RATIONAL- LEGAL AUTHORITY
Rational-legal authority (also known as rational authority, legal authority, rational domination, legal domination, or bureaucratic authority) is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy and bureaucracy. The majority of the modern states of the twentieth century are rational-legal authorities, according to those who use this form of classification
Authority Types
Traditional authority is legitimated by the sanctity of tradition. The ability and right to rule is passed down, often through heredity. It does not change overtime, does not facilitate social change, tends to be irrational and inconsistent, and perpetuates
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LEGAL-RATIONAL AUTHORITY IS RATIONAL In charismatic authority Weber considers charisma to be a driving and creative force which surges through traditional authority and established rules. The sole basis of charismatic authority is the recognition or acceptance of the claims of the leader by the followers. While it is irrational, in that it is not calculable or systematic, it can be revolutionary, breaking traditional rule and can even challenge legal authority. Weber notes that traditional authority is irrational. It blocks the development of rational or legal forms of authority or acts as a barrier to the development of more rational or legal forms of authority characteristic of western societies. traditional authority a means by which inequality is created and preserved. Where no challenge to the authority of the traditional leader or group is made, then the leader is likely to remain dominant. Legal-rational authority is a particular system containing humans, like e.g. organizations, there is some authority acting as a stabilizing factor making e.g. employees follow the directions of the leaders. Authority helps to prevent anarchy, and help to define a clear hierarchy of decision-making. A clear hierarchy will potentially lead to an effective organization, consisting of strong and legitimate authority relations between leaders and followers.
This authority is only granted leaders if followers find his or her authority legitimate. This illustrates the
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
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.
Saddam Hussien, the former president of Iraq is a prime example of authority being taken for granted. When steppping up to be president he changed his leadership into dictatorship and commited a litany of felonies with his followers assitance. One of his henious crimes being the " Anafal campaign" He sent Iraq troops to Kurdish to eliminate the populations so he could gain control over Kurdish. He gather the civilians of males 13 to 70 and shot every single one and buried them. Leaving just the females and childern to be taken back to camps under control of Saddam.
Those who are in power are not accountable to constituencies and public policy does not derive from social consent. Within sociology and political science, particularly within comparative politics, authoritarianism has been understood as a modern type of political regime. Therefore, the concept focuses on the way of accessing, exercising, and organizing power, on the nature of the belief system, and the role of citizens in the political
The article, “The Authoritarian Personality,” written by Erich Fromm discusses the common and different characteristics between the two forms of an authoritarian personality. He starts to explain how one becomes a mature person. He states that to become a mature person, said person needs to have developed love and reason. He then states that an authoritarian character has not reached maturity, and therefore, has not developed love or reason. Erich Fromm continues to explain that the difference between the ruler and the ruled is how they start to feel “greater.” The way the ruled feels “greater” is by depending on their ruler for guidance and by following the ruler to become a part of the larger group. The way the ruler feels “greater” is by depending on the ruled to continue to look at them as strong and powerful. He then points out that one person can hold both the ruler and the ruled characteristics. Erich Fromm continues to explain the differences between rational and irrational authority and where these two forms of authority are found. He ends by saying that the understanding of love and reason, and developing said characteristics is the foundation to a person’s own authority and political democracy. While reading this article, it brought me back to all the times I have dealt with people who have authoritative personalities and how it affected me. As stated by Erich Fromm, all people with authority personalities contain components of both the ruler and the ruled.
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).
The struggles against authority, repeatedly and continuously, take place in the history. As for those fighters, Voltaire, a famous French writer and thinker, once put forward an idea, “It is dangerous to be right in matters about which the established authorities are wrong.”() The word “right” contrasting to “wrong” means the truth. An “established authorities” could be regarded to the dominant powers controlling and guiding people, such as long-existing conventions held and propagated by the power-holders or the influential experts in specific fields. The article will support the idea of Voltaire by providing sufficient and concrete evidences. It is reasonable that people might suffer the possibility of oppression from the authority, when the ideas of the former contrasts to the latter who tend to retain its status. The challenger is dangerous in the way that the power of authorities, at most time, overwhelm them; the characteristic of opposing ideas invites the oppression by authority. It is possible to receive potential danger from the authority, while some did succeed in the struggle.
Authority – provided by CIO AFTER the PMO had proven itself: o Authority being developed bottom-up; o No plan to enforce usage at the enterprise level.
According to Weber, “sociological analysis will treat [people] on the same level as...men who are the "greatest" heroes...according to conventional judgements,” that addresses the subject of authority (Types of Legitimate Domination, 242.) In other words, those who display a charismatic, genuine nature as leaders, will receive a different admiration from their followers that resonates with that character that they’re putting forward.
Whether one acknowledges it or not we all obey authority in one way or another. It is something that is embedded into us from the day that we are born. We begin to become obedient to our parents, elders, our teachers, law enforcement, the list goes and on. Authority has a major impact on human behavior. This is especially evident in the case of the concentration camps in Germany. There were hundreds if not thousands of people following Hitlers unethical orders, and clearly they outnumbered the one person controlling it all. However, they did not go against him but they simply followed his orders. For a person to obey authority, one has to accept that it is legal, and right for the order to be made of them. It also involves somebody of a higher power or status to be involved in making the commands.
Authoritarianism is a form of government in which the leader or leaders have exclusive power concerning matters of the state. Although these
Authority cannot exist without obedience. Society is built on this small, but important concept. Without authority and its required obedience, there would only be anarchy and chaos. But how much is too much, or too little? There is a fine line between following blindly and irrational refusal to obey those in a meaningful position of authority. Obedience to authority is a real and powerful force that should be understood and respected in order to handle each situation in the best possible manner.
Weber's discussion of authority relations also provides insight into what is happening in the modern world. Weber distinguished three main types of authority: Traditional authority, Rational-legal authority and Charismatic authority.
Traditional authority is leadership that is based on the historical customs of a society or group. Within an organization, traditional authority is based on the precedented methods of operation that have changed little over time (Stojkovic et al., 2008). In relation to the criminal justice administration, one may view traditional authority in the form of commanding power of a warden within a corrections system. The warden is the head of the hierarchy and operates simply in the way that a warden always has operated. In respect to traditional authority, things do not change because procedures are based on customs and merely continue as they always have.
Rational legal authority is the authority is the authority leaders attain on the basis of various rules which have been legally established. This type of authority can be identified in the modern society. Obedience is not given to any leader or tradition, but to legally passed laws. Examples of this form of authority can be found in the modern state as well, city governments, private and public corporations, Indian judiciary,