Types and uses of Leadership Power
There are various types of leadership power to influence other people in a workplace. A leader’s personal leadership style is the specific way in which a manager chooses to influence other people in the workplace. According to Hellriegel et al (2008:374) “Leadership involves influencing others to act towards the attainment of a goal.”
The different types of power used by a leader are the legitimate power where the leader monitors work but does not engage in close supervision, reward power which is the ability of a manager to give or withhold rewards such as pay raises and verbal praise, coercive power which is the ability of a leader to obtain agreement through fear of punishment, referent power which is the influence that is based on a followers personal identification with the leader and expert power which is based on the knowledge skills and the capability that the leader shows.
The leader’s use of different types of knowledge can lead to three different types of behaviour which are commitment, compliance and resistance. According to Hellriegel et al (2008:375) “committed subordinates are enthusiastic about meeting their leader’s expectations and strive to do so. Subordinates who comply with their leader’s requests will do only what has to be done, without much enthusiasm. Resistance by subordinates will be expressed by subordinates to respond to their leader’s requests while not actually doing so or by sabotaging plans.”
Therefore expert and referent power result in subordinate commitment, legitimate and reward power result in compliance and coercive power results in resistance. Thus these three behaviours are the consequences of using the five types of power.