Authority and Power

Authority


According to Max weber, The willing and unconditional compliance of people, resting upon their belief that it is legitimate for superior to impose his will on them and illegitimate for them to refuse to obey According to Knootz, Authority in the organisation is the power in a position to exercise discretion in making decisions affecting others

Features of authority
   

Existence of right in authority The right of giving the order is legitimate. Authority gives right of decision making. The objective behind the authority is to influence the behaviour of the subordinates in term of doing right things at right time so that organisation objectives are achieved.

Power


According to Robbins, Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behaviour of B, so that B does something he or she would not otherwise do. This definition implies 1. A potential that need not be actualised to be effective.2 a dependence relationship 3. that B has some discretion over his or her own behaviour

Power


 

The basic idea is that we have power over someone else to the extent that we can get that person to do something that otherwise they would not want to do. The most obvious source of power is control over some thing of value to someone else. E.g. For example, an important source of power for some managers is control over bonuses, influence over promotion decisions, and so on.

Features of power


It is one of the means to influence others for getting results. Power is used not only in getting certain results achieved but it also includes negative decisions, or the action of non- decisions.

Distinction between authority and power

 

Authority is the right to command, power is the capacity to command. Authority is legitimised by certain rules, regulations , laws and practices. In case of power, there is no such legitimisation It originates because of structural relationships. Power emerges because of personal factors and varies with individuals. Authority is the central element of formal organisation and systematic communication. Power reflects political realities within the organisation and relates to more informal patterns of action and interaction that occur

Distinction between authority and power contd:

Authority exists in the context of organisational relationship, mostly in superior subordinate relationship. Power relationship may exist between any two persons and organisational relationship may not be necessary