Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the renowned activists in the United States and a Baptist minister, who was engaged in various civil right movements to find for the rights of humanity. King Jr. struggled to ensure that equality is restored in the country and that the human rights among African Americans were restored (Morris, 2015). The leader headed several watershed events including the 1963 Washington March and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which helped in the pushing for the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Because of his efforts as a political leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. became the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and got awarded the “Man of the Year” in 1963 by the Times Magazine (Gavins, 2016). The personality had his own traits and behaviors that greatly impacted his ability to lead including having empathy, being outspoken, and remaining a lifelong students.
King, Jr. had strong empathy for his followers. He could spend a lot of time walking several miles in search of the people he was fighting for. As a leader, he knew that it was important to understand the situations and challenges that the followers were facing. Thus, he spent most of his time interacting with those he was leading, which he majorly did through hall meetings and impromptu conversation he facilitated as he headed to his normal duties (Gavins, 2016). Furthermore, his efforts to understand the plight of those whom he represented were even more evident when he marched with protestors in Alabama, Selma. Because of his empathy, he was arrested for engaging in non-violent resistance and was forced to hide his family in a run-down building for about 6 months while he fought against house inequality. Therefore, his followers respected him for being courageous and committed to improve the status of the world.
The activist was considered a lifelong student. He studied at Boston University, where he graduated with doctorate in theology in 1955. Through his speeches and books, it is evident that he always made references to other leaders of the past that he greatly admired. In particular, during his stance on the non-violent resistance, Martin Luther King had borrowed his boycott idea from Mahatma Gandhi’s success in the fight for civil rights in India. He wrote that the approaches of Gandhi were a true guiding light of the success of social change. Therefore, King Jr. was known to be a leader as well as a follower; he was open to learn from others and was willing to try different strategies to achieve his leadership goals.
Furthermore, King Jr. was an outspoken leader, who knew when to hold conversations and the challenging situations that required redress. Rather than giving in to the status quo, the leader was too transformational that he focused more on the end goal that would change the lives of over million Americans. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, the leader named eight of his fellow members of the clergy, who had requested him to call of the peaceful demonstrations (Morris, 2015). And later when his opponents bombed his home for preparing the Montgomery bus boycott, he encouraged the boycott team to solder on with their goal. It was, therefore, evident that Martin Luther was an outspoken leader who expressed and fought for what he believed in.
French and Raven’s Bases of Power
French and Raven came up with five different bases of power to describe leaders’ sources of power. The four bases that apply to the leadership of Martin Luther King include: legitimate, reward, expert, and referent. Legitimate power is that which is invested upon an individual on the basis of their roles. It emerges from the high position that one may be holding, often accompanied by coercive powers (Aiello, Tesi, Pratto " Pierro, 2018). As such, it includes the powers held by a president, a monarch, or a prime minister. Other structures that base their powers on legitimate ranking include CEOs, religious ministers, and electoral mandates. French and Raven noted that this type of power is usually unstable and may be unpredictable since when an individual lose their position, their legitimate power may disappear instantly since the respect they received was solely based on the position they were holding rather than themselves (Aiello, Tesi, Pratto " Pierro, 2018). Further, the authors emphasized that legitimate power may be limited to certain situations i.e. individuals may only adhere to instructions that are restricted to the area or jurisdiction of leadership.
Martin Luther King definitely benefit from his legitimate power. His was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which was a renowned African-American activist organization. By the time there was a match at Montgomery, Luther was a member of the executive team of the organization (Morris, 2015). The leader was further elected the president of the newly founded organization in 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which also focused on the fight towards civil rights. He remained the active leader of the organization for the next 11 years where he was able to speak to the public in over 2,500 events and travelled several miles to reach his target audience. The powers to speak to huge number of people were definitely influenced by the legitimate powers that he held. Furthermore, many of the blacks considered him their leader as he was fighting for their own rights.
Reward power is associated with the issuance of rewards to followers. A leader may choose to give raises, desirable assignments, simple compliments, promotions, and training opportunities to be able to control people (Schwarzmüller, Brosi, Spörrle " Welpe¸ 2017). If the followers get the idea that they will soon be rewarded for doing what is needed, then they will easily comply. French and Raven suggested that reward may be used as means of punishment, i.e. those who refuse to abide may be denied the rewards while only rewarding those who have complied (Kilduff, Mehra, Gioia " Borgatti, 2017). This power base, however, is associated with the less control of rewards that the leaders may have. For instance, supervisors may not have the powers to control over rewards such as promotions and salary increase. Thus, when such control is limited, the value or influence on the followers diminishes. Furthermore, in case a particular reward is given consistently, people may be satiated with it thereby losing its effectiveness.
In regards to political leadership, reward power is applied when leaders are able to offer desired outcomes including money, formal recognition, freedom, pride, rights to vote, and equality. The American nation had rallied behind Martin Luther King because he had the argument of reward. A common part of his “I have a Dream” speech which shows the use of reward was the introduction in which he stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal… I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…” (Morris, 2015). The speech was, therefore, calling for an equal nation where no one is judged based on their color. Martin called for the people to resist segregation in order to get reward as well as freedom. Such promising rewards worked effectively towards his leadership.
Expert power involves the use of skills and knowledge that enable leaders to understand a particular situation, offer suggestions, and use effective judgment strategies to influence others towards committing towards a certain view point (Schwarzmüller, Brosi, Spörrle, " Welpe¸ 2017). When a leader is able to identify a problem, come up with solutions, and outperform others in his/her decisions, many people would be able to follow and listen to him/her. Individuals are fond of trusting people who have expertise in a certain field and will be able to respect and trust in what is being said by the expert. French and Raven argued that leaders with confidence, reputation, and decisiveness over a particular course can easily influence others (Schwarzmüller, Brosi, Spörrle " Welpe¸ 2017). It is, therefore, good to maintain expert power in leadership as it does not involve the inclusion of positional power.
Just like most leaders of his time, Martin Luther King Jr. as an expert in the ideology of civil rights and freedom movements. He had lived for the movements every single day of his career and was always associated with activist groups. King Jr. also gained his expert powers through the several formal studies he had attended, a unique characteristic that was out of reach of majority of the African Americans (Gavins, 2016). Further, he had the expertise in practical and education experience in different leadership styles including democratic and autocratic leadership. This directly influenced the way he described oppression and segregation as well as the associated corrective measures that would aid in the elimination of racial discrimination. Martin Luther King Jr. chose an education path that was similar to his grandfather and father. He attended a public school in Georgia where he got his high school education. He then went for his undergraduate degree program in Morehouse College, Atlanta. He furthered his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary, where he became elected as the senior class president (Gavins, 2016). Due education and leadership experience, therefore, impacted his success in leadership.
Referent power refers to the influence that leaders have as a result of other members of the society “liking” them. It is the power that originates from fame and charisma and is majorly possessed by celebrities and social leaders. In an attempt to be like such “leaders”, followers will always try their best to like these people and stay near them in order to get the similar charisma they receive (Kilduff, Mehra, Gioia " Borgatti, 2017). Although it is a positive power base, individuals with referent power may use their influence for coercion i.e. they may use their influence to alienate their opponents from the society. It was noted by French and Raven that this form of power strategy may only be effective for a long time if used with expert power (Sousa " van Dierendonck, 2017). Otherwise the leader would not be able to get respect for long as the regard and respect always ends when the fame depreciates.
Martin Luther King Jr. was no doubt a leader who influenced others on the basis of referent power. When he went to deliver “I have a Dream” speech, the person who announced him referred to him as the “moral leader of our nation”. King Jr. was loved by the people because of his moral value (Gavins, 2016). In particular, he advised the oppressed never to give up in their struggle that the time of suffrage would definitely pass and a new dawn for freedom would arrive. However, he urged them that the way to achieve this goal is through peaceful fight while maintaining “discipline and dignity”. He wanted everyone to be recognized with their capabilities and reputations rather than on the basis of color. Due to his fight for equality without the use of violence, Luther gained a lot of reputation across the nation.
Fielder’s Contingency Plan
The contingency model by Fred Fielder was introduced in the mid-1960s to explore the different types of leadership in management. According to Fielder, there is never a particular leadership style considered best in all situations (Iqbal, Anwar " Haider, 2015). On the contrary, the scientist suggested that the effectiveness of a leader is dependent on the working situation i.e. it relies on both the leadership style and the situational favorableness. In regards to the leadership style, Fiedler argued that a leadership style can be measured based on the Least-Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale (Oc, 2018). This scale is used to measure the type of leadership style adopted by a leader based on the relationship scores they hold towards the performance of their LCPs. In the case that a leader views the LCPs with negative regard, they would have low score thereby considered to be task-oriented leaders. Such leaders do not focus on building relationships, but rather focus on ensuring that all project tasks are accomplished as expected. On the other hand, a leader that gives high scores to LCPs would be considered relationship oriented (Iqbal, Anwar " Haider, 2015). Thus, he/she would pay much attention of managing and solving conflicts while also creating personal connections with the LCPs.
The situational favorableness factor in the theory is understood on the basis of three factors: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power of the leader. The relationship between the leader and the followers determine the favorableness of the leadership (Oc, 2018). This point means that if there is trust and confident on the leader, then the leadership situation would be favorable and vice versa. In regards to task structure, a clearly defined task would present favorable leadership condition compared to unstructured tasks (Fassinger " Shullman, 2017). On the other hand, the position power of the leader refers to the amount of power that ought to be directed to the group; the more power a leader has, the more favorable the leadership situation is (Iqbal, Anwar " Haider, 2015). Thus, the most effective leadership approach is determined by identifying the leadership style and then surveying the situation.
This theory applies to the leadership approach that Martin Luther King Jr. had adopted during his leadership at the civil rights movement. In understanding the type of leadership approach he chose, first it is evident that his leadership style was relationship-focused (Morris, 2015). The leader was so close with his followers and always ensured that they had good perception of him. No wonder, King Jr. could walk hundreds of miles to meet with his black American followers to address the challenges they faced as a result of racial discrimination. The situation that King Jr. led was also favorable; he had a good relationship with his followers who admired him greatly. Through the movement, it was also evident that the leader oversaw structured tasks including well-designed protests. These factors presented favorable leadership scenario for King Jr. since there was a positive leader-member relations, structured tasks, and his position power.
References
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