Page 189 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

172 Chapter 7

Expert power comes from what others believe a member knows or can accom-
plish. The person with expert power is influential because he or she is perceived as
having knowledge or skills vital to the group. Jennifer’s 20 years of service to the
company and the high regard with which she is held by the advertising community
help establish her expert power base within the team. If your group is responsible for
producing a panel discussion for the rest of your class and you happen to be the only
member who has ever participated in a panel discussion, your expertise empowers you
in that particular group.
A leader’s power usually stems from more than one source. The more sources on
which a person’s power rests, the more that person has the potential to dominate a
group. Conversely, the more these bases of power are distributed among members, the
more likely leadership will be shared, decision making will be collaborative, and satis-
faction will be high. In other words, leadership can be provided by all members’ exer-
cising their influence in service to the group goal. We expand on this idea later.

Leaders
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Leader A leader refers to a person. Leaders in a small group influence the behavior of others
A person who uses through communication. There are two general types of group leader, designated and
communication to emergent. A person elected or appointed to a leadership position is called a designated
influence others to leader. This person may have the title of chair, coordinator, facilitator, or something
meet group goals similar.
and needs; any A designated leader offers stability to a group. Small groups with stable leader-
person identified by ship achieve their goals more often than small groups without it. Energy won’t be
members of a group siphoned off in a leadership struggle, which causes dissatisfaction and low cohesion.
7
as leader; a person Groups with designated leaders accepted by the members have fewer interpersonal
designated as leader
by election or problems and often produce better outcomes than groups without designated lead-
8
appointment. ers. Even in a group where influence is widely shared, someone must coordinate the
flow of communication and the work of the members, and that is the group’s desig-
Designated Leader nated leader.
Having the title designated leader gives someone legitimate power, like Jennifer,
A person appointed
or elected to a but that person must still earn the respect and support of other members. A desig-
position as leader of nated leader’s behavior will be evaluated and may frequently be challenged by the
a small group. members. If the designated leader’s power rests solely on holding the title, someone
else with more broadly based power will likely emerge as a more influential informal
leader.

Emergent Leader Leadership Emergence An emergent leader is a group member who starts out on an
The person who equal footing with other members, but emerges as the person others perceive as being
emerges as the the group’s leader, charted by Aubrey Fisher (refer to Figure 7.1). 9
leader of an initially Fisher’s three-stage model presumes that all members are potential candidates
leaderless group in for emergent leadership. In Stage 1, one or more members drop from consideration
which all members right away. They may be uninterested in leading, unable to lead (e.g., too busy), or
start out as equals. may communicate in ways others perceive as nonleaderlike (e.g., quiet, uninformed,
or dogmatic). 10

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