Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership
KnowledgeBank #1, p. 203
Bases of Power and Transformational and Transactional Leadership
One justification for studying bases of power is that they have direct application to
understanding and applying leadership. Leanne E. Atwater and Francis J. Yammarino
investigated how the bases of power, both personal and positional, relate to
transformational and transactional leadership. [1] Consistent with the definition provided
in Chapter 3, transformational leadership is depicted as the influence a leader acquires
through being respected and admired by group members. In contrast, transactional
leadership is largely based on exchanges between the leader and group members, such as
using rewards and punishments to control behavior. Two hundred and eighty employees
reporting to 118 supervisors in 45 organizations of many different types provided data for
the study. Questionnaires were used to measure bases of power as well as perceptions of
transformational and transactional leadership. (The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire
was used to measure the perceptions of leader behavior.)
Of particular interest here, analysis of the data revealed that personal power, both
referent and expert, was related to transformational leadership. Leaders who behave in a
transformational manner (being charismatic, inspirational, intellectually stimulating, and
considerate of individuals) are perceived to possess referent and expert power.
Transformational leadership also showed a positive correlation with reward and
legitimate power, yet was unrelated to coercive power. The message is that punitive
bosses are rarely perceived as transformational. A less strong finding was that perceptions
of power were not clearly linked to transactional leadership.
An important implication of the study derived from regression analysis is that
leaders who behave in a transformational manner are likely to be viewed as having a
variety of positive bases of power. The data also suggest that transformational leaders are
able to influence group members by virtue of the referent power attributed to them.
Another implication justifies studying power in relation to leadership: The researchers
conclude that power and leader behavior are interrelated.
[1] Leanne E. Atwater and Francis J. Yammarino, “Bases of Power in Relation to
Leader Behavior: A Field Investigation,” Journal of Business and Psychology, Fall 1996, pp. 3-22.
Chapter 7: Power, Politics, and Leadership
KnowledgeBank #2, p. 209
Guidelines for Effective Delegation
In effective delegation, the leader assigns duties to the right people. The chances
for successful delegation and empowerment improve when the tasks in question are
assigned to capable, responsible, and self-motivated group members. Vital tasks should
not be assigned to ineffective performers. Insight into the strengths and developmental
needs of group members therefore enhances effective delegation. Also, when feasible,
delegate the whole task. In the spirit of job enrichment, a manager should delegate an
entire task to one group member rather than dividing it among several. Doing so gives the
group member complete responsibility and enhances his or her motivation, and it also
gives the manager more control over results. The leader should give as much instruction
as needed, depending upon the characteristics of the group member. Some people will
require highly detailed instructions, whereas others can operate effectively with general
instructions. As explained in relation to empowerment, the most professionally rewarding
type of delegation allows the group member to choose the method for accomplishing the
assignment.
As a leader or manager, retain some important tasks for yourself. In general, the
manager should handle some high-output or sensitive tasks and any tasks that involve the
survival of the unit. However, which tasks the manager should retain always depends on
the circumstances. A basic management principle is to obtain feedback on the delegated
task. A responsible manager does not delegate a complex assignment to a group member,
then wait until the assignment is completed before discussing it again. Managers must
establish checkpoints and milestones to obtain feedback on progress. A morale-building
suggestion is to delegate both pleasant and unpleasant tasks to group members. When
group members are assigned a mixture of pleasant and unpleasant responsibilities, they
are more likely to believe they are being treated fairly. Few group members expect the
manager to handle all the undesirable jobs. A related approach is to rotate undesirable
tasks among group members. One or two group members should not be “empowered” to
handle all the nasty assignments.
A fundamental part of effective delegation is to step back from the details. Many
managers are poor delegators because they get too involved with technical details. If a
manager cannot let go of details, he or she will never be effective at delegation or
empowerment. Finally, as in virtually all leadership endeavors, it is important to evaluate
and reward performance. After the task is completed, the manager should evaluate the
outcome. Favorable outcomes should be rewarded, and unfavorable outcomes may either
be not rewarded or punished. It is important, however, not to discourage risk taking and
initiative by punishing for all mistakes. [1]
Delegation contributes to the practice of leadership because it is an excellent
opportunity to coach the person accepting the delegated tasks. The assignment should be
challenging enough to stretch the group member to acquire new skills. In the process of
skill development, the group member might also benefit from a few constructive
suggestions.
Keith McCluskey is the president of a Chevrolet and Auto Nation USA franchise in
Cincinnati, Ohio. His company won an award for being the number 1 seller in the world
of medium-duty trucks. He offers the following comments about delegation, which
support many of the points made here about empowerment and delegation:
I assign a task or mission to a manager, explain briefly its importance and
how it fits into a master plan at the dealership. We set a deadline for completion. It frees
my time up to do something more important. When you move the project along to
somebody else, his or her confidence grows, and there is a good chance that he or she
will do it at least as well and probably better than I would have completed the task. If you
move enough of the tasks on, you can think about the vision of the company and growing
the revenue. [2]
A rule of thumb for delegating effectively is the 80-20 rule, according Charles
Lobitz, an executive who works with executives. “If they can do the job at 80% of what
you can, you’ve freed up your time. The key is to stop believing it has to be done as well.
Being perfect isn’t being successful.”[3] The reader is cautioned that some tasks do have
to be performed perfectly such as calculating taxes owed, earnings per share, and
producing pacemakers.
[1]
Several of the ideas in this section are based on David A. Whetton and Kim S.
Cameron, Developing Management Skills, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002), pp. 431425; Odette Pollar, “Delegation of Duties is the Key to Growth in the Workplace,” The Pryor Report, July
1998, p. 10; “Tom Sawyer at Work: The Art of Delegation,” www.employer-employee.com; Sharon Gadza,
“The Art of Delegating,” HR Magazine, January 2002, pp. 75-77.
[2]
Quoted in John Eckberg, “Learning How to Delegate,” Gannett News Service,
January 11, 1999.
[3]
Kayleen Schaefer, “Helping Manager Delegate Tasks Starts with Becoming Generalist,” The Wall Street
Journal, June 26, 2006, B11.