The types of leadership according to Max Weber
Leadership according to Max Weber is divided into three types that go from the most comfortable and the most tenacious and understanding to those that are oppressive and tyrannical.
To better understand the concept of leadership, it must first be briefly described; A leader is the person in charge of guiding others along the correct path to achieve specific objectives or goals that they share, the leader is the person who guides the group and is recognized as a guide.
- The charismatic leader is one to whom his followers attribute conditions and powers superior to those of other leaders. The traditional leader is the one who inherits power either by habit or by hierarchy. The legal leader is one who ascends to power through democratic methods. or is he chosen because he shows the quality of an expert he is in the field that concerns him. This figure is commonly seen in the field of politics and private companies in which the bureaucratic model is implemented, in which decisions are established by a system of precise rules (a protocol to follow).
Some of the characteristics that a leader has are the following:
- The leader must have the character of a member, that is, he must belong to the group he leads, sharing with the other members the cultural patterns that exist. His knowledge and ability must be that of a fully trained person. Treats people as a talent that can be potentiated. He has a vision of objectives, a fixed horizon and a sense of direction. He is open-minded and prepared for change and adaptation. He is proactive; proactivity consists of the self-conscious development of active and daring projects for the generation of better opportunities for the company.
Empathy
The human being is full of capacities whether physical, intellectual, moral or of another nature such as perception. The ability of man to put himself in the place of another is empathy. Knowing what the other person feels or even what may be going on are qualities that form this concept.
Empathy therefore requires paying attention to the other person, to what she transmits through her body and facial expression (non-verbal language), her words and tone of voice, her outfit; this information can let others know where you are, especially empathic people
The development of empathy can occur unconsciously, sometimes it is easy to realize what is happening with the other person, because they have probably gone through similar experiences and in this way quickly identify the "common characteristics" that perfectly describe that situation.
For many, empathy is related to compassion, empathy allows you to feel the pain or suffering of others and want to help them.
Detail and observation are elementary tools to be able to be an empathic person; if you pay your full attention to the messages that the other person transmits, trying to put yourself in their place and "read" what they feel. But, if while talking to someone, you are more aware of your own words, of what you will say later, of what is around you or of certain concerns that haunt your mind, your ability to "read" the other person will not be very high.
When a person is primarily focused on himself, on satisfying his desires and on his own comfort, he does not care about what others may be feeling and does not have an empathic response to them.
“Maybe we live in a society where people are less and less empathetic (according to a study by the University of Michigan, the empathy levels of college students fell by 40% between 2000 and 2010). However, the only way to make the world more and more empathetic and not the other way around, is for each person to strive to be more empathetic, paying more attention to others, to their emotions, to what they may be feeling or thinking, or how what you say or do affects them. "
Power and authority
The difference in how the people who are at the head of an organization develop is found in the type of leadership they exercise over those who are part of the organization, if it is more related to leadership of power or authority. But what sets the standard to know how to differentiate them?
A leader from the side of power has the following characteristics:
- Born of the desire to have more in order to be more It belongs to the order of individualistic privacy It expresses force It is snatched away by force It is strengthened in contempt and exclusion It exercises through the imposition that dominates It rejects the difference It operates from the logic of individualism. Cohesiona by fear. It inspires fear and terror. It imposes itself. The praxis of power is intimidation, which clouds consciousness and paralyzes projectivity.
Power is the will to dominate action that, regardless of the interests and will of society, is imposed by the force of those who decide to act and dominate.
A leader with authority, on the contrary:
- It is born from the will of the community that wants to be governed by the best. It belongs to the order of the relationship that refers to the person. It expresses the transcendence. It is conferred by the community aware of personal merits. It listens to empathy. It is exercised. through the dialogical word, generating consensus. It seeks convergence in diversity. It operates from the logic of pluralism and complacency. It unifies by agreement. It inspires respect and trust. It is accepted. The praxis of authority is the right, which respects freedom and promotes growth.
Authority is the exercise of power delegated by the community to those it considers capable of interpreting its will and doing what is appropriate for the common good.
We can understand then that power is the ability to force someone, so that he, although he would prefer not to do it, do our will due to our position or strength, while authority is the art of getting people to do what they voluntarily do. one wants because of his personal influence.
“To lead it is necessary that someone wants to do it; then it is necessary for that someone to believe that they can do it, then it is good to be a leader and finally, all this is possible if one knows how to do it, that is, if there is training. The most important thing is not to forget that within an organization, what is led is people, emotional and thinking beings, which should lead to a leadership totally linked to authority and not to power ”adds Margarita Chico, General Director of Trabajando.com Mexico
The use that individuals make of power should not be confused with power itself. In fact, in organizations, all interaction between their members implies the exercise of power. But, what need does the man have for power? It is said that to impact others. However, the way it is used is how it will impact on others since if it is not done properly it is usually perceived by other members of the organization as a negative characteristic that reduces authority, for example:
- Not using power when necessary, that is, not acting when a conflict occurs and all subordinates are waiting for, for example, "the supervisor to take action," is a reason for loss of authority. Managers who impose a series of rules and restrictions excessively rigid make use of power useless and also end up losing authority.
Finally, we can say that:
- Power can exist without authority and leadership. (even more so in a NON-democratic system) Authority is the moral force that allows leadership to be generated. Leadership can only be exercised with authority and helps to increase power
conclusion
The structure of a person who is in charge of an organization or a certain group of people must contain elements, moral, intellectual, social, cultural, sensitive, action and experience, coordination and control, etc. It is easy to differentiate what type of leader you want to be or you already are according to the current of Max Weber. But knowing if one is developing with power or with authority is what generally matters most since when exercising leadership only with power, it is not possible to achieve the objectives adequately, but if we add authority to this then we will have a complete leader, without need for force to dispose of his power. Above all, the leader must not forget that the reason for being of his group is to improve and for this he must take into account the needs of others.
