Comparing and Contrasting Ways Used by Women to get Power and Influence
Introduction
The composition of workers in many companies has changed greatly for the last one decade. Most firms have started employees from different parts of the world. For instance, the companies have started employing women and people of color in their organization. This is as a result of the various policies that have been developed to employment in the country. The policies have forced organization to ensure equal employment opportunities for all people in the organization. For instance, the employment act emphasizes on the need to ensure all employees have equal employment opportunities in the organization. This has led to increase in number of people of color and women. Before, the establishment of such policies, the organization employed employees from majority groups. Though the policies have supported equal employment, women and people of color face various challenges. They face various challenges when acquiring power and influence in the companies. The women have employed various ways to get power and influence. This paper compares and contrasts such ways.
Discussion
Comparing and contrasting ways used by women to get power and influence
Women and people of color face various problems when acquiring power and influence in the organization. This is evidenced by the interviews carried out by fast company .The company used women from various companies in their study. Though women and men in such companies’ work together sharing power, the two groups have different definitions of power. For instance, women prefer collaboration in the organization, but men do not. This has made it difficulty for women to get power and influence in the organization. Men view collaboration as a sign of weakness and prefer hunting. On the other hand, women prefer using gathering style. In addition, women in the organization have minimal influence compared to men as the companies are dominated by men (Muoio, 2007).
Women and people of color in such companies have used various ways to get power and influence. The ways used by the women can be explained using French and raven model of power and types of influence. Raven and French identified different types of bases of power. The first base is legitimate. In this case, a person has the right to make demands and expects other people to comply with what he says and obey him. Some of the women in the companies have used legitimate to get power. For instance, the women have developed various entrepreneurial businesses to help get power or become leaders. For example, Sharon Patrick has established an entrepreneurial business to help her get power. Sharon works with “Martha Stewart Living”, but she has not been successful because of the poor influence and definition of power by men in the company. Though research shows that collaboration brings good results, most women in the organization have not been able to work together due to lack of power. This is evidenced by Sharon’s decision. Sharon decided to establish the entrepreneurial business so as to get power and work together with other people (Muoio, 2007).
Also, Katherine D’Uo has used the same method used by Sharon to get power. At first, the women in the company were not progressing well and this forced them to come together to solve the problem. The women demanded the chairman and executive officers to listen to them. This helped Katherine become a leader in the company (Muoio, 2007).
Moreover, most women get power using their expert. In expert, a person uses his skills and knowedge to get power. The women have employed their skills and knowledge to get power. For Janice Gjertsen has used her kills and knowedge to get power. Janice argues that men are always oriented towards power and making fast decisions, but women are not. Men use their skills like relationship skills to get power. Also, women use their problem solving skills to solve problems. They are capable of identifying problems and solving them (Dilenschneider, 2007).
The fourth base is referent. In this case, a person gets power using her beauty, worthiness and respect for others. A large percentage of women in many companies have used the referent base of French and Raven model to get power and influence. For instance, Jessica Bibliowicz has employed the concept above. The concept used by Jessica was different from the concept used by Janice, Katherine and Sharon. Before becoming a leader, Jessica gave presentation to various institutional investors in the country and she was the only woman in the room. Most men listened to her as she presented her presentation. Then after sometime, the men selected her as a leader due to respect for others and worthiness. Also, Michelle Bernard used the same principle used by Jessica to become a leader. She was supported by male employees and female employees to become a leader because she was worth. The women influenced other employees in the organization to help them get power. They used different types of influence like persuasion, coaching, vision and mentoring. For exampe, Darlene Mann used relationships to get power. Also, Sallie Ewing used persuasion to get power. In this case, Sallie persuaded people at the grassroots level to vote for change and they did so (Dilenschneider, 2007).
Conclusion
The women and people of color have used different methods to get power and influence. The women used various concepts of power and influence developed by French and raven. Most of the women have become successful in live because of their skills, knowledge and ability to influence other people. This is evidenced by the research conducted by the fast company.
Reference
Dilenschneider, R. L. (2007). Power and Influence. Vital Speeches of the Day, 73(6), 270-274.
Muoio, A.(2007). Women and men, power and work. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/13/womenofpr.html on 02/02/ 2011.
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