Functional Authority

Within my organisation there are is a hierarchy of staff. With the organisation being a school the person to lead the school would the head teacher. Even though it is the head teacher that encourages all staff and students at the school, the board of governors would ensure that the school strive to achieve the goals and objectives that are set. The person next in authority would be the assistant head teacher. Even though the position of the assistant head teacher would be below in seniority it would be fair to say that these two positions would jointly make decisions within my organisation.

Staffing is the achievement of organizational goals through the effective and efficient deployment of people. Staffing deals with people as a resource in the organization. It is more than a department called human resources or the personnel department (Reilly, Minnick & Baack, 2011).

When we talk about someone being in a position of authority we usually mean that they hold a certain rank or status within society or within an organisation such as the public services. There are several ways in which a person could find himself or herself in a position of authority. For example, a priest has the authority of the church while a mother or father has parental authority over children. In the uniformed public services, positions of authority come with promotion. An officer may be promoted because of certain achievements and special attributes, such as experience in the service, good character, knowledge of the job, dedication, self-discipline and the respect of one’s colleagues. If you join the uniformed public services and are placed in a position of authority, you may lawfully command team members, who recognise your authority and their duty to obey those legitimate commands. When authority is legitimate, there is no need to influence or use power. Indeed, if a senior officer were unable to gain the respect of a team member by command alone, then there would be no recognisable authority.

Authority is defined as the ‘power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience’. There are many different organisations that enforce discipline within the public services, which have the right to extend different levels of authority and enforce different levels of obedience within a service. These are;

Functionalism is a macro system theory which sees society as a mega structure of linked social institutions such as school, family and the legal system. Each different institution is functional to ensure the whole of society is maintained. For example primary socialisation takes place within the home where children are taught basic life

Classifying the authority - Once the departments are made, the manager likes to classify the powers and its extent to the managers. This activity of giving a rank in order to the managerial positions is called hierarchy. The top management is into formulation of policies, the middle level management into departmental supervision and lower level management into supervision of foremen. The clarification of authority helps in bringing efficiency in the running of a concern. This helps in achieving efficiency in the running of a concern. This helps in avoiding wastage of time, money, effort, in

According to Stojkovic, Kalinich, and Klofas (2015), power can be defined as “A construct that underscores that importance of how compliance among subordinates is achieved” (p. 288). Power can be at both a person and organizational level and there are five forms, including coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2015). In contrast, authority is “demoting the compliance with particular directives essential for achieving a common or shared goal” (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2015, p. 290). The three forms of author include, traditional authority, charismatic authority, and legal authority (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2015). Power can become authority over time and authority is useful for when individuals must be supervised within an organization (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2015). I believe the foundation of criminal justice organizations is authority because everyone is trying to attain the same goal and be successful (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2015). If power is distributed among too many employees, then that could lead to role conflict (Stojkovic, Kalinich, & Klofas, 2015). It is important to have supervisors with authority over

Authority represents the power that lies within a managerial position and that gives the manager the right to assign the jobs to his subordinates and to expect that the assigned jobs would be completed by the subordinates. By the virtue of authority, the superiors are empowered to make their juniors and subordinates work. The organizational structure should clearly define the line of authority so that the overlapping actions might be avoided (Mahida).

Roles are normally created for the varying business roles or functions. Performance of certain activities is limited to certain job roles or functions. Staff members given the task to undertake such activities are given user accounts unique to them to undertake these roles (Ferraiolo, Kuhn & Chandramouli, 2003). This is normally under the discretion of the immediate supervisor through dialogue with the overall supervisor of a particular division or department.

Allen must consider the distribution of authority. Authority is the organizationally certified right to make a decision. Authority can be distributed throughout an organization or held in the hands of a few select employees. Decentralization is the process of distributing authority throughout an organization. In a decentralized organization, an organization member has the right to make a decision without obtaining approval from a higher-level manager. On the other hand, centralization is the retention of decision-making authority by a high-level manager.

It is important for managers to understand the sources of power and influence as they must rely upon the cooperation of subordinates in order to be successful. Strong managers rely upon more than just authority they also use leadership skills and power to obtain the most productivity from their staff. According to French and Raven (1959) there are five sources of power. Referent power seems to be the most influential and the least affected by change. To quote Paul Argenti,

Supervision should foster the ability of each staff member to think and act for herself/himself.

An executive and administrative assistant’s role is in a position of trust. The executive of the administrative assistant are often entrusted with documents of a very sensitive nature such as payroll and salary, medical records, itinerary and schedules, correspondence and trade secrets. It is very important to ensure confidential information is protect from unauthorized personnel. A breach of sensitive information could result in identify theft, the potential for blackmail, emotional distress, or unwarranted exposure.

The authority of an agent is the act which he is allowed or authorised to do by his principal, and which will bind his/her principal. Usually, the principal will only be bound by the act of the agent if the agent acts within his/her authority. There are two types of authority which an agent could rely on, namely actual authority and apparent or ostensible authority.

Legitimate power is the power of organisation grants to a particular position. A manager has the right to insist that employees do their work and the right to discipline or dismiss them if they fail to comply.