Power and Influence
I have
experienced different types of power and influence at work with senior leaders
and subordinates over the years. At work
I am a commissioned officer, as such I am given the authority, power, and
influence over others of lesser rank based on United State Code of Military Justice
(UCMJ). The source of this coercive
power comes from article 90 of the UCMJ which states service members who
“willfully disobeys a lawful command of his superior commissioned officer;
shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such
other punishment as a court-martial may direct, and if the offense is committed
at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may
direct” (UCMJ, 2006, page 464). This is necessary for the good order and
hierarchy of the military because it sets the boundaries and understanding of
everyone’s role within the organization.
Article
90 is a powerful coercive influence in which as a leader have enacted only once
and brought charges against a Non-Commissioned Officer for disobeying my orders. In the interest of public safety and the
image of the Army, I instructed all subordinates assigned my unit to not drink
and drive. My senior leader instructed me to not drink and drive, I delegated
the same responsibilities to my subordinates for their own safety and the image
of the military. This consideration for
safety impacts the community, the individual, and the Army. The results of not following orders of senior
leaders are substantial where a individual can lose rank, pay, and even go to
military jail. I lead by example, as
written “The target person imitates the agent’s behavior or adopts the same
attitudes to please the agent and to be like the agent (Yekl, 2013,page 187), I
expect my subordinates to follow my lead.
A few months into my role as a leader, a subordinate decided to not follow
my orders and was arrested for driving while under the influence of
alcohol. Both civilian and military
courts prosecuted the individual for the incident. Based on the violation and
the disobeying of my orders, I facilitated the individual’s removal from the
military.
The use
of coercive power is to influence positive and mitigate negative behavior. The military needs coercive power to maintain
order of its members, as written in this week’s text “A leader with direct
authority over a target person has the right to make requests consistent with
this authority, and the target person has the duty to obey (Yekl, 2013, page
186),” without this type of influence, the military would fail. I often use the leader-member exchange theory
with my staff team as we plan and execute our assigned mission from our higher
command. I better understand from a
technical perspective, what I have found is as written in this weeks additional
text is “reciprocal relationship evolves into a trusting and loyal relationship
(Othman, 2009, page 338),”and it works for me in my organization. I have worked in dysfunctional organizations
as a subordinate, however the key to circumventing a negative situation or
leadership is to work together with peers and subordinates to achieve the
success.
Reference:
Uniform Code of Military Justice, United States Code, 2006 Edition, Supplement 4, Title 10 - General Military Law.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCODE-2010-title10/USCODE-2010-title10-subtitleA-partII-chap47/content-detail.html
Othman, R., 2009, Understanding dysfunctional leader-member exchange: antecedents and outcomes. https://erau.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-16428578-dt-content-rid-25058288_4/institution/Worldwide_Online/MSLD_Courses/MSLD_511/Word/Understanding_dysfunctional.pdf
Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership
in organizations (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
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