12. Power and Distribution of Authority

According to Stoner, the organizational structure provides a clear, logical, and stable pattern of relationships within which managers and employees can work to achieve organizational goals.

The Formal Authority (which is legitimate power) is what, as a general rule, we associate with the structure and administration of organizations. We have the following forms of application of authority: linear, staff and functional.

The Power is the ability to influence others. David McClelland has described the “two faces of power”; a negative face that is usually expressed in terms of dominance-submission: if I win you lose; a positive face that is characterized by a concern for the goals of the group; for helping to formulate and achieve them. It involves exerting influence for the benefit of and not over others. We have that the five bases of power are: coercive, legitimate, expert, referent and reward power.

According to Kotter, a manager has basic characteristics for a successful management of power, such as: sensitivity to the source of their power, they recognize the different costs, risks and benefits of the 5 bases of power, they know that each of the five bases of power have their merits, they have career goals that allow them to develop and exercise power, they act maturely and exercise self-control, they understand that power is necessary to get things done.

According to Stoner, how formal authority will be distributed within the organization's structure is a key organizing decision. To delegate is to assign to another person the formal authority and responsibility to perform specific activities.

Aspects to consider for effective delegation: decide which tasks can be delegated, decide who will assign the task, provide sufficient resources to carry out the delegated task, delegate the assignment, be prepared to intervene if necessary, establish a system of feedback.

On the other hand, according to Stoner, the measure of formal authority that managers delegate throughout the organization follows a continuum that goes from decentralization to centralization. In a relatively decentralized organization, quite a lot of authority and responsibility is passed down. In a relatively centralized organization, quite a bit of authority and responsibility are retained at the top of the hierarchy.

Finally, job design is a vehicle for putting into practice, in a systematic way, the decentralization measure that managers want and that they consider necessary to pursue the goals of the organization. We understand job design as dividing the work of an organization among its employees.