach (Perry, 2010). Knowing that this would be the more difficult choice, he wanted to do what would be best for his followers. Even more servant-like was Dr. King’s desire to not be remembered for the tributes he won in life, but for his ability to care more about others while not being shown any recognition for his actions.

Servant leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King are still celebrated and remembered today because of their willingness to stand up for the people and fight for their causes without needing any kind acknowledgment. I think that it takes a very selfless and strong-minded individual like these two iconic models to carry out this leadership style. They are empathetic, ethical and lead in the way that will serve the greater good of the people (Northouse, 2013).

References:

Hubbard, C.M. (May 31, 2011). Lincoln as a servant leader http://lincolninstitute.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/lincoln-as-a-servant-leader/

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). PSYCH 485 Lesson 11: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from             https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/11_lesson/03_page.html

Perry, J. (January 18, 2010). Martin Luther King, Jr: A true servant leader. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-perry/martin-luther-king-jr-a-t_b_427417.html

Schmitz, P. (April 10, 2013). A Powerful Example of Servant Leadership. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-schmitz/true-servant-leadership-f_b_3016044.html

 

In today’s workplace many of us are familiar with working in groups in order to accomplish every day tasks. Groups are considered to be members of two or more people who have a single mission to achieve but can work independently from one another (PSU W.C., Lesson 9, 2014). We are even used to working with other members while getting our degrees through Penn State. While I have worked in groups for certain classes, mo

st professors require we work as a team in order to accomplish the assignment. Teams are different from groups in that the assignment cannot be completed unless each team member works directly with one another. Basically teams are much more dependent on each other than groups are.

In the workplace we find that team leadership is must more common. The performance functions for team leadership include getting the job done, making decisions, solving problems, adapting to changes, making plans, and achieving goals (PSU W.C., Lesson 9, 2014). Leaders of teams need to not only focus on motivating their employees to perform to the best of their ability, but to also ensure that the organization is successful.

Recently we had a monthly team meeting in my office. These meetings bring all members of the branch together to discuss each departments success or short comings in the previous month and discuss how we plan to make improvements if need be going forward. Our manager is the leader of these meetings and was appointed by our Vice President to influence the behavior of all other members through reward or punishment. I personally believe that my manager was born to be a great leader. He contains all the traits needed to motivate us to do better while making us think how we could better our departments. He is just one of those individuals that can draw your attention no matter what he is talking about. He effectively motivates us does through positive criticism and giving us constant recognition of our accomplishments.

Since we have started these monthly meetings, my department has continued to increase our sells while billing out a higher percentage on our cost to sell ratio. While we all work very hard individually to make our organization successful, we must work dependently to one another in order to make sure the goals of the company are met. Positive team leadership skills foster task work while reinforcing excellence. These are the main reasons why our organization continues to be successful month after month.

Leaders today need to invest in their employees to make them successful. Through motivation, recognition, playing into others strengths, maintaining a systematic process and gaining the trust of your teammates team leaders can be the most effective for their organization (John Hall, 2013). With strong leaders such as my manager, companies will run more harmoniously and continue to gain multiple successes in a falling economy.

References:

J. Hall (2013). 12 Simple Things A Leader Can Do To Build A Phenomenal Team. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2013/01/29/team-building-leader/

Penn State World Campus (2014). PSYCH 485: Lesson 9, Team Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/09_lesson/08_page.html

 

 

 

Most employees today are looking to be heard and know that all of their contributions are appreciated by their organization. They want to know that their skill sets are applicable and that their career goals can still be met even with recent and future budget cuts. Management is finding it difficult to motivate their employees while reassuring them they are an asset to the team. The Path-Goal Theory can fulfill this leadership need. This theory states that directive leadership is best used in situations in which task demands are ambiguous and organizational rules are unclear (Pennsylvania State University World Campus). In other words, management starts by defining the goals of the individual, clarifying the path to take to reach these objectives and remove any potential obstacles all while offering support to the individual.

My experience with this type of leadership style started when my manager gave me my most recent performance review. In the meeting my manager gave me positive feedback and commented on my recent contributions to my department and how they did not go unnoticed. At the end of the review we went over my concerns and what I personally wanted to improve on for the following year. I stated that I would like to work on being more motivated and push myself to being promoted to management. For the first time my manager actually seemed interested in what my concerns and goals were and asked me how he could help to get me the success I was seeking.

Once my goals had been presented and defined, my manager and I sat down for a few hours planning out the best path for me to be able to reach these aspirations. After a lot of discussion we came up with the following criteria that would need to be met in order for me to be considered for upper management level. I would need to ensure that all my policy paperwork was turned in on time and written to the best of my ability, work on helping others in my department get any work done that they need assistance with and possibly think about taking a management course on my own time to prove that I was serious about being promoted. Although these were going to be tough points to hit, my manager assured me that he was behind me 100% and would do anything to help me out.

I was in fact surprised as to how helpful my manager was in not only motivating me to complete these tasks, but to clear any potential obstacles I may have faced along the way. For example, the only management class I could find was at 4:00 pm at the local college. Since my schedule kept me at work till 5:00 pm, he allowed me to change my schedule so I would be able to leave work early enough to make my class. He also on multiple occasions gave me pep talks on how I could do it and was so close to proving what an asset I was to the company. He really was a big driving force for me wanting to prove myself to the company.

In the end, I was able to meet all the criteria that we had established at my review. I had no issues with any of my policy write ups, was given high remarks by multiple coworkers in my department stating that I was able to help them when they were in need and lastly I was able to complete my Introduction to Management Course. After reading our lesson on Path-Goal Theory, I now know that this is the application that my manager was using when he was working with me on my annual review. He did this by utilizing the four different leadership behaviors to maximize the outcome of my work. Through achievement–oriented behavior, directive path-goal clarifying behavior, supportive leader behavior and participative leader behavior he was able to properly motivate me and push me to reach my goals (Vanessa Cross, 2014). More managers should take this approach when reviewing their employees, as it would help them to find the ones that are goal oriented and find the others that may only be there to collect a paycheck.

References:

• Pennsylvania State University World Campus. Lesson 6 Part 2: Path-Goal Theory. Retrieved from Psychology 485: Leadership in Work Settings https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/06_lesson/04_topic/01_page.html
• Cross, Vanessa (2014). The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership in Companies. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pathgoal-theory-leadership-companies-20568.html

 

 

Leaders of many successful organizations today are required to have a wide variety of skill sets including communication, confidence, personal characteristics and the ability to inspire. However, a leader’s reaction to emotional responses outside of the office is said to reflect what type of a leader they will be in the workplace. Is this true? The psychodynamic approach suggests that certain personality types would be better suited to particular leadership positions based off of the personality traits of the people with whom they work with (Northouse, 2013). This approach is said to give a deeper insight into not only their own psychological makeup, but also that of their subordinates (PSU WC, 2014, L. 03. P.2). I have a situation where one of our project manger’s lead a group of human resource administrators in a benefits project for the company. Do you think that the psychodynamic approach applies here?

A few months back one of the top managers of the company was chosen to run a management group that was responsible in creating new company policies as well as making changes to existing policies to ensure that the organization was within state and federal regulations. He was asked to work with a handful of human resource employees in order to get the job done. We would meet every day at noon for an entire month to thoroughly go through every company policy; it was a lot of detailed work.

One day we came across the vacation and time off policy for the organization. This currently stated that if you wanted to take a day off of work and you had vacation time available, you were required to use a paid vacation day to cover the costs. Essentially you could not take the day unpaid if you had paid time available no matter what. This proved to be an issue for many employees who did not want to use their paid time off, but rather wanted to be paid out for it at the end of the year. The reason for this was that employees wanted that extra paycheck at the end of the year to assist with Christmas gifts for their family. I completely agreed with the employees on this policy being changed. If an employee wants to take an unpaid day off they should be able to. Every employee works hard for their time off and should be able to use it as they see fit. Unfortunately the project manager did not agree with us on this issue.

Let me give you a little background on the project manager assigned to this project. This individual came from a very wealthy background where money was never an issue. He was a younger individual in his thirties, was not married, had no children and the majority of his family lived in a different state. When it came to this policy, he did not understand why employees should be paid out for their vacation time at the end of the year. If anything he believed if you did not use your paid time off by the end of the year, you should loose it and not be compensated. He showcased the thinking personality type where he used logic, striving for objectivity and always being analytical in his work ethics (Northouse, 2013). Due to the fact that he was not emotionally tied to having a family or having money issues, he was not able to understand where the rest of the team was coming from.

Ultimately we could not come to an agreement on the matter and this manager kept the existing policy in place. I would say this his viewpoints on how he saw the outside world most definitely worked against him in this project. Had upper management used the psychodynamic approach in choosing a leader for this project, they would have seen that this manager’s personal traits and thoughts were not a good fit for this group project. In the end unconscious material of past experience, emotional responses, defensive reactions and dysfunctional patterns of thinking and behaving can contribute to poor leadership and consequently to decreased organizational effectiveness (Kilburg, 2004).

 

References:

• Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice Sixth Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

• Kilburg, R. (2004). When Shadows Fall: Using Psychodynamic Approaches in Executive. Educational Publishing Foundation and the Society of Consulting Psychology, 246.

• Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). PSYCH 485 Lesson 03: Introduction to Leadership. Retrieved from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/03_lesson/03_page.html