Colquitt, Lepine & Wesson, Essay Example

The authors (Colquitt, LePine & Wesson, 2010, p. 225) define leadership as “use of power and influence to direct the activities of followers toward goal achievement”. Power, in their term, however, does not stand for force, but more importantly influence. Power, therefore, is an ability to influence others. There are three different types of power: legitimate, reward, and coercive. On an organizational level, all of these can be observed. In a school setting, for example, student administrators have a legitimate power. They have the authority to manage students, courses, and enrollment. The management of the college would have reward power, as they have power over resources. They hand out scholarships for well performing students. Coercive power, however, is – in a college setting – assigned to the disciplinary committee, who can punish students for cheating on exams or plagiarism. On a personal level, however, it is evident that lecturers can have an expert power; they have specific knowledge of the area of study. Classmates can also have referent personal power, if they stand out by their performance, grades, or attitude.

The next important area that the authors talk about is how a leader can use their power to influence people. Chapter 10 describes the use of pressure and coalitions as the least effective methods, while finds that rational persuasion, consultation, inspirational appeals, and collaboration are the most effective. Employees can display five different responses to influence tactics: engagement, compliance, resistance, competing, and avoiding. The best outcomes on the organizational level are created when employees engage with the leader and share the vision, mission, and goals.

The level of engagement greatly depends on how a leader makes decisions. It is important that leaders effectively communicate their goals and visions, and collaborate with their employees. Transformational leaders are able to gain commitment from followers to share their vision and understand the importance of the actions. This way, they create a greater level of employee engagement and commitment. It also improves job performance and organizational commitment.

The main takeaway from this chapter is that without employee commitment and engagement, it is almost impossible to improve performance and organizational outcomes long term.