Leadership Robbins & Judge (2007) Essay

The relationship between Employee 2 and the accounting manager is one where the manager experiences a greater degree of dependency, because of the employee's expert power. Hence the manager is as it were obliged to comply with Employee 2's requirement in order to ensure that the employee provides the necessary services to the company. On the other hand, were the manager to appoint an additional certified public accountant, the expert power of Employee 2 would be considerably diminished, especially once the new employee becomes well versed in his work. This would provide a stronger basis of formal power to the accounting manager, and Employee 2 in turn would be obliged to work a normal week, like all the other employees in the department.

Employee 3 also exercised personal power, and specifically the element of referent power, in terms of her personal traits. Because of the employee's personality, others are naturally drawn to her and feels positive towards her. Her power lies in her subtle manipulation of relationships with other people. This is clear in the way in which the sales pitch scenario was conducted. At the beginning, nobody was sure whether the idea would fit Corporation A's culture. Employee 3 however used her personal power to convince them not only of the idea, but also to make her the team leader.

Clearly, these decisions were not based upon rational thought or even formal power.Instead, they were simply based upon the way in which the employee was able to manipulate the reactions of her fellow employees and managers. She was able to raise excitement for her idea, which was used as the basis for accepting the idea and appointing her as leader.

The danger in this is that, while the short-term excitement is good for company morale, Employee 3's lack of expertise and the dubious merit of the idea would prove challenging in the long-term. Corporation A might therefore do better to temper the enthusiasm of employees with rational thought by those with legitimate

This in turn does not necessarily mean that Employee 3 should be eliminated or that the idea should not be implemented. Indeed, those in formal power appear to recognize the importance of employee morale. Because Employee 3 is good for company morale, she should be allowed the leadership role, which everyone appears to approve, and her idea should be implemented. However, a good suggestion might be to appoint a co-leader with more expertise and better leadership skills to help her cope with the pressures of her new role, and also to help implement the idea effectively.

The dependency relationship in this case is that the company's management relies upon Employee 3 for employee morale. However, there should also be a tempering element in terms of implementing strategies for the benefit of the company's long-term.....