Leadership is one of the things that are common for any kind of organizations and businesses as well as different social groups. However, unlike simple socializing and non-profitable activities, leaders of business organizations use their skills at motivating workers, enhancing the quality of their performance and therefore the profitability of enterprises. It is a well-known fact that the role of a leader in any organization frames the features that reveal the aspects of its operating process. As a result, the leader that is aware of the most productive strategies of leadership and skillful in their application is a competent specialist and a role model for the counterparts and successors. This paper analyzes the leadership style of influencing skills on employee motivation and organizational performance and suggests the benefits of appropriate power usage, politics, networking, and negotiation for the organization and the leader personally.
First, it is important to identify leadership before characterizing the application of different influencing skills. Scholars define it as “the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change” (Lussier & Achua, 2013). Therefore, in the process of change leadership is achieved through influence, which means that a successful leader has to bear and apply a wide range of techniques. In this respect, scholars claim that an efficient leader and manager know when to lead and when to follow (Lussier & Achua, 2013). This is why, it is important for any leader to raise awareness of influence styles and practice their application.
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As it was mentioned above, the core of the leadership process is a change, achieved in an implicit or explicit manner which means with or without direct awareness of the followers. The achievement of such a result is possible thanks to the selection of the power influence, politics, networking, and negotiation or their combinations. The aspect of power consists of organizational or personal power that include legitimate, reward and coercive or expert and referent one accordingly (Lunenburg, 2012). Thus, such an approach means that a person may directly use the empowerment for influencing others. This way of influence is direct and traditional as the followers tend to apply the indicated changes because of their lower organizational positions. At the same time, the strongest aspect of this kind of influence is that it creates a frame of subordination and allows shaping such processes as regulatory logistics more vividly. However, a leader may use another approach applying political influence, which, apart from power, leaves more space for interpersonal connection. Despite scholars claim that the concrete notion is still debatable (Knollenberg, McGehee, Perdue & Andereck, 2016), this approach is the establishment of the business relationship with different stakeholders and the usage of these ties for the organization benefit. As a result, such a leader has a political influence among different stakeholders within and outside the industry and organization uniting them and directing towards a similar goal.
Networking is another interpersonal influencing skill that resembles the political one because of its ability to unite the employees and direct them towards similar goals. However, it has unique features such as finding and developing the other leaders and locating potential allies and collaborators (Lenz, 2013). The example of successful usage of this influencing power is its practice by different religious leaders for revitalizing their congregations (Lenz, 2013). Thus, this technique may also be used for finding qualified personnel and changing the organization by improving the efficacy of its staff. Lastly, there is a need for characterizing negotiation influence because of its possible application for the enterprise benefit. The typical domain of its usage is a project, which is why it is mostly used by project managers (Munier & Jiménez-Sáez, 2012). It allows examining the structures of different processes, perspectives and outcomes of their application, and selecting the final strategies of change. This approach enables the leader to be in touch with the employees and enhance team aspects of work improving the interpersonal cohesion.
If to speak about the benefit of power and negotiation application for the organization, it helps leaders form a subordinate system and coherent social union of workers and individuals, striving for similar positive business changes. At the same time, in the case politics and networking is applied, a leader intensifies motivational aspect of work because more freedom is given to the stakeholders. Nevertheless, these techniques benefit the leader as well. The application of these skills leads to the increase inleader’s authority, recognition, and interpersonal influence as he/she becomes coherent with the stakeholders and workers. It is of critical importance for the leader to change different approaches and reach a reasonable balance between them for validating potential in a concrete business setting. Furthermore, relevant strategy change allows exposing and mitigating interpersonal and organizational issues as well as revealing the strong and weak aspects of the leader.
Summarizing the presented information, leaders should study and practice the influence of power, politics, networking, and negotiation because of their beneficial impact on the organization and leading individuals. Each of these approaches is interpersonal and proves the fact that leaders use human resources in different ways. However, the aspects of influence differ as power and politics influence ascend from the leading individual whereas networking and negotiation let him/her merge with groups of different stakeholders. The selection of the appropriate means of influence allows actualizing the potential of the workers and the leader revealing their strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, a leader practicing these strategies can make enterprise more coherent, increase the level of motivation, and achieve non-invasive control of different processes, leading to change. At the same time, skilful application of the influence of power, politics, networking, and negotiation give the leader enough instruments to mitigate his/her weaknesses in terms of leadership and compensate them. Therefore, all leaders have to consider the characterized powers as useful means of their daily practice, leading their organization to positive changes.