Informal Leadership and the Power Base Implied

Informal Leadership and the Power Base Implied

Questions:

Q: According to Kreitner et. al (1985), if colleagues recognize someone as their potential leader- it leads to their compliance with the informal authority figure? Do you agree with this statement.

Q: Acoording to Bandura (1986), forethought is a prime regulatory mechanism that leads to desired future outcomes? Do you think an ill-perceived informal leader can gain acceptance from his colleagues.

Q: According to a study conducted by Fitness in 2000, “feelings of being treated unfairly” is believed to be the most annoying for employees. Do you think a leader can still manage to influence employees while being biased? If so, how.

Q: Leventhal (1980), pointed out six rules for fair procedures i.e. Accuracy, Correctibility, Consistency, Bias Suppression, ethicality and representativeness. Which one do you think is the most important? Why?

Discussion

Introduction

Informal leadership plays a vital role in strengthening the commitment and direction of the group. It further enhances group cohesion and tends to make the determination stronger (Bass, 1985, pp. 36). Often in organizations, a need arises for potential leaders to step up and take charge. However, such an occurrence usually takes place in treacherous times and crises. An Informal Leader is the person who does not hold a formal leadership position or status, but is perceived by the colleagues/group members as worth paying attention to (Covey, 1989, pp. 75). Hence, informal leaders could be found anywhere and at any tier of the organizational hierarchy.

Personal Experience

Once I had to take responsibility as an informal leader at my job. I was working at a software company as a designer for the graphics team. I was a designer in a team of 36 members. Unfortunately, our manager had a death in the family and had to travel out of the country. Being one of the experienced designers, I took up the challenge to manage the team and to ensure a smooth flow of operations from the team members. Our manager had left without prior notice due to the severity of situation in his family. Hence, I had to make sure that everything went fine and we were able to meet our targets on time.

I had to keep the different aspects of the situation in mind. I decided to use a power base in which I would exercise the least amount of authoritative power. Hence, I made sure that I use ...