Question

Drawing on two of the leadership models (skills, styles, leader-member-exchange, team leadership) discussed in class critically evaluate how an individual may make use of French and Raven’s social bases of power when undertaking leadership. Within your answer consider how an individual’s choice to adopt bases of power should be determined by the following contextual factors:

– The power of the influencer (agent)
– The characteristics/propensities of the person influenced (target)
– Length (or desired length) of the leader-follower relationship
– Perceptions of other people who may observe the leader-follower relationship (third parties)
– The kind of organisation that is being considered (organisational context)
– How might the person being influenced think and feel about the person who is attempting to influence them (targets future perceptions of the agent)
– Targets/agents position within a given organisational hierarchy

Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss, compare and contrast different conceptions of leadership and leadership approaches in different organisational and operational contexts. This is to include an appreciation of followership as a role.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of leadership approaches for leading organisations, motivating people and enabling change.
3. Understand the role of power and influence in the leader-follower relationship
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of leaders and followers.
5. To understand the importance of self-awareness in the development of leadership
6. To analyse the ways in which leadership may be developed at any level of an organisation.
7. To describe and evaluate the structure of leadership relationships within organisations

Proposed Assignment Structure

It is recommended that the assignment is approached as a number of distinct parts. It is useful to conceptualise the piece as multiple short essays that complement each other arriving at an overall conclusion. With this in mind, we strongly suggest that the following outline is adopted.

Structure

1. Introduction (250)
Define leadership Define followership Outline the scope of the essay Include a line or two about the key conclusions
2. Power and Influence (600)
Define & discuss Power & Influence Outline French and Raven’s model of the bases of power Provide examples
3. Models (600)
Outline two of the leadership models discussed in class For each:

• Define the model
• Explain how it works
• Provide examples to demonstrate understanding

4. Critical evaluation of use of power and influence when using chosen models (1400)
Critically evaluate how an individual may make use of power and influence when using each of the models. In doing so, consider the following points:
– The power of the influencer (agent)
– The characteristics/propensities of the person influenced (target)
– Length (or desired length) of the leader-follower relationship
– Perceptions of other people who may observe the leader-follower relationship (third parties)
– The kind of organisation that is being considered (organisational context)
– How might the person being influenced think and feel about the person who is attempting to influence them (targets future perceptions of the agent)
– Targets/agents position within a given organisational hierarchy