Reference no: EM133022068

A striking advantage of gaining power is that it helps you control your environment, which in turn leads to less stress and better physical and mental health-and therefore prolongs your life. In contrast, having so little power that you cannot control your job and your environment creates stress, leading to poorer physical and mental health, and quite often a shorter life. Finding ways to increase your power is therefore a vital life skill.

So much has been said and written about the importance of building your in-person and virtual network that it seems as if the more contacts you have the better. It is usually better to have a smaller network of useful, high-quality contacts. British anthropologist Robin Dunbar claims the average human can maintain only 150 close social connections. With information technology, that number can be stretched a bit, but mental capacity and available time set limits to the size of a useful network.

The company leadership team must sometimes find the right balance between control and empowerment.

Colin Price of McKinsey & Co., a key player in management consulting, suggests that the company needs more control when it must change directions, such as entering a new market or downsizing considerably. When the new course is set for the organization, more empowerment is in order because the managers must figure out how to implement the new direction.

Q1. How might a person in an information technology company have a lot of power even if he or she does not hold an executive title? Explain with example