Ethics

There exist myriads of leadership models. These models explain sources of power that make leaders to have influence on their subjects. This paper shall describe these sources of power and explain how they can be used to avoid the various operational, administrative and other business problems. Influence tactics that should be used to deal with these problems will be identified and the rationale for the use of the tactics. The paper is written in reference to problems that have faced various companies that have gone under or experienced immense challenges such as Tyco.

Bass (1989) describes leadership as a process by which a person influences others in order to accomplish a common objective. A leader directs an organization in a way that is going to make the organization more cohesive and coherent. A good leader is made and not born through a life long process of self-study, education, training and experience. There are many models that have been developed which talk about leadership. Leaders derive their power from various sources which helps them to have influence over their subjects. It is essential for leaders to identify the type of power they have over their subjects which will help them in dealing with operational, administrative, and other specific business problems.

We shall critically examine the various sources of leadership power and analyze how it can be used to deal with particular problems that face organizations. We shall refer to some organizations that have not faired well such as Tyco and Enron. According to Businessballs.com (2010), there are three core leadership responsibilities which are based on John Adairs action centered leadership model. These responsibilities include achieving the task, managing the team and managing individuals. Leaders have to ensure that these responsibilities have been undertaken carefully so as to achieve organizational goals.

Sources of power
Power is the engine that drives the ability to influence. In order to understand leadership effectiveness, it is vital to analyze power relationships and influence processes in organizations. There is also essence in examination of sources of power and the relationship of different power sources to leadership effectiveness. According to Alexandrou (2010), researchers French and Raven listed five sources of power within organizations. These sources are legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent power. They are either derived from the power holders position in the organization or originate from the power holders own characteristics.

Legitimate Power
This is one of the options which can be use by the CEO of a large company. It is normally an agreement among organizational members that people in certain positions can request certain behaviors from others in other positions. This right can originate from formal job descriptions or from informal rules of conduct. Organization executives have considerable legitimate power, which they can use to exercise influence over employees of the organization (Alexandrou, 2010).

According to (Lavelle, 2002) three directors of Tyco Ltd used inside information to reap the company over 500 million. Useem was later hired to participate in a governance overhaul. In this position Useem can use his legitimate power to transform the company from the worst to the first. In his position he would have influence on other administrative personnel in the company. Tactics that would work for Useem is ability to carry out investigation on the administrative personnel. His position grants him the power to access details of these personnel, which would help him identify the right kind of personnel to work with and who not to trust.

The CEO of a company can thus use this power in operational and administrative problems of the company. The employees are aware that it is the core responsibility of the CEO to ensure that the organization is functioning properly and it is maintaining its direction in the achievement of goals and objectives. The CEO would thus have influence on the employees towards this end. She would be effective in assigning duties to various personnel according to their competence and experience.

Reward Power
This is power that is derived from the ability of a person to control allocation of rewards and ability to remove or reduce sanctions to others in the organization. Managers in organizations have formal authority on distribution of organizational rewards such as pay, promotions time off, vacation schedules, and work assignments. Employees can also have reward power over their supervisors since their feedback affects the supervisors promotions and other rewards (Alexandrou, 2010).

The CEO in this case can offer rewards as a strategy to improve performance. Excellent performance can be rewarded with a promotion or an excursion. Managers have also offered incentives such as a one-hour breakfast with the manager, where one is allowed to ask the manager all kinds of questions in all kinds of disciplines. This would influence employees to work hard and therefore enable the organization to achieve its goals and objectives.

Coercive power
Alexandrou (2010) describes it as the ability to apply punishment or administer sanctions. Managers have authority to reprimand, demote, and fire employees. These are tactics that can be used by managers to exert influence on the employees. Employees through the labor unions have coercive power since they can use tactics such as withholding services, in order to influence the management in collective agreement negotiations. The CEO should also be aware of the coercive power in informal groups over their members in form of sarcasm, criticism, or worse still ostracism, which makes sure that the member, conforms to group norms.

Coercive power is also effective in gaining influence. Administrative problems can be dealt with using sacking threats, or demotions. The CEO would be in a good position to use demotion tactics to administrative staff that do not exercise integrity in carrying out tasks and protection of the image of the company. People who are not faithful to the company, and are guilty of selling the secrets of the company to competitors, should not be kept by the company.

Expert Power
This is the power that originates from within a person. It is the capacity to influence others by possessing knowledge or skills that they want. Employees can also gain expert power when they access and gain knowledge. As the society changes from an industrial based society to knowledge based society, more and more employees are gaining this power (Businessballs.com, 2010).

It is paramount for a CEO to possess this power. It helps in operational problems since the CEO can demonstrate with confidence. The employees will feel motivated to attain the level of expertise of their managers and as such it is a desired source of power. Managers without this power, face challenges in dealing with employees who have this power. It may also act as a source of conflict and therefore leaders should work extra hard so as to ensure that they possess this power.

Referent Power
According to Bass (1989), referent power is obtained when other people want to identify with you, like you or else respect you. It also comes from within the person and it is mostly associated with charismatic leadership. Leaders with this power have personal and inspirational appeals. It is thus possible for a CEO to inspire workers to performance by use of this power. Employees also respect the leader and would thus comply with organization rules, ethics and norms, so as to avoid being on the receiving end of the CEO. It is a strategy that can work to bring transformational changes in organizations that do not fair well and as Lavelle (2002) puts it, they will rebuild confidence and trust in their customers.

Conclusion
Managers and supervisors should do all it takes to transform themselves to great leaders with proper influence on their subjects. It is now clear that leaders are created but not born. It is thus imperative for leaders to use different sources of power to obtain influence over the people they lead.