The Concept of Power - Free Essay Sample

The concept of power entails different notions as to what it precisely means. According to the scientist, it is a social phenomenon that involves the relationship between people. Every sector of the society has a different meaning of power, but there is an ordinary meaning according to political scientists (Dahl 213). This is that it is the ability to influence and control the behavior of individuals without or with resistance. It is frequently confused with authority, but they are separate in that authority is legitimate. Power can have different notions as we will see in this paper. Among these notions are that it is unjust, evil, unilateral, and essential to humans among others. All these ideas are eligible to everyone who has felt the effect of power. Power comes with different attributes and acknowledgment, and it is commonly misunderstood. For instance, those in authority have the tendency of misusing their privileges and through this, they venture into certain aspects of power. The concept of power entails analysis of power regarding its attributes, effects, places and ways of execution, and characteristics among others (Dahl 213).

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Application of energy can take different dimensions according to Carney, Dana, Judith, and Lavonias article "Beliefs about the nonverbal expression of social power." They argue that power can be used to empower and encourage creativity, improve on constructive caring, and finally in transforming individuals. Other people use their power to contribute to the society. Like political power can be utilized both on the right and the wrong way (Carney et al. 114). Power does not do right or wrong on its own, but it is the belief in the authority by those who attain it. How they manage the feeling, it comes with impacts much on how they will interact and perform their duties. There are certain features of a strong power. These factors are that it restores and through this, it contains emotional healing. In other words, power must be able to restore one mentally, and emotionally. It should give one that compassion to attain some balance in life. The other factor is that it awakens in that it enables one to identify the hidden courage, determination and source of strength (Carney et al. 114).

Healthy power energizes in that anyone with power should be able to perform any action willingly and with much vigor and courage. Power must instill courage and confidence in one and through this, it accelerates an individuals momentum to carry out any task. It improves self-efficacy of people (Carney et al. 114). Healthy power is capable of linking people in constructive ways. It builds a real connection between those in the authority and the others. It instills the belief in self-choices and those of other people. Everyone has got a personal power that must be respected, for example, one as the power to love and not by force, say no to anything or anyone, and reject any point. Power entails perceptions and choices that people make once they attain it. It can be exercised in different fields including, politics, business, family, leadership, and in education (Carney et al. 114).

Attributes of Power

The ability of power to control is an important quality in individuals life. There are those who believe in themselves and through this, they attain the power to control every other situation. There are cases of people who experience busy lives and many responsibilities but hold on and overcome the stress it comes with. Other people with fewer responsibilities and simpler life tend to give up first. This personal attribute illustrates the concept of power in individuals life. Power enables people to feel in control over their lives like a study on HIV-AIDs patients confirmed that those who believed in themselves and that the disease can be prevented and controlled had longer lives (Dahl 213).

The sense of control begins with first knowing that you are in control, and therefore it involves ones mind. For instance, in organizations employees are given some extent of self-control and through this, they can feel in control of themselves.They are given many responsibilities, and this makes them attain some power. As a result, the organization can improve its performance (Dahl 213). The article Control theory in the classroom, by William Glaser articulates the idea of gaining the sense of control through letting go what you cannot monitor and attempt those which you can (Glasser 118). It gives an illustration of how someone in depression cannot control evil thoughts and emotions. Ironically, this person can attempt to stop going out easily. This action illustrates power to be more active in peoples actions than in their feelings. It further attributes to some importance of power and that it is endemic to everyone (Glasser 118).

Power entails commitment as this makes every other thing attainable. This is a personal attribute of anyone who intends to attain power to grow. It applies to other fields like profession, and family. With commitment, life seems possible in every angle as it is the starting point of every action we take. Courage is necessary to anyone who wants to attain power. It involves being fearless in everything one undertakes and going out for the best. With courage, one needs to abandon all other comforting issues and exploit their capabilities. It involves risking as people can go for what they believe in even with the slightest idea about them. Courage trains one always to stand when every other person has given up (Dahl 213).

Honesty is the other quality of power as Barbara Robitaille asserts in his article Wisdom from the Inside Out, where she acknowledges that it first takes a personal initiative to integrate oneself to the conditions around. In that people must not have different parts in them to attain power. Individuals must outshine emotional fears, outdated feedbacks, misconceptions, internal conflicts, and self-deception among others. One must be free from inside to achieve control over external factors (Robitaille 13). Individuals aspiring to power must be updated with the present. It entails immediacy in that one does not have to rely on the past to know what might happen in the future, and the present must not be used to reveal the future. It involves looking at the current conditions of the surrounding environment and the people among others. Power is firmly grounded on observing the current interactions like through what one does. For example, addressing a congregation, and cleaning the house, among others (Robitaille 13).

People must be free to every other condition that arises in their lives. Openness enables one to take a little time and energy in disposing of the unexpected experience or conditions. Power allows one to embrace whatever comes. It gives them an open belief that everything happening has value and does so for a reason (Dahl 213). It, therefore, depicts the concept of passion since people must have passion in life to encounter all these. Love in power entails letting go chain that offers self-protection to get involved in other external events. It gives a different thinking beyond oneself (Robitaille 13).

Positivity is that attribute that provides value to every situation. It gives perfection to everything since it is through this that people tend to believe in whatever happens. It leads to the act of receptivity whereby individuals in power must take part and think in every unfolding event. One must observe and listen to what goes on around and through this they become receptive to any situation that arises. It takes a little trust in whatever happens to be active and responsive (Robitaille 13).

Power is most frequently use to attain something, particularly in the workplace. There are different kinds of authority people use. They include connection power, expert power, legitimate power, informational power, coercive power, and referent power (Yukl 73). There is an argument that everyone has power in different ways since power can manifest itself in many respects. There is always something wrong when it comes to the use of authority like people tend to apply power which they do not have. Others even use the different and evil kind of power with an intention of attaining the best results (Yukl 73).

Sources Power

Certain factors help individual to gain power in leadership, and even in organizations among other spheres. These factors include expertise or knowledge, Punishment, position, gender, reward, charisma, lack of desire and ethics. Those with expertise have high power in organizations. However, knowledge itself does not guarantee power unless it is put into action effectively. Punishment is another source power as it is a role given to those who can be able to take up responsibility (Dahl 213). For instance, in organizations managers have the authority to punish employees who commit an offense. They can use punishment mechanisms like firing, and even demoting such employees. Position creates a formal power given to anyone, especially in the business enterprise. It offers tremendous power, for example in management meaning the top manager can influence the decision made (Dahl 213).

There is the power vested I gender like in many cases men give testimonies of how coming together with certain lady made them strong. It is common in political power whereby politicians always give praise to their wives. The other hidden power is gender instincts, for example, when a woman touches a mans arm to make a point the man seems to be moved (Yukl 73). Those who give rewards must have some extent of power. Every other thing can have power if it is given as a reward and a good example is a sum of money. Distribution of money makes it compelling and therefore it as gives power to the owner. Charisma is a personal trait that portrays the power. Those with charisma have confidence and passion in whatever they are doing (Yukl 73). They are those who do not give up until they achieve their goals. As a result, they attain love, respect, and admiration for many people. This is a form of power which they meet due to their personal attributes (Dahl 213).

The second last source of authority is the lack of desire. There is an ironical power in those having least interest in whatever is going on. For instance, if one wants to buy a car and he goes to the first distributor showing no interest in negotiating on the price. The distributor will have some fear because he does not know whether the buyer is satisfied with the price (Yukl 73). The seller will as well fear for this buyer can as well go and buy the car at some other place. The final source of power is ethics. It is a positive attribute of individuals, for example, those who are believed to be more trustworthy are always taken seriously in any conversation. Those with ethics always attain the power same to that of leadership. They go as per their principles, in that they will go for anything as long as they feel its the right thing (Dahl 213).

Effects of Power

Just like every other thing, power has its darker and bright sides. The darker side of power is the central part that portrays the notion that power is evil and unjust. Power tends to affect the way people behave and see things around them. Power is not something that can make one feel unique and superior to others. However, it has managed to instill these concepts in people (Judge et al. 865). It continuously changes the way people process and perceive information. These effects of power are witnessed in the leadership aspect of the society. Different leadership styles including autocratic and democratic contain this force of power. Power changes the way people relate to each other. It does this through giving a different psychological connection between people. This affects how people perform and behave in leadership positions (Judge e...