Legitiment_Power

Legitimate power is the power that comes with a formal position of leadership. Your professor, for instance, has the legitimate power associated with being a professor. Related to legitimate power is coercive power—the ability to mete out punishment for bad behavior—and reward power—the ability to reward good behavior. For instance, your professor has the ability to give good grades (reward power) as well as bad grades (coercive power) depending upon the quality of your work (work hard! ).  Expert power is the power one wields because of expertise and knowledge in a particular area. This can either undermine or strengthen legitimate power. For instance, if a professor is teaching a biology class but has a PhD in business, her expert power will be minimized! Likewise, one can accrue expert power even if one doesn’t have legitimate power. By working hard and making sure you know the ins and outs of your job, you can be a blessing to your superiors and co-workers, thereby gaining expert power and influence.  Referent power is the power gained by being able to work well with people and relate to them in meaningful and authentic ways. It is closely related to “emotional intelligence”. Ultimately, referent power is the most important power to possess because it can either affirm or undermine the other types of power. If a leader is an arrogant jerk, people will not want to work with him. The leader can punish and punish (i.e. “The beatings will continue until morale improves”), but in the end, productivity will decrease because of lowered morale, no matter how smart the leader is or the position the leader holds in the organization. On the other hand, if the leader is humble, cares for employees and knows how to make people feel comfortable and supported on the job, employees will be more willing to work for that leader. As the saying goes, “people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”  Of all of the powers listed above, referent power is also the one source of power that is most closely related to righteous behavior as defined in Scripture. Again, how we treat others is a direct measure of how much we really seek to honor the Lord.   On a final note, remember that there is a huge difference between power and authority. Power is the ability to do something; authority is the permission to do something. In this sense, legitimate power is most closely linked with the notion of authority. But there is a larger point to be made here. Romans 13 says that all authority comes from God. Regardless of what type of gifts, abilities, and power/influence we might have, we are obligated before God to use all of those things in accordance with what God says is right. A leader may have legitimate power, for instance, but once the leader steps outside the bounds of what Scripture says is right and wrong, the leader has abused his power. A big part of understanding the current emphasis on “spirituality” as an important component of effective leadership involves coming to terms with the notion of Postmodernism. Postmodernism as a worldview and perspective on life came into vogue in the second half of the 20th century. As the name suggests, it is meant to signify that we live in a time that has apparently moved on from the “Modern” Era. In turn, the Modern Era was based upon “Modernism” which evolved during the time of the Enlightenment and the development of Secular Humanism.   Modernism basically argued that religious and spiritual beliefs were superstitious and outdated and that what mankind really needed was the use of logic, rationalism, science and technology to solve all of its problems. Instead, the following things happened in the “Modern” era which eventually caused a rejection of Modernism in its many forms: The exploitation of indigenous peoples in other parts of the world due to the assumption that Western civilization was superior to other ways of life; The Industrial Revolution which many argued stifled human creativity and expression because of the factory/machine mindset it created; c) The use of science and technology to kill incredibly large numbers of people (in World War I and II and other wars) The creation of “rational” states like the former Soviet Union, which instead of bring a modern utopia, brought tyranny, poverty, and torture and death of millions upon millions of people Chauvinism and the devaluing of women.   All of these major failures of Modernism caused people in the West to begin to rethink how to live life. Sadly, rather than turning back to the God of the Bible, many people went to the other extreme and begin to talk about making sense of life in non-rational, mystical, and very personal ways. Absolute truth as a notion was rejected, since after all, it was nations who believed that their way was the only way to live who killed, enslaved and went to war with others. In the Postmodern view of life, people are encouraged to make sense of life on their own terms, to do what works best for them regardless of any sense of absolute truth and morality, and to find “God” in a way that best makes sense to them. Often that view of God lends itself to a deification of nature and the cosmos, rather than an embrace of the Christian God, because the Christian God believes in absolute truth.   In terms of application in the workplace, ideas like “Spirituality in the Workplace”, “multiculturalism” and “feminism” have all sprung from the Postmodern viewpoint. Spirituality in the Workplace derives from the notion that humans aren’t just corporate slaves or machine parts—they could and should be able to find personal fulfillment on the job through the personal expression of work as well as in community and working with others. Multiculturalism emphasizes that each cultural perspective is valuable and that organizations would do well to draw from these various cultural experiences by hiring people of diverse ethnic backgrounds (as opposed to just white men). Likewise, feminism argues that chauvinism has exploited women for too long and that it’s time for women to have a place and a say in the workplace, as opposed to the way things were in the Modern Era, where women were relegated to the home and to child-rearing. Slide _____________________________________________________________________________________ Robert Banks pg 63 Some writers define spirituality in humanistic terms: It has the capability—generally ascribed to the inner person or being, soul or spirit—to enable people to transcend their normal selves or to give expression to the multiplicity of selves within them. This approach draws on various traditions that speak about the soul, treating them basically as myths from which can be drawn important lessons for being and doing.