The Influence of Power and Politics in Organization
Good leader must understand what, when, and how to use his power. When he or she uses the power, he or she has to apply it wisely. You have power over another person if that person has some interests or desires that only can be fulfilled by you. These interests or desires are the resources that only you can provide. In other words, the higher the dependency level, the greater the power you possess. Your power diminishes if other person dependency reduced. The level of dependency increases when the resources are important, scarce and nonsubstitutable. Hence, for a leader to become a good leader, he or she must know his or her followers’ dependency. He or she has to secure the resources that his or her followers are believing to be under his or her control. There are two types of power; formal and personal. Bases for formal power are coercive, reward and legitimate. In order to understand the difference between these three bases of power, let us refer to some of the important characte...