Authority of a Person in a Community Essay

Thesis statement

Authority is the leading power in any community, and often acts as the reference point for any activity. People, who possess the authority are regarded to have also power, and this power may be the reason of conflicts. The current paper is aimed to regard the matters of authority in the context of conflictology, analyze the way, how authority leads to conflicts, and how these conflicts may be solved.

Introduction

First of all it is necessary to mention, that authority, and all the issued associated with is generally attributed to power and respect. Authority may be used in different spheres, especially if the teamwork is required. Moreover, any hierarchy requires a leader that needs to be authoritative in order the hierarchy worked properly. The authority may be applied directly to the governing or ruling some community. Authority may be the matter of respect and trust. Authority in science often defines the weight of the arguments. The conflictology researchers argue, that the most conflicts in teams take place on the basis of authority (real, formal or potential).

On the one hand, the very notion of authority is the subject of envy, and may lead to conflicts. On the other hand, authority is the restraining factor for the conflicts. Such definition seems to be rather complicated, however, it should be emphasized, that the principle balance of authority (which is similar to the balance of power) should be applied.

Types of Authority

It should be mentioned, that the number of types, that researchers define generally depend on the approach, used for studying the issues, reasons and origins of authority.

Max Webber, as the conflictology and sociology scientist identified three types of authority. He defined the issues of domination (which are similar to authority) as the chance of commands being obeyed by a specific group of people. Legitimate authority is the power, that is regarded lawful by both sides: ruler and the ruled. The three types of authority are the following:

1. The first type is the Rational-legal authority. It is the form of authority, that depends on the legitimacy, and the established laws. This authority is generally applied at the governmental level, and often used as the power ruling of the controlled community. Government officials are the best examples of this type of authority users, and it is the prevalent form
2. The second type is the traditional authority, that is derived from long-established traditions, habits preferences and structures. The essence of the traditional authority is the transmission of the power from generation to generation. This is the monarchies and dynasties.
3. The third form of authority is the Charismatic dominance. The charisma of an individual plays the significant role, and the authority itself is originated from the issues of the gift of grace, or when the leader himself claims, that his authority is the higher power, offered by God. These are mainly politicians or the movie/music/TV idols, that are widely admired. This is the authority of grace and charm, that are used to gain votes and popularity.

The superiors generally feel that they have the right to issue commands, and rule the community. There are numerous instances in history, when the types of authority changed. This happens during revolutions, which are, originally the conflicts of authority. (Coombs, 2005)

It should be mentioned, that Webber defines only the types of legitimate authority, while there are also the illegitimate types. However, the only type of the illegitimate authority is the power and violence. All the other types that may be defined, are based only on power and violence.

Conflicts of Authority

According to the definition, Conflict is a state of disagreement reasoned by the actual or apparent opposition of requirements, values and interests. The conflict on the basis of authority has the same definition, as authority is the object of interest, value and requirement. Consequently, the conflict may happen either for the authority (interest), or because of someone’s exceeding one’s authority (Quesnell, 2003).

It is necessary to mention, that authority in conflicts plays the defining role, as if one of the parties to the conflict possesses high authority, the opposite party will be difficult to oppose it, as the authoritative person is always difficult to oppose. The conflicts, based on the legitimate authority are solved in accordance with the legitimate means.

The authority conflict on the state level may end with the revolution, and as history shows, the two authorities are opposing in this way: these are Rational-legal and Charismatic authorities. The latter, if succeed, obtain the Rational-legal authority, and then aims to overwhelm any appearing charismatic leaders (Swidler, 1979).

Authority, as the Tool of Solving the Conflict

As it was emphasized, the balance of authorities helps to either prevent conflict or solve it. It is like the balance of power in international relations: if every State has the equal amount of powers, the war is incredible. If the balance is violated, those who have more power will try to defeat those who have less power. The same is among people, who aim to gain the authority or increase the authority level.

The authoritative person may be the third – neutral side to the conflict, and solve it from the neutral position. The fact is that, such principle is used in the UNO, and the members of the Security Council often act as the intermediate court. This principle may also be used in any community with the authoritative leader. The fact is that, such judgments, if imposed correctly and not forejudged, increase the authority of the judge. Consequently, this variant helps to kill two birds with a single stone.

Taking into account the strategies of conflict management, it is necessary to mention, that there are some strategies, that may be used by only authoritative person. Thus, the strategy of competing may be attributed to highly authoritative party. Selecting the competitive style often means that an individual is putting his or her own interests above the interests of anyone else. This can not be performed successfully without authority, and, moreover, this strategy will also help to manage the conflict of authorities (Brown. 2001).

If Authority is Helpless

In spite of the fact, that authority and power often helps to solve, or even prevent conflicts, there are some cases, when authority is helpless, and can only worsen the situation. These cases are rare in history and in practice, however, the brightest example of such a case may be case of Genghiz Khan’s expansion of Mongolian territories. The governors of the captured countries, having their own authority and power, were afraid to resist the Mongolian army, as they were afraid to lose their power. They preferred to concur with Genghiz Khan, offering him immense contribution in order to save their own power and authority in the country. Genghiz Khan, in his turn, had the greatest authority ever, and wished to increase it in any way. The fact is that, this aim was supported by his increasing power and respect among soldiers. (Blass, 2000) Thus, it is necessary to emphasize, that authority tends to increase in geometric progression, and the larger the authority difference is, the simpler is the conflict solution.

Conclusion

The authority may be divided into three types, basing on the origin of the authority (according to Webber’s conclusion), and there is separate type, based on the source of the authority. It may be used as the tool to solve or even prevent conflicts; however, on the other hand, it may be the subject of a conflict itself. It is argued, that there are some strategies of conflict management that may be applied only with the high authority level.

In spite of the successful solution of conflicts, there are instances, when authority is helpless, or even harmful. These cases are rare, though some of them are classical.

References

1. Blass, Thomas, ed. Obedience to Authority: Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000.
2. Brown, Warren. Unjust Seizure: Conflict, Interest, and Authority in an Early Medieval Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.
3. Cahn, Dudley D., ed. Conflict in Personal Relationships. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994.
4. Coombs, Clyde H., and George S. Avrunin. The Structure of Conflict. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005.
5. Quesnell, Quentin, and John MacQuarrie. The Authority for Authority. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2003.
6. Swidler, Ann. Organization without Authority: Dilemmas of Social Control in Free Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.