ons, which makes it difficult to feel a part of the team. This is especially important when a new person comes into the group. Sometimes groups have members that are not even in the same buildings, this has a big role on the dynamics of the group. It is hard to feel like a group when you never see the people you are working with.“Status is defined as one’s position or rank relative to the others in a group. High status tends to result in greater personal power or ability to influence others. Increased power, in turn, tends to elevate an individual’s status level. Power and status tend to go hand in hand, reciprocally influencing one another.” (10) The senior lead of my current group is very knowledgeable. People come from all over the factory to ask him questions. Because of his status as being the most knowledgeable planner in the factory, he has tremendous power. He has achieved a status that has the ability to push through changes that I do not believe even managers could push through. People trust him and take his word as if it were carved in stone. Not only does he have the power to push through changes, he also has the power to block them. I have seen him pick up the phone and convince people they are going in the wrong direction and they listen to him. These were not just ordinary workers he called either, they were third level managers. Status and power truly do go hand and hand. To survive in a group it is important to realize what your status is and what is the status of the others around you. I truly believe because of his expert power, his is more powerful than any first level manager and probably pushes the limits of some of the second levels. I also believe if I were to challenge him on something in the wrong way, I could find myself with a new desk somewhere at a Boeing facility in Siberia. “Without skilled leadership, teams can easily flounder, get off course, go too far or...
