Power and Politics
There are many different aspects which contribute to the success or failure of an organization. Power and politics are amongst the key prevalent organizational contributing factors that play significant roles in the success of an organization. With the proper delegation of duties and responsibilities, power and politics play significant roles in the organizational accomplishment of goals and objectives. Without the proper handling of power and politics, tasks could remain unaccomplished, causing ripple effects that could trigger massive organizational failures. (Photo: Nanette Thomas, APC Dallas Chapter President)
“Power is the ability to control the operant behavior of others through the manipulation of behavioral contingencies; thus, to be powerful, one must have access to effective behavioral consequences and the skills to use them in an appropriately contingent manner” (Malott, 2008). When speaking of power and politics in organizations, many people think of it in negative terms. People think of it as someone in a higher position abuses their right to delegate work to those working under their authority. Power and politics usually always exist in organizations all over the world. If used in the correct manner, power and politics can be very healthy and effective tools in successfully managing personnel.
Power can be abused in a negative way that could be very detrimental to an organization – hence the term abuse of power/authority. There are many individuals in positions who abuse their authority to their subordinates. Such abuse of authority could negatively affect the performance of employees and bring down the morale of everyone involved. The goal of a person in power should be to motivate and encourage team members to create an acceptable work environment while adding value to the success of an organization.
There are various conditions that contribute to whether an organization fails or succeeds. One main common thread for organizational leaders is possessing people-skills. No matter what the capacity of the job may be, leaders must possess the ability to communicate effectively with individuals’ team members they are leading. Possessing people skills communications is not a mere idea, it involves much more than what the surface presents. It involves not only leaders effective communication skills, but to be empathetic with their teams and objectively understand their points of view or to see things from their perspective. Family life, goals, aspirations, etc are all aspects that leaders should take into consideration when dealing with team members. “Leaders must work to create warm, supportive, and stable relationships. When relationships are strong, constructive criticism and accountability can be seen as a means to learn and grow rather than as critical and demeaning remarks” (Love, 2005).
To become successful, a leader must possess the ability to motivate individuals to achieve organizational goals. Team members who know that their leaders are supportive and understanding are more productive. They will more than likely complete all tasks assigned to them in efforts to accomplish organizational goals. With the ever-evolving world of business, gone are the traditional days of just ordering employees around to complete tasks. In today’s world, leaders must possess far greater skills and intelligence to not only to lead individuals into achieving goals; they must also have emotional intelligence to analyze team member’s demeanour and body language on an individual basis. They must be able to understand the organizational behavior of each member of their team. They must use such knowledge to show compassion, that they care about employee’s physical well-being or issues in their personal lives that could affect their productivity.
In my own personal experience, there have been a few team leaders I have come across who embody excellent leadership qualities. I have met effective team leaders in some of my various places of employment. I have also met some managers who were relieved of their duties because they failed to provide effective leadership. The effective leaders did not only delegate work to employees but they also take time out to get to know each employee on an individual or personal level. I vividly recall a time when I was overwhelmed with a lot of personal issues regarding my family. I had a difficult time trying to get my alternative between resolving my personal problems and also being at work to complete my tasks and responsibilities. I absented myself from work many times and stayed at home in attempts to fix my problems. One day my manager pulled me aside and asked me what was causing my unusual absence from work.
We had a conversation for about two hours where I informed her of some of my problems and she empathized with my situation. She subsequently gave me a week off from work to take care of my personal family issues.
Since then, I understood that I have come to appreciate compassionate leaders. All team leaders or managers should possess the same qualities as my former manager, who made the effort to get to know her employee on a personal level.
Another real world example of power and politics could be that of President Ernest Koroma. He has the ultimate power as commander in chief of Sierra Leone and the President of Sierra Leone. The president received that power through gaining the trust, admiration and votes of the Sierra Leone people in a democratic-political system. President Koroma did not only overcome challengers within his political party, his effective people-skills helped him gain admiration and respect from majority of Sierra Leoneans who voted to elect him as president of Sierra Leone. His Excellency is showing how effectively leadership plays a significant role in nation building. President Ernest Koroma is everything that power and politics is about, he has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he is a strong, effective, visionary and transformational leader who has given hope to the Sierra Leone people, after they had felt hopeless amidst abundant human and natural resources.
At the UN General Assembly Meeting and the Open Government Initiative (OGI) Town Hall Meeting recently held in New York, President Koroma displayed politics and power, that even members of the opposition agreed with and supported of his “Sierra Leone the Turnaround Report he recently presented. Fellow Sierra Leoneans let us go back to our history books. How many Sierra Leone Presidents have being given the opportunity to have airtime on CNN more than His Excellency President Ernest Bai Koroma. In one of my articles “A leader is made and not born” I added President Koroma’s name to the list of some people in history that could best described as persons of determination and I received lots of criticism. After the first CNN broadcast some of my critics understood what I was saying so they contacted me to apologize. Sierra Leone could not have had a better President than President Koroma. The President is a man of his words and he is much focused. Mr. President, thank you very much for putting Sierra Leone on the World map again. You have made all Sierra Leoneans proud irrespective of party affiliations.
With power and politics there are many things to consider. What matters most is that you positively use these tools to effectively lead individuals to a point to where they have trust and faith in the person that is leading them. These areas of creating a positive and productive work environment are vital keys to bringing long lasting success to any organization that is willing to such implementation.
“We must all be ready now to embrace change, change in our attitude towards one another, change in our attitude to our work and responsibilities. All of those changes should translate positively into progress and development for our country,” His Excellency, Dr. Ernest B. Koroma.
By Nanette Thomas, APC Dallas Chapter President
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