API of Leadership

Authority

Leaders that are involved in making decisions, mediating conflicts, introducing change, supervising others, or any other reasonable administrative tasks should have a basis for action. In an organization such as a school, this basis is most commonly called “authority”. Authority can be defined as a right granted to a manager to make decisions within limitations to assign duties to subordinates and require others to conform to expected behaviors. This can also be considered as the authorization to get something done.

Authority is considered conferred to a leader allowing, in this case, an administrator to decide, direct, and control situations and people. Where does this authority come from? This diagram demonstrates where an administrator’s authority can be derived.

There can be many reasons for an administrator’s authority; (1) it can be gained from a governing board of an organization; (2) because of a tradition of an administrator having authority in a specific situation; and (3) an administrator might be able to exercise authority because of people having respect for the position. Authority of an administrator is based upon their status in an organizational hierarchy.

A school principal or administrator should not be intimidated by the constraints on exercising authority. A wise administrator will have to make some assumptions to make decisions about the extent and limits of his/her authority.

Power

“Power represents the capacity or potential for affecting desired results in one or more persons that would have not otherwise occurred” (Snowden & Gorton, pp.53). Administrators possess power if they can get others to do what he/she wants them to do. Power can be viewed in another manner that suggests that it is one’s ability or capacity to predict the actions of others while keeping all emotions, feelings, and behavior under control.

According to research, there are several kinds of power that administrators might possess and use in achieving his/her vision for the organization. Some say that there are three basic types of power; (1) coercive power (suspension of employee), (2) remunerative power (control over resources), and (3) normative power (control over prestige). Other researchers, French and Raven, describe their model of five kinds of social power.

Reward Power: is the administrator’s capacity to provide rewards to others, such as higher salary or a better assignment. The strength of the reward power will increase by the type and size of the reward as perceived by others. The power also is determined on the actual reward provided. Unsuccessful attempts by the administrator to exert this type of reward will most often decrease the validity of future rewards, thus this would diminish the power of the administrator when using the power of rewards.(Example of Reward Power – “ I believe that you are interested in …..Perhaps we can work something out, but before we do, you need to ….)

Coercive Power: is the capacity to provide punishment or negative consequences for staff by the administrator. The strength of the administrator’s coercive power will increase with the magnitude of the punishments or costs that others perceive the administrator can exercise. The overall strength of the coercive power will be dependent upon the actual punishments that the administrator has access to implement and/or apply.(Example of Coercive Power – “ I find your behavior unacceptable, and if it doesn’t change… I will have no choice except to suspend you.”

Legitimate Power: can be defined similarly to that of legitimate authority in that these powers are a part of the office and has become bestowed upon the office itself.(Example of Legitimate Power- “Consistent with my responsibilities as principal, I am assigning you…”

Referent Power: The tendency of people to be attracted by or to identify closely with the administrator. The greater the perceived attractiveness of the administrator by another person the more likely this individual will be able to identify with the administrator. (Example of Referent Power – “You have believed in me in the past, and I am asking you to trust me now.”

Expert Power: is the special knowledge for supervision, scheduling, etc. The strength of the expert power of the administrator will vary greatly with the actual and knowledge that the administrator possesses.(Example of Expert Power- “This is an area in which I have background and experience, and therefore…” (Snowden & Gorton, 1998).

Influence

In a recent study by Hinkin and Schrieshman, it was found that influence and power are very closely related. Influence can be defined as the ability to gain assent or to attract a following, and/or to have imitators. Power gets its way while influence makes its way.

Influence is viewed as a more positive concept that than of power. Influence is a means of shaping the decisions of others through informal and nonauthoritive manner. Influence differs from authority in that influence allows people the opportunity to influence a decision while only one person is believed to have the authority. Influence may be distributed unequally while authority is usually distributed equally throughout the organization. Authority is a top-down management while influence in a multidimensional concept. The basic types of influence are referent, reward, and expert.

Referent Influence: Referent influence has some limitations and problems. It appears that not all people respond in the same manner to the particular characteristics of a situation. The potential of limitations for the referent influence is determined by factors that most school principals or building administrators have no control over.

Reward Influence: This type of influence is based upon the premise that the administrator is perceived to possess certain rewards. It would appear, especially in West Virginia, that most administrators do not possess this source of influence based upon rewards due to the fact that it is most unlikely to have school administrators in a position for rewarding others. Unlike some executives of private firms and corporations, principals are not able to provide rewards to any one individual or group of individuals based upon their merit. Boards of educations, policies, regulations, teachers, students, and parents are facts that tend to prohibit or at best, restrict the number of rewards available to an administrator.

Expert Influence: This is one potential source of influence that would seem to offer the building principal an opportunity to gain the support of others through their expertise and knowledge. The effectiveness of an administrator’s influence would seem to depend on the perceived level of teaching experience.

By the very nature of the position of the administrator, principal, and/or leader, these positions carry with them an aura of influence upon teachers, students, and parents. However, it is also the characteristics of the individual that will assist the determining the to what extent of influence that one possesses.

References

Kuhns, Gregory M. (2005). The Connection Between Leadership and Pedagogy. West Virginia University Dissertations.

Snowden, Pretra E. and Gorton, Richard A. (1998). School Leadership and Administration: Important Concepts, Case Studies, and Simulations. Fifth Edition. San Francisco, CA: McGraw-Hill.