Although the term authority has various connotations, in the organizational context, authority is defined as the power to make decisions which guide the actions of others. Power, on the other hand, is the ability of individuals to influence the beliefs and actions of others. Power can be legitimate, expert, referent, reward, or coercive. Various authority relationships exist in an organization, many of which are related to line and staff functions.
Line functions are those which are directly responsible for accomplishing the objectives of the enterprise, while staff functions are advisory in nature. The main staff functions are investigation, research and giving advice to line managers on how to accomplish tasks. Functional authority involves conferring rights upon individuals or departments to control the processes and practices pertaining to personnel in other departments. Instead of making recommendations to the line managers or superiors, functional authority allows staff personnel to issue instructions to line managers directly. Although line managers and staff personnel are expected to work together for accomplishment of organizational goals, there are many factors which contribute to the conflicts between line and staff personnel. The line managers have clashes with the staff personnel as they feel that staff personnel are not accountable for their actions. Moreover, line managers feel that staff personnel invade their territory and dilute their powers. Since staff personnel may not have experience of the operational activities, their recommendations and ideas may lack applicability.
Staff managers feel that line managers do not make the right use of talents of the staff personnel and are not open to new ideas. Further, since staff personnel lack authority, they may not be able to implement their solutions for problems. The difference in the nature of line and staff functions is also a prime reason for conflicts between line and staff managers. The line and staff conflicts can be avoided by having clearly defined authority relationships between line and staff functions and by ensuring proper use of staff talent. The staff personnel should also be made accountable for the outcome of their actions and present line managers the solutions for problems in as complete a form as possible, leaving only its acceptance or rejection to the line manager.
Organizations differ from each other in the amount of authority given to the lower-level employees regarding decision-making. Centralization is the retention of decision-making authority with the top management, whereas decentralization is granting of decision-making powers to the lower-level employees. It is not possible for an organization to be either completely centralized or completely decentralized. An organization can either follow a centralized or decentralized approach depending upon the manner in which it has grown over time, its size, the technical complexity of its tasks and the geographical dispersion of its business operations. Apart from these, other factors like time frame of decisions, importance of a decision to the organization, the planning and control procedures used and influence of various environmental factors determine the level of decentralization in an organization. Moreover, decentralization is facilitated if competent and experienced managers are present in the organization and subordinates are willing to take on additional responsibilities.
Depending on whether the organization follows a centralized or decentralized approach, authority is either retained with the top management or is delegated to the lower-level managers. Delegation of authority refers to a manager granting the right to a subordinate to make decisions or use his discretion in judging certain issues. The amount of authority delegated depends on the delegator and the delegant, as well as organizational factors.
The delegation of authority may not be effective if a superior does not like to delegate, if he is afraid of his subordinates' advancement, if he fears that his shortcomings may be exposed or if he has a negative attitude towards his subordinates. Also, if the delegant is afraid of criticism, lacks information and resources, lacks self-confidence and if the rewards and incentives are not attractive enough, the delegant may not be willing to take on additional responsibility.
Organizational factors such as its decentralization policy, control procedures, availability of managers and management philosophy also affect the delegation of authority. It is always important to strike a balance between centralized and decentralized functions in an organization.
Major policy areas like finance, new product programs, marketing strategies, etc. should be centralized, whereas routine and monotonous tasks which do not need much guidance from superiors, can be decentralized. Since the costs of decentralization are high, the potential benefits must be high enough to justify the costs involved.
Types of Authority:
3 main types of authority can exist within an organization:
Each type exists only to enable individuals to carry out the different types of responsibilities with which they have been charged.
Line Authority :
The most fundamental authority within an organization, reflects existing superior-subordinate relationships. It consists of the right to make decisions and to give order concerning the production,sales or finance related behaviour of subordinates.
In general, line authority pertains to matters directly involving management system production, sales, finance etc., and as a result with the attainment of objectives.
People directly responsible for these areas within the organization are delegated line authority to assist them in performing their obligatory activities.
Staff Authority:
Staff authority consists of the right to advise or assist those who possess line authority as well as other staff personnel.
Staff authority enables those responsible for improving the effectiveness of line personnel to perform their required tasks.
Line and Staff personnel must work together closely to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. To ensure that line and staff personnel do work together productively, management must make sure both groups understand the organizational mission, have specific objectives, and realize that they are partners in helping the organization reach its objectives.
Size is perhaps the most significant factor in determining whether or not an organization will have staff personnel. The larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to employ staff personnel.
As an organization expands, it usually needs employees with expertise in diversified areas. Although small organizations may also require this kind of diverse expertise, they often find it more practical to hire part time consultants to provide it is as needed rather than to hire full time staff personnel, who may not always be kept busy.
Line – Staff Relationships :
e.g. A plant manager has line authority over each immediate subordinate, human resource manager, the production manager and the sales manager.
However, the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manger, meaning the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manager, meaning the human resource manager possesses the right to advise the plant manager on human resource matters.
Still final decisions concerning human resource matters are in the hands of the plant manager, the person holding the line authority.
Role of Staff Personnel :
Harold Stieglitz has pinpointed 3 roles that staff personnel typically perform to assist line personnel:
The Advisory or Counseling Role: In this role, staff personnel use their professional expertise to solve organizational problems. The staff personnel are, in effect, internal consultants whose relationship with line personnel is similar to that of a professional and a client.
The Service Role: Staff personnel in this role provide services that can more efficiently and effectively be provided by a single centralized staff group than by many individuals scattered throughout the organization. This role can probably best be understood if staff personnel are viewed as suppliers and line personnel as customers.
The Control Role: Staff personnel help establish a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of organizational plans.
The role of staff in any organization should be specifically designed to best meet the needs of that organization.
Conflict in Line - Staff Relationship:
From the view point of line personnel, conflict is created because staff personnel tend to
From the view point of Staff Personnel, conflict is created because line personnel do not make proper use of staff personnel, resist new ideas and refuse to give staff personnel enough authority to do their jobs.
Staff Personnel can often avert line-staff conflicts if they strive to emphasize the objectives of the organization as a whole, encourage and educate line personnel in the appropriate use of staff personnel, obtain any necessary skills they do not already possess, and deal intelligently with the resistance to change rather than view it as an immovable barrier.
Line personnel can do their part to minimize line staff conflict by sing staff personnel wherever possible, making proper use of the staff abilities, and keeping staff personnel appropriately informed.
Line functions are those which are directly responsible for accomplishing the objectives of the enterprise, while staff functions are advisory in nature. The main staff functions are investigation, research and giving advice to line managers on how to accomplish tasks. Functional authority involves conferring rights upon individuals or departments to control the processes and practices pertaining to personnel in other departments. Instead of making recommendations to the line managers or superiors, functional authority allows staff personnel to issue instructions to line managers directly. Although line managers and staff personnel are expected to work together for accomplishment of organizational goals, there are many factors which contribute to the conflicts between line and staff personnel. The line managers have clashes with the staff personnel as they feel that staff personnel are not accountable for their actions. Moreover, line managers feel that staff personnel invade their territory and dilute their powers. Since staff personnel may not have experience of the operational activities, their recommendations and ideas may lack applicability.
Staff managers feel that line managers do not make the right use of talents of the staff personnel and are not open to new ideas. Further, since staff personnel lack authority, they may not be able to implement their solutions for problems. The difference in the nature of line and staff functions is also a prime reason for conflicts between line and staff managers. The line and staff conflicts can be avoided by having clearly defined authority relationships between line and staff functions and by ensuring proper use of staff talent. The staff personnel should also be made accountable for the outcome of their actions and present line managers the solutions for problems in as complete a form as possible, leaving only its acceptance or rejection to the line manager.
Organizations differ from each other in the amount of authority given to the lower-level employees regarding decision-making. Centralization is the retention of decision-making authority with the top management, whereas decentralization is granting of decision-making powers to the lower-level employees. It is not possible for an organization to be either completely centralized or completely decentralized. An organization can either follow a centralized or decentralized approach depending upon the manner in which it has grown over time, its size, the technical complexity of its tasks and the geographical dispersion of its business operations. Apart from these, other factors like time frame of decisions, importance of a decision to the organization, the planning and control procedures used and influence of various environmental factors determine the level of decentralization in an organization. Moreover, decentralization is facilitated if competent and experienced managers are present in the organization and subordinates are willing to take on additional responsibilities.
Depending on whether the organization follows a centralized or decentralized approach, authority is either retained with the top management or is delegated to the lower-level managers. Delegation of authority refers to a manager granting the right to a subordinate to make decisions or use his discretion in judging certain issues. The amount of authority delegated depends on the delegator and the delegant, as well as organizational factors.
The delegation of authority may not be effective if a superior does not like to delegate, if he is afraid of his subordinates' advancement, if he fears that his shortcomings may be exposed or if he has a negative attitude towards his subordinates. Also, if the delegant is afraid of criticism, lacks information and resources, lacks self-confidence and if the rewards and incentives are not attractive enough, the delegant may not be willing to take on additional responsibility.
Organizational factors such as its decentralization policy, control procedures, availability of managers and management philosophy also affect the delegation of authority. It is always important to strike a balance between centralized and decentralized functions in an organization.
Major policy areas like finance, new product programs, marketing strategies, etc. should be centralized, whereas routine and monotonous tasks which do not need much guidance from superiors, can be decentralized. Since the costs of decentralization are high, the potential benefits must be high enough to justify the costs involved.
Types of Authority:
3 main types of authority can exist within an organization:
- Line Authority
- Staff Authority
- Functional Authority
Each type exists only to enable individuals to carry out the different types of responsibilities with which they have been charged.
Line Authority :
The most fundamental authority within an organization, reflects existing superior-subordinate relationships. It consists of the right to make decisions and to give order concerning the production,sales or finance related behaviour of subordinates.
In general, line authority pertains to matters directly involving management system production, sales, finance etc., and as a result with the attainment of objectives.
People directly responsible for these areas within the organization are delegated line authority to assist them in performing their obligatory activities.
Staff Authority:
Staff authority consists of the right to advise or assist those who possess line authority as well as other staff personnel.
Staff authority enables those responsible for improving the effectiveness of line personnel to perform their required tasks.
Line and Staff personnel must work together closely to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. To ensure that line and staff personnel do work together productively, management must make sure both groups understand the organizational mission, have specific objectives, and realize that they are partners in helping the organization reach its objectives.
Size is perhaps the most significant factor in determining whether or not an organization will have staff personnel. The larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to employ staff personnel.
As an organization expands, it usually needs employees with expertise in diversified areas. Although small organizations may also require this kind of diverse expertise, they often find it more practical to hire part time consultants to provide it is as needed rather than to hire full time staff personnel, who may not always be kept busy.
Line – Staff Relationships :
e.g. A plant manager has line authority over each immediate subordinate, human resource manager, the production manager and the sales manager.
However, the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manger, meaning the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manager, meaning the human resource manager possesses the right to advise the plant manager on human resource matters.
Still final decisions concerning human resource matters are in the hands of the plant manager, the person holding the line authority.
Role of Staff Personnel :
Harold Stieglitz has pinpointed 3 roles that staff personnel typically perform to assist line personnel:
The Advisory or Counseling Role: In this role, staff personnel use their professional expertise to solve organizational problems. The staff personnel are, in effect, internal consultants whose relationship with line personnel is similar to that of a professional and a client.
The Service Role: Staff personnel in this role provide services that can more efficiently and effectively be provided by a single centralized staff group than by many individuals scattered throughout the organization. This role can probably best be understood if staff personnel are viewed as suppliers and line personnel as customers.
The Control Role: Staff personnel help establish a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of organizational plans.
The role of staff in any organization should be specifically designed to best meet the needs of that organization.
Conflict in Line - Staff Relationship:
From the view point of line personnel, conflict is created because staff personnel tend to
- Assume Line Authority
- Do not give Sound Advice
- Steal Credit for Success
- Fail to Keep line personnel informed of their activities
- Do not see the whole picture.
From the view point of Staff Personnel, conflict is created because line personnel do not make proper use of staff personnel, resist new ideas and refuse to give staff personnel enough authority to do their jobs.
Staff Personnel can often avert line-staff conflicts if they strive to emphasize the objectives of the organization as a whole, encourage and educate line personnel in the appropriate use of staff personnel, obtain any necessary skills they do not already possess, and deal intelligently with the resistance to change rather than view it as an immovable barrier.
Line personnel can do their part to minimize line staff conflict by sing staff personnel wherever possible, making proper use of the staff abilities, and keeping staff personnel appropriately informed.
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