Authority And Decentralisation Case Study

Unit 8: Authority and Decentralization

8.1 INTRODUCTION

In management, authority is the legal authority that is stated in a charter that enables a project manager having an authority to act in the name of the sponsoring executive or on behalf of the organisation. There are different types of authority:

Positional authority: It is the authority of the project manager imposed on him through the project charter.

• Coercive authority (also referred as penalty authority): Here motivation given to the staff by giving punishment so that they will work better because of the fear of losing status, positions, bonuses or jobs.

• Expert authority: This authority is gained if the team respects one’s talent as a project manager.

• Referent authority:

The chances of disharmony between the lines a staff member is unavoidable. The most common reasons for line-staff conflict are given below:

Most of the time line managers may think that staff personnel are not responsible in their action. The staff personnel are not accountable for their actions as they have no direct responsibility in core functions of the organizations. This may lead to behave in less responsible manner. It is noticed that the line positions give less importance to the advice of the staff personnel due to their lack of experience in operational activities and therefore, their recommendations and ideas may lack applicability.

The staff managers think they are not given due advantage in the organization and their talent is not properly utilize, the staff personnel don’t have authority, as a result they cannot implement solutions for their problems. This creates tough condition for the staff personnel.

To resolve such conflicts, one must understand the view point of both the parties and also the areas of disagreements and then find ways to bridge the gap. Every time conflicts arise between the line and staff, both the parties try to explain the causes of conflict in terms of the behaviour of the

Love for Authority: An autocrat superior is unlikely to appoint his authority to the subordinates as he is fond of making his importance felt in an organisation. He likes to see the subordinates approaching him for his approval in certain matters. These traits of a manager separate him from delegation of sufficient authority to his subordinates irrespective of their needs.

4. Personality of Superior: Personality traits of superior also influence the degree of allocation of authority as an autocrat superior will delegate less authority as compared to a democrat superior. Likewise, a superior who believes in the usage of modern management techniques will like to delegate adequately whereas, a high ranked superior or the one who has not been delegated adequate authority in his career may delegate less.

5. Fear of Subordinates: The superior showcases a defensive behaviour in this case and delegate passable authority because of fear of subordinates. The manager fears of the subordinates’ growth which will affect his position, status, title, or prestige. The increasing ability of the subordinates might lead him a promotion to some other part of the organisation and he may lose the best subordinate thus he didn’t delegate such authority that would have had such