This document discusses various topics related to organizational leadership and power, including: - Defining power and identifying its sources, such as reward, coercion, charisma, legitimacy, and expertise. - Exploring concepts of destructive versus constructive power and the relationship between power and charisma. - Examining different types of leadership behavior, including tyrannical, derailed, supportive-disloyal, and constructive leadership. - Analyzing contexts and case studies involving leadership and power, such as responses to 9/11 and controversies surrounding Rudy Giuliani.

1. Organisational Leadership
Dr. Hilary Duckett

2. White House, Copyright waived by US
Government

3. 
To define power

To identify sources of power

To explore destructive power

To explore power and charisma

To draw conclusions

4. ‘To manage with power means recognizing that in almost
every organisation there are varying interests. It means
figuring out what point of view those various individuals
and subunits have on issues of concern to you .. And thus
it is imperative to understand where power comes from
and how sources of power can be developed.’
Jeffrey Pfeffer interviewed in Business Magazine, November 1993 in
Thompson et al 2009

5. 




Reward – use of resources as rewards e.g. promotion,
bonuses etc
Coercive – the ability to punish and discipline based on a
fear of loss (of money, bonuses, status, reputation etc)
Referent – when the personal characteristics or
attributes of a leader are attractive to subordinates e.g.
charisma
Legitimate - power is accepted because subordinates
accept positional or hierarchical structures
Expert – expertise, knowledge or specialist skills are
held by the leader which others accept
French, J.R.P and Raven B.H., (1959)

6. 





Emphasises individualism - the exercise of power by individuals
Oversimplifies the complex relationship between realised and
symbolic power
Organisational reality is pluralistic and relational. They involve
networks and coalitions and form a competitive arena for
resources. Leaders need to work within and through coalitions
Presents traditional hierarchical model of organizations –
increasing flatter looser forms of structure and therefore power.
Organisations are seen as political systems
See Foucault’s work on panopticon power – organisations
seeking to control and acquire conformity to organisational
values and systems
Adapted from Thompson and McHugh (2009); Watson (1994) ; Foucault
(1977) ; and Western, (2008)

8. “Barack Obama admits he needs 'to do a
better job' after midterms defeat”
“President Barack Obama admitted he had been
"humbled" today by the worst Democratic
midterm election defeat in 70 years, and
promised to work alongside the revitalised
Republican party in Congress.
Obama admitted that the Republicans had given his party a severe beating
– or as he termed it, a "shellacking" – and said it had given him a late and
uncomfortable night. "Some election nights are more fun than others," he
said. "Some are exhilarating. Some are humbling."
Ewen MacAskill, Guardian 4th November 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/03/barack-obama-midterms-better-job
Accessed 26th July 2011

9. ‘A useful way to consider the all too easily overlooked role
of followers in the construction of a leader’s power is to
envisage the difference between a domino-run and a
Mexican wave. In the former all the power resides with
the first movement that stimulates the dominoes to fall in
sequence … Thus power resides with the pusher, the
leader. But a Mexican wave that runs around a sports
stadium does not depend on an individual leader to make
it work; it works without apparent leadership and it ‘dies’
when the collective decide not to engage in further
‘waves’.
Grint, 2005:p46

10. ‘At the moment of action, in the midst of the struggle, there is
a natural division of roles according to the aptitude of each,
assessed and judged by the collective whole: some direct and
command, others execute orders. But no function must be
allowed to petrify or become fixed and it will not remain
irrevocably attached to any one person. Hierarchical order and
promotion do not exist, so the commander of yesterday can
become a subordinate tomorrow. No one rises above others, or
if he does rise it is only to fall back a moment later, like the
waves of the sea forever returning to the salutary level of
equality’.
Joll, 1979:92

11. 
Leaderless groups mask leadership structures

Leaderless groups perpetuate ‘in-groups’ and ‘outgroups’

Real question is ‘what kind of leadership exists?’

Useful aspect of anarchist critique is the search for
leadership without oppression

12. 
Writers in Human Relations school emphasise that a
democratic leader should seek to empower
employees

Assuming authority different to authoritarianism

13. “Destructive leadership behaviour is defined as the
systematic and repeated behaviour by a leader,
supervisor or manager that violates the legitimate interest
of the organisation by undermining and/or sabotaging the
organisation’s goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness
and/or the motivation, well-being or job satisfaction of
his/her subordinates.”
Einarsen, S., Aasland, M.S., and Skogstad, A. (2007)

14. Need to account for historical and social context of behaviour
in analysing legitimacy.
For example - Ironside and Seifert (2003) describe leadership
at the beginning of the industrial revolution as follows: ‘Their
need to secure the adaptation of workers from the rhythms
of agricultural and domestic work to the discipline of factory
production resulted in management regimes in which fines,
beatings, sackings and all forms of harassment and abuse
were a daily experience of the majority’ (p383)
Is this justifiable ?

15. Pro-subordinate
behaviour
Antiorganisation
behaviour
SupportiveDisloyal
leadership
Derailed
Leadership
Constructive
Leadership
Proorganisation
behaviour
Tyrannical
Leadership
Antisubordinate
behaviour

16. Tyrannical – ‘behaviours undermine the motivation,
well being or job satisfaction of subordinates, without
necessarily being clearly destructive to the
organisation’s goals’ – p212 (Einarsen et al, 2007).
 Behaviours – humiliating, manipulating, belittling,
shouting. Example – Sir Simon Marks
 Derailed
 Supportive-disloyal??


17. 
Derailed – neither subordinate nor employee
behaviours. Engage in anti-subordinate behaviour
such as harassment, bullying while simultaneously
exhibiting anti-organisational behaviour such as fraud,
absenteeism or theft. Examples: Sir Robert Maxwell
(Mirror Group), Lay and Skilling (Enron)

18. 
Supportive-Disloyal – show consideration for welfare
of subordinates but to the disadvantage of the
organisation. For example enabling employees to
‘loaf’, steal, gain more benefits than their entitlement.

19. 
Constructive Leadership – act in the legitimate
interests of the organisation in the allocation of
resources and effort whilst simultaneously ensuring
the well-being of employees.

20. Kakabadse et al (2007) define temptation as:
1) Being tempted – a state of awareness of one’s
desires
2) Entering into Temptation - contemplation of
fulfilling desires
3) Falling into temptation – fulfilling desires
Paper also discusses concept of free will (Aristotle, Kant
and Bentham) and nature vs nurture (actions result from
genetics and social stimuli)

21. Hedonism (pleasure) – seeking personal gratification
the absolute pursuit of wealth and other vices (Bill
Clinton, Kennedy ?) See Case??
 Power – single minded pursuit of power and influence
– often such leaders possess charisma and large
personal wealth that attracts devotion (Robert
Maxwell, Hitler, Bush Junior, Lay and Skilling ?)
 Posterity and Narcissism – focus on empire building
and legacy often highly dependent personalities
(Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Anita Roddick ?)


22. “City boss Jerry Lees accused over
affairs and bonuses”

23. Cognitive/Perceptual style – nature of thinking and
personality type
 Sensations – seeing, hearing, touching
 Deep-seated feelings – e.g. confidence, lust, respect,
affection, compassion etc
 Interpersonal state – energy level, health which
affect decision process
 Group relations – sense of belonging, participation
patterns
 Social context – societal structure and norms


24. Charisma -/krizm/
noun 1 compelling attractiveness or charm. 2 (pl.
charismata /krizmt/) Christian Theology a divinely
conferred talent.
Oxford English Dictionary (2009)
How is this talent applied?

25. 
A unitary perspective that centres leadership on an
individuals rather than a collective – e.g Mayor
Guliani

Danger of instilling sense of infallibility in the leader

Ultimate position is totalitarianism

Simplistic framing of complex decisions, behaviours
and actions e.g. contrasting images of Rudy Guliani

26. Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and
Hit Pentagon
“Hijackers rammed jetliners into each of
New York's World Trade Center towers
yesterday, toppling both in a hellish storm
of ash, glass, smoke and leaping victims,
while a third jetliner crashed into the
Pentagon in Virginia. There was no official
count, but President Bush said thousands
had perished …”
New York Times, September 12th 2001
(
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/national/12PLAN.html
Accessed 26/7/11)

27. Thank You, Mr. Mayor
“We desperately needed a leader -and Rudy was there. Brave, focused,
never far from the front lines, and
clearly suffering with us, Rudy was
one of the many reasons we were
proud to be New Yorkers that week”.
Pilgrims Corner
http://pilgrimsreview.blogspot.com/
2009/09/our-911-tribute-picturesand-articles.html Accessed 27/7/11
Photo: Robert D. Ward, US Office of the
Secretary of Defence

28. 9/11 workers outraged by new Rudy claim
“Rudy Giuliani drew outrage and indignation from Sept. 11
first-responders yesterday by saying he spent as much time –
or more - exposed to the site's dangers as workers who dug through the debris
for the missing and the dead. Speaking to reporters at a Cincinnati Reds
ballgame he caught between fund-raisers, the GOP front-runner said he helped
9/11 families and defended himself against critics of how he managed the
attack's aftermath. "This is not a mayor or a governor or a
President who's sitting in an ivory tower," Giuliani said.
"I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the
workers. I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly
the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them. “His
statement rang false to Queens paramedic Marvin Bethea, who said he suffered a
stroke, posttraumatic stress disorder and breathing problems after responding to
the attacks."I personally find that very, very insulting," he said. "Standing there
doing a photo-op and telling the men, 'You're doing a good job,' I don't consider
that to be working," said Bethea, 47”.
Celeste Katz, New York Daily News.com, 10th August 2007
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/10/2007-0810_911_workers_outraged_by_new_rudy_claim.html
Accessed 27th July 2011

29. Giuliani’s Office Shifted Money Around?
Yes. To Hide Hamptons Trips? Unlikely.
“The headlines have dogged Rudolph Giuiiani’s presidential
campaign for weeks. “Security costs for trysts draw
attention,” said one. The articles questioned whether, as
mayor, Mr Giuliani tried to hide his visits to Judith Nathan in
the Hamptons by burying the associated security costs in
the budget of obscure mayoral agencies like the Loft
Board”.
Russ Buettner, New York Times December 20 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/12/20/us/politics/20071221_GIULI
ANI_GRAPHIC.html?bl&ex=1198558800&en=f6a6bab7b149f46a&ei=5087%0A
Accessed 27/7/11

30. Leadership and power are inseparable
 Power is a problematic construction at an extreme
evoking totalitarian oppression
 Power can be explored across a number of dimensions
across a spectrum of constructive to destructive
 Power is interlinked with the construct of charisma
which again can engender a simplistic level of analysis
 An analysis of power should be contextualised (e.g.
economic, social, political)


31. References
Einarsen, S., Aasland, M.S., and Skogstad, A. (2007) Destructive Leadership
Behavior: A Definition and Conceptual Model, The Leadership Quarterly, 18,
p207-216
Foucault, M(1977) Discipline and Punish, The Birth of the Prison, Harmondsworth:Penguin;
French, J.R.P and Raven B.H., (1959) The Social Bases of Power in D. Cartwright (ed.), Studies in Social Power,
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Grint, K. (2005) Leadership Limits and Possibilities, Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke
Ironside, M. and Seifert, R. (2003) Tackling bullying in the workplace; The collective dimension. In S.Einarsen, H.
Hoel, D. Zapf and C.L. Cooper (eds) Bullying and emotional abuse in the workplace. International perspectives in
research and practice (pp 383-398) London:Taylor and Francis
Joll, J. (1979) The Anarchists. London:Methuen in Western, S., (2008) Leadership a Critical Text, London:Sage
Kakabadse, A.P. Kakabadse, N.K., and Lee-Davies, L. (2007) Leadership and Organizationa Development Journal,
Vol 28, No 3, pp196-208
Oxford English Dictionary (2009)
Thompson, P and McHugh, D 2009 Organisations A critical Approach , Palgrave MacMillan:Basingstoke
Thompson and McHugh (2009)???
Watson, T (1994) In Search of Management: Culture, Chaos and Control in Managerial Work, London:
Routledge;
Western, S., (2008) Leadership a Critical Text, London: Sage

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Author
Dr. Hilary Duckett
Institute
University of Plymouth
Title
Leadership and Power
Description
Presentation
Date Created
18th November 2010
Educational Level
6
Keywords
UKOER, LFWOER, UOPCPDLM, Continuous Professional Development,
CPD, Work-based Learning, WBL, Leadership, Power
©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved
Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project