Authority

“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.” — Anne Bradstreet

Authority

Authority is a right to command and sometimes an entitlement to rule. The concept of authority recalls the chieftain or wise woman of ages past, who may have acquired influence through exceptional hunting or gathering skills and who went on making useful suggestions for the group. Each exercise of their leadership would have been particular and called forth by exigencies of the moment, but the sensible utility resulting from their decision making gradually produced a habitual voluntary following among the people.

The term “authority” traces back to the Latin word “auctoritas”. In Roman law, “Auctoritas” encompassed various meanings, including “invention,” “advice,” “opinion,” “influence,” and “command.” It directly derived from the Latin word “auctor,” which signified an “author,” “master,” “leader,” or “creator.”

Governing institutions vary in how centralized they keep their authority, what authority they assign to which offices and tasks, how they recruit persons to be authorities, and what constraints they place on authorities. While authorities supervise the work necessary to achieve organizational goals, not every supervisor is an authority and not every authority is a supervisor; authority may be positional and titular and/or functional and real.

Critical to the work of an authority is being credible, appearing capable of achieving goals and being trusted. Becoming more than a “place holder" requires that the authority lead the group to success. Operationally this includes managing conflict in tune with the constitution or charter and procedures of the group. Coercion (real or perceived) puts legitimacy at risk. The secret of legitimacy for an authority is that success preserves and increases authority.

Those in authority must strive to gather sufficient resources to make success possible, because achieving group goals is more important than momentary group consensus on a particular policy; it provides the authority with “the right to rule,” which includes “the right to make mistakes.” Lacking this right, authorities will find that subordinates ignore or circumvent them. Trust in authoritative procedures is important to everyone because it means persons on the “losing” side of an issue may be on the “winning” side next time. Using positive politics to build trust, secure resources, and achieve objectives, allows authorities to earn trust and retain legitimacy.