HOW YOU USE POWER AND CONTROL

Power and control are strengths that every individual has been granted and blessed to have. Te abuse of power and control by some individuals is where consequences of power and control come into play. In some cases this can be categorized to be the consequences of corruption through the abuse of power and control. This is either in the area of politics, business and any arena where an individual sees an opportunity to gain something easily by abusing their authority and power. This can only change when individuals see power and control not as an opportunity used to gain something for themselves but as an opportunity to be a helping hand to those whom are still climbing up the ladder of success and wanting to be in the same position of having power and control.


In today’s ‘’South African society’’, the abuse of power and control has been vastly highlighted by the ANC actions in recent political acts. This is where one can identify and see how individuals in power can abuse that power in the greed of both gaining something in return but also wanting to maintain the same position of authority and power in aid of not wanting to give position to someone else. One saw this through the many corruption charges that appeared in recent media headlines. This gave a negative perception to the ANC as a whole as people then believed that the party as a whole was responsible for these acts.

This is how one can therefore determine that through the abuse of power and control, one obtains a negative perception from other people as the sense of trust is broken. This at times can damage the reputation that an individual has as he/she may lose people that he had relationships with. This is because in every relationship, there is a sense of trust, whether it being a business relationship or personal relationship, one does not associate themselves with an individual known to have a reputation that is contrary to what their beliefs are.

This is where public relation practitioners are tested; as it means that their reputations are tested with the way they conduct themselves, especially as individuals who have decision on abusing power for their own advantage or their clients’ benefit. This can be for instance when a practitioner makes promises to a client which they know is a promise hard to meet up with, but because they have the power to say anything in winning over a client, they are willing to say anything in that level.


In terms of how power and control in my life personally, I believe my parents where the ones’ who made me see the importance of power and control. The fact that my parents had certain rules that they set out for me to live by was a level of power and control that they had over my life. This shows that with power and control, comes rules and regulations in order for things to go the right way, hence it is said that the abuse of power and control can be disruptive in a sense that it brings about things like corruption etc. I believe that power and control is of outmost importance because it means that every individual has power to control their own lives. This is important and crucial to me because it means that I can set my own boundaries and rules to follow. Unlike the days when I was younger where my parents had to set rules for me, because I am older and more mature, today I can say that I understand why rules and regulations are important.

It is through these rules and regulations that set a standard of morals and values that I follow. This makes the fact that I have power and control over my life more personal to me because it means that I am intern shaping my life in my hands. I believe that if every individual where to look at power and control through that perspective, no matter what area, it would mean that things such as corruption in our work environments and political structures would lessen because individuals would see power and control as a gift to be maintained and not abused to level that one losses that special gift.


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/mccarthy-beck-and-the-new-hate/252740/