Leadership, Power and Politics

By Minnesh Kaliprasad

Today, the view of people being the most important component of organisations, reigns supreme. Successful management of this critical organisational resource requires strong leadership, a skill sometimes viewed as the mystical “it” that a person radiates to rally support for a cause, motivate others and change the very face of organisational life day to day. In a word, leadership is about influence.

In this ebook, the aim is to remove the mystic veil from leadership, the processes that make leadership work (power, empowerment and politics) and the critical role that leadership plays in organisational life all around us. The vast literature available on the subject of leadership, power and politics underpins the importance that the organisational society places on these concepts.

A commentary on management vs leadership will be followed by a discussion of power. This provides a neat platform to introduce the concept of empowerment and the various leadership models and perspectives. This is followed by a brief expansion of organisational politics, especially in the technical environment.

Finally, the knowledge and intuition thus gained will be used to model the interdependability of leadership, power, empowerment and politics to illustrate the critical role that leadership has to play in the broader organisational context, such as motivation, organisational culture, management of change and strategy, etc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Minnesh Kaliprasad
• Release date: Sep 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463734865

Minnesh Kaliprasad

Minnesh Kaliprasad is a qualified Chemical Engineer who has migrated towards the field of project management and project controls in particular for the larger part of his working career thus far. He has over 20 years working experience with various companies ranging from the petroleum, mining, and construction sectors, in varying roles. He is currently a Project Controls Manager for South Africa's public electricity utility, ESKOM. He also holds a qualification in the field of Project Management, and a post graduate degree in Technology Management. Furthermore, he has earned accreditation from the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) for the Certified Cost Professional (CCP) and Earned Value Professional (EVP) credentials. In addition, he is also a Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (PMI). He has held the positions of Technical Director and President of the Cost Engineering Association of South Africa (CEASA) which was later rebranded as the Southern African Project Controls Institute (SAPCI) under his leadership. He has had a total of 3 peer reviewed technical articles published in the Cost Engineering Journal, viz. Proactive Risk Management ( Cost Engineering Journal December 2006, Human Factor I and II, Cost Engineering Journal June 2006). The former article has since been featured in AACE International’s Professional Practice Guide to Cost Engineering in the Global Environment, while the latter two articles have been featured in AACE International’s Professional Practice Guide to Leadership and Management of People. When he is not working he is probably running, gardening, or reading.

Book preview

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Leadership, Power and Politics

Copyright 2018 Minnesh Kaliprasad

Published by Minnesh Kaliprasad at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favourite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Other books by Minnesh Kaliprasad

Project Controls Effectiveness on Successful Construction Projects

Risk Analysis: Facilitating and Analysis Guidelines for Capital Expenditure Projects

A Balanced Life - The Important Attributes and its Impact on Work Performance

Communication and the High Performance Workplace

Conflict Management and Stakeholder Negotiations in the Technical Environment

Creating an Effective and Efficient Work Team - Managing the Group Dynamics towards Team Performance

Emotional Intelligence - The Important Attributes and the Impact of EI on Work Performance

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the Lord Almighty for granting me yet another opportunity of writing a book about a subject I am passionate about.

I would also like to thank my wife Salika and daughter Michala for supporting me yet again in everything related to this journey of writing a book. Your constant motivation and positive energy helped me get this one over the finish line.

I am hoping that this book can be viewed as an extension of my previous books. It is hoped that with more books in the future, they can be seen as a collection on the subject of Project Controls and Project Management.

Watch this space…there will be more books in the not too distant future!

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The Nature of Leadership

Leadership and Management

Aspects of Leadership

Power in the Technical Environment

Empowerment

Leadership models

Traditional versus New Leadership Perspectives

Organisational Politics in the Technical Environment

Integrating leadership, power and politics

What makes a leader?

The Integrated Leadership Environment

Leadership Development – The How-To List

Conclusion

References and Bibliography

About Minnesh Kaliprasad

Other books by Minnesh Kaliprasad

Connect with Minnesh Kaliprasad

Introduction

Today, the view of people being the most important component of organisations, reigns supreme.