Option #1: Power in Organizations Paper Management Essay

Power in Organizations
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Power in Organizations
Organizations are characterized by individuals and senior leaders who exercise various degrees of power. While some may indulge lesser, others engage greater control. The impacted authority originates from a person's title in the organization or their specialized knowledge and expertise in their specific operation fields. In some cases, others exercise power through interpersonal relationships or their personality. Although the influences stem from different sources, the leaders must exercise them despite the source to keep their organizations in motion. While coercive power may work for senior leadership wishing to induce control, referent power would be sufficient for similar organizations considering the impacted collaboration between leaders and followers.
While there are various sources of power, different leaders opt for a specific source based on how they intend to run their organizations. For instance, I previously worked for the senior leadership of an organization for manages its followers through coercive power. This direction is defined by the leaders' ability to influence others, including their leading teams. It is derived from an individuals' ability to influence others through threats, punishments, and sanctions (de Andreis, & Carioni, 2019). The leaders perceive that the best way to manage the massive numbers of employees is by issues threats, punishing deviating persons, or even firing the employees that do not adhere to the outlined principles. This leadership source pushes individuals to extreme levels as they fear the outcome of any action taken against the leaders' wishes. For instance, a junior employee may work until late to meet an issued deadline by the boss. Although the deadline might be significant to the organization's work and success, working till late and for standard payment without overtime is not ethical. Besides, the employee has already worked for the organization's usual time, and the already completed work should be recognized.
The high levels of fear among the lead individuals reveal the person's ability to punish, reprimand, or even fire another employee. Thus, most workers do not work to fulfill either their passion for operation or organization goals but to ensure they adhere to every leadership rule. They do not work to benefit themselves or the organization but avoid disciplinary action by their bosses (Lunenburg, 2012). Most leaders use coercive leadership for various reasons. First, it maintains employees' discipline as they know that any mistake is punishable by the boss without tolerance (Lunenburg, 2012). Second, it enforces organization policies. According to Lunenburg (2012), the followers are aware that they must adhere to organizational guidelines to avoid any repercussions of deviation from the senior leadership. Lastly, it initiates and maintains a free harassment environment (Lunenburg, 2012). The punishments and threats for reprimand or firing in misbehaving workers establish a successful and free environment with minimized conflict incidents. The senior leadership opts for coercive power to help them control the organization in various issues such as the activities carried ou...