Does being a leader give him/her/ it absolute power? To what degree does leadership identifies with power? Does a leader really have the power? Blichfeldt et al. addressed these questions, but not before defining these key words. In a quite simplified manner they have defined leadership as the “ability of “doing” (influencing others)”, whereas power, besides the leadership attribute also includes  the ability of “”non-doing” in the form of “non-decision making” (B.S., Blichfeldt; J., Hird; P., Kvistgaard, 2014). Nevertheless, these concepts have posed intensive studies in the last decades ( (Bramwell, 2007), (Dahl, 1957), (Hall, 2003)).

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Combining both theory and practice, Blichfeldt et al. disseminated the above mentioned questions plus other related problems in a paper conveying a significant number of vignettes  defines as “stories about individuals, situations and structures which can make references to important points in the study of perceptions, beliefs and attitudes” (Hughes, 1998).

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The first aspect emphasized the complexity of a destination, more exactly the stakeholders’ interests and how they tend to collide. In most cases this results in not respecting or lobbying against a DMO decision, only because it was not serving their interests (see Vignette 2, p. 4). Some academicians even argue that not only matching their interests, but being able to offer the right reward amplifies the power an actor has (Baker, M.J. and Cameron, E., 2008), (Blichfeldt, 2005) (see Vignette 5, p. 8).

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Deep-diving into all aspects of power, derived from practice, literature encompasses the following coercive, legitimate, reference and expert power. Having proposed a project or even having it in process does not imply by default a successful completion. Coercive power must be present in order do to so. In this regard, this type of power relates to the capability of an agent to mediate/ impose punishment when guidelines or decisions are not respected (B.S., Blichfeldt; J., Hird; P., Kvistgaard, 2014).  

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Second type, legitimate power relates to the right to steer the decision process or behavior of the stakeholders in a destination. From a helicopter, textbook perspective, this power is attributed to the DMO. In practice instead, is acknowledged that some DMOs lack this power and so a master plan/view is unobtainable (see Vignette 6, p. 9) (B.S., Blichfeldt; J., Hird; P., Kvistgaard, 2014).

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Referent power has tight connections with the above mentioned one and conveys one’s ability to assume a role in a process. More explicitly, this refers directly to the DMO power to control a destination (B.S., Blichfeldt; J., Hird; P., Kvistgaard, 2014) (see Vignette 8, p. 9). Blichfeldt even argues if “destinations are manageable at all?” (Blichfeldt, 2005).  

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Last but none least, expert power relates to one’s knowledge and expertise over a specific topic. With regard to a destination management, the higher the reputation of a  DMO to offer quality projects and expertise, the higher the probability of having different stakeholders engaged in their projects (B.S., Blichfeldt; J., Hird; P., Kvistgaard, 2014).

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Using the authors’ expertise and practical insights (70+ processes) the discussed paper illustrates once again the complexity of a destination. Noticeable is how private actors serve mostly their own interests, how immediate reward affects implication and how no-action can be the most important action.  

 

Bibliography

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B.S., Blichfeldt; J., Hird; P., Kvistgaard. (2014). Destination leadership and the issue of power. Tourism Review, Vol. 69, 74-86.

Baker, M.J. and Cameron, E. (2008). Critical success factors in destination marketing. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 79-97.

Blichfeldt, B. (2005). Unmanageable place brands? Place Branding , 388-401.

Bramwell, B. a. (2007). Power and tourism policy relations in transition. Annals of Tourism Research Vol. 34 , 766-788.

Dahl, R. (1957). The concept of power. Behavioral Science, 201-215.

Hall, C. (2003). Politics and place: an analysis of power in tourism communities. Tourism in Destination Communities, 99-113.

Hughes, R. (1998). Considering the vignette technique and its application to a study of drug injecting. Sociology of Health and Ilness , 381-400.