The success of a company is dependent on many different factors. Whether it is the CEO, employees, managers, or the resources of a company, those individual factors don’t matter alone. Rather, how these aspects harmonize together and form a great cooperative unit matters. A CEO without good employees is meaningless as they won’t have a workforce to help bring the company together. A group of employees without a manager as their leader can not move forward if there’s no direction to move towards, just as a manager will not perform if a CEO does not provide resources and employees. What is the driving force that shapes the dynamic of an organization together? Power. 

Power creates an environment for motivation, hospitality, and discipline. What makes a company successful then? A successful organization needs to be able to adapt to external changes (Charan, 2022). To every minute detail, how can an organization adapt to external changes if it has no collective unit? To have a collective unit, power must be in play as it drives the company together and creates a more cohesive environment. Power links CEOs, managers, and employees together (Maccoby, 2014). If a more cohesive unit is created, communication is improved and more ideas are formed between the groups. Different companies have different objectives and fulfillments, but there are 5 clear guidelines that shape the needs of a company: a center ride force of happiness, proper individuals in their respective roles, a strategic plan with good implementation, improvement in talents, and ongoing development according to customer opinions (Hogarty, 2021). 

           Why is a center riding force of happiness important? What drives a company to pursue its goals and reach new heights is motivation. Being able to induce emotions, especially happiness, can motivate employees to perform better. In this case, using reward power can evoke these types of emotions and create a high-quality work space (Murphy, 2017). Managers can evoke feelings of joy by rewarding employees with motivating quotes or gifting them presents. As a high school student, I always stay after school to do homework. On the way back home, I would see my teachers at restaurants bonding together and having fun. It creates a healthy relationship between the teachers so that they can depend on one another in times of need. 

Next up, assigning individuals to roles that they’re good at also utilizes power in its proper sense. By using legitimate power, leaders in positions can assign roles and workloads. Legitimate power can be used in this scenario to manage employees and maximize potential talents. 

           However, talent is not enough to drive a company forward. What sets the foundation for creating a successful company is having a strategic plan. This is proven essential to creating a well-organized and well-visioned company. To create a more cohesive unit, having moral power is important. Moral power is the ability to influence others based on values and beliefs. But leaders can not just rely on their morality and beliefs, they also have to execute it and influence their employees in the most persuasive way possible. This is where Steven Luke’s dimensions of Power come in; according to his dimensions of power, choice-making, scheduling, and ideological power play important roles in making good decisions (Dowing, 2006). Leaders can use their moral power to motivate employees and align them with the company's values. If all employee’s values and beliefs align with the company’s goals and visions, a more cohesive unit will be created. A more cohesive unit brings forth new ideas and innovations. Take a school setting for example, students work on a project that leads to a similar goal. In a group project, I ask for the contribution of ideas from everyone from different theories. It is then easier for us to form a precise plan and helps us execute it. 

           What should you take from this? First, learn to embrace the idea of power. Knowing that power can help manage communications and create relationships can help you form healthy and good bonds with the other party. A person with referent power typically has good interpersonal skills. In a situation where a conference is held or a meeting takes place, referent power can be used to sustain a positive relationship with the opposite organization in order to create benefits our the company. The opposite party can feel more inclined to cooperate and help the organization. What type of power do you have within your work area? What type of power would you like to improve?

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Charan, R. (2022, September 19). What defines a successful organization?. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/09/what-defines-a-successful-organization 

Maccoby, M. (2014, August 1). Why people follow the leader: The Power of Transference. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2004/09/why-people-follow-the-leader-the-power-of-transference 

Hogarty, S., & Tse, J. (2021, July 2). What makes a company successful. Ideas. https://www.wework.com/ideas/professional-development/business-solutions/what-makes-a-company-successful 

Murphy, M. (2017, March 20). You need to know the 7 types of power if you want to succeed. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2017/03/19/you-need-to-know-the-7-types-of-power-if-you-want-to-succeed/?sh=37d9a067536d 

Dowding, K. (2006, May). Three-dimensional power: A discussion of Steven Lukes ... - sage journals. SageJournals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-9299.2006.000100.x