Leadership and Power
This artilce examines the relationship between leadership and power. Although the article is written from a Judeo-Christian perspective, we can apply the concepts to many organizational situations.
1. Introduction
My
hypothesis is that leadership does not exist without power as
understood in a broad sense. Thus, we have to reflect
on power in order to lay a theoretical foundation of responsible
leadership. This article attempts to discuss different facets of
the phenomenon of power. The aim is to give a concise summary of what
a
Christian leader should know about power in order to use
his/her
power in an appropriate way.
The
approach of this article is interdisciplinary. Researchers from
different academic disciplines have investigated the phenomenon of
power. Often, these discussions are focused within one
discipline:
theologians quote other theologians and sociologists quote other
sociologists. However, in both disciplines the intercultural
aspects
are often neglected. By combining insights from different disciplines,
this article wants to contribute to a more holistic
understanding of
the phenomenon of power. This will enable us to derive ethical
guidelines for responsible leadership from these insights, which
is
also the aim of this article. Since different academic disciplines
contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon of power, we
will
consult these disciplines in order to obtain a theoretical basis for
responsible leadership. Key aspects of the investigation of responsible
leadership include: What is power? (Philosophical reflections,
section 2); What does the Judeo-Christian worldview teach about
the
origin and the use of power? (Theology, section 3); How can power
be exercised? (Sociology, section 4); and How is power perceived in
different cultures? (Cross-cultural management theory, section 5).
1.1 Personal motivation
One cannot lead without power. This insight was not always evident
to the author. Born in 1962, my German school education was
influenced by the so-called "68-movement" which was very anti-
authority. I was, therefore, strongly sceptical about hierarchy and
formal power. In a somewhat naïve understanding of servant-
leadership, I used to give talks titled "Leading
without power". It took me some time to understand the following
three facts about power:
- Power is more than formal power
- Power is not bad in itself
- One cannot lead without power