9/10/2012

Managing Organizations

Authority

Authority: What Is It?
• Power is the ability to influence others, wherever they are.
– Many bases of power (persuasion, coercion, reward, charisma, expertise, …)

• Leadership implies “Downward” Power (that is, there are “followers” being influenced)
– Also can rely on many bases of power

• Authority is also “downward”, but is based more narrowly on the “Legitimate Right” to give orders (unlike leadership).

1

9/10/2012

Where does this Legitimate Right come from?
• Answer: from Subordinates
– Authority depends on obedience of subordinates
• subordinates abdicate choice; they hold in abeyance his/her own critical faculties for choosing among alternatives.

– This in turn is dependent on the subordinate’s “Zone of Acceptance”
• that zone of behaviors that the subordinate accepts as those which the authority holder has the right to tell him/her to do

And, what does this Zone of Acceptance depend on?
1. Individual differences
• Some people have wider zones than others Organizations “teach” people what the appropriate zone of acceptance is Some cultures pre-dispose its members to have wider zones than others, or to cover different classes of behaviors than others

2. Socialization
•

3. Cultural differences
•

2

9/10/2012

So, how powerful is Authority by itself?
• People in positions of authority often have other bases of power at their disposal to induce compliance
– e.g., coerce, reward, persuade, promote, fire, use sheer personality (charisma)…

•

What if you were to strip away all these other bases of power from an authority position? How much power is left?

Thought experiment:
• Suppose I were to command you to:
1. 2. 3. 4. Work on a project this weekend? Work on a team of people you didn’t like? Do something unethical for the company? Do something that would likely result in seriously physically hurting another person?

3

9/10/2012

Shock Experiments
• You are asked to help “train” another person to memorize some trivial details • You are told to apply increasing shocks to the person when they got the wrong answer. • Shocks start off mild (15 volts), become stronger (…75 volts…), become quite painful (150 volts), and by the end are dangerous, likely lethal (450 volts).

How far would you go?
1. I would not participate 2. I would apply only mild shocks 3. I would apply strong, but not painful or dangerous shocks 4. I would go all the way to the end (450 volts).

4

9/10/2012

The Thomas Beckett Problem
• King Henry II appointed his friend, Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury. •Beckett shifted his loyalty from the King to the Catholic Church, making a series of decisions in favor of the Church, This infuriated Henry. •In a famous rage, Henry shouted “"Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?“ This inspired four of his loyal knights to hunt down Becket and murder him. •King Henry lamented the death of his friend, paid public penance, created a shrine out of cathedral where Becket was murdered.

5