P5

Authority

Authority means to have the power to give orders or make either important decisions or little decisions e.g. the police have the authority to arrest you for committing a crime. Authority appears in all form of the uniformed public services it links in with power e.g. sergeant of a police station has the authority to decide which case is important and which is less important.

Types of Authority
Within the uniformed public services there are 4 types of authority usually given out they are as follows explained and linked to a public service department; 1. 2. 3. 4. Authoritarian Dictorial Consultative Participative

Authoritarian: do as I say This bosses people around and being in charge, this leadership

style would be useful in the army, this is because in the army you personnel have to be obedient and do what is asked of them straight away with no questions asked. E.g. Army Routine foot patrol which then turns into an ambush attack from the Taliban in Afghanistan, they need someone to take control straight away with no questions asked, this style is very effective with minimal losses within the unit.
Dictorial: Do as I say or Ill kidnap your son This is similar to Authoritarian however the

main difference is after you are ordered to do something a threat will usually come straight after. This could also be used within the armed forces because a higher ranking officer will order you to do something and then finish the order by saying something on the lines of or its 20 press ups for the whole troop.

Consultative: This type of authority is pure and simply an advisory role, the person who uses this type of authority will usually advise a fellow recruit or officer on what to do next this can be seen in the uniformed public services when a recruit advises another recruit during training on how they fold their clothes properly or handling a fire arms. Participative: This type of authority is when nothing within an organisation can get done without getting everyone involved in the discussion, in other words democracy has gone mad and is unstable. This type of authority could be used in the fire and rescue service because when ideas are needed everyone will need to get involved and think of an idea, so the highest ranked official will want everyone to get involved.

P6 Where the uniform services receive authority from

Uniform services get their power from many sources with the main source being the UK government because with them creating new legislations giving them even more power, below are the 3 government legislations which have given some uniformed services more power or have changed the complexion of the service.

Armed forces discipline act 2000

Overall this act provides all 3 armed forces with framework for discipline procedures, this acts arrives from earlier acts; army act 1955, the air force act 1955 and the navel discipline act 1957 which then are renewed every 5 years within the houses of parliament. Overall each of the armed forces has their own legal system for dealing with personnel wherever they are in the world. This act deals with processing the personnel e.g. holding them and then it deals with punishing the personnel who have been charged with an offence or are likely to be charged by their armed forces e.g. Army. This act also means that the charged personnel can appeal against his/her charge in a fair and just trial.

Police act 1997

Within the UK each and every police service are subject to a code of conduct in which they must follow set out by the Police (disciplinary) regulations, below is 4 of those regulations in which the police must follow.

1. Honesty and Integrity Officers whom serve under HM the queen should not inappropriately lie and deceive any person or organisation, however it found of doing such a thing they should be liable on the discharge of their duties. In other words if a policeman is found guilty of perverting the course of justice or lying to get someone prosecuted then he/she should be liable to get the sack (If bad enough). 2. Fairness and Impartiality When a policeman is on duty he/she should treat every human being the same and not be biased towards a set of people, they should also act this way towards fellow colleagues. This means that if a policeman is asked to direct a member of the public to a destination e.g. Trafalgar square then it is the policemans duty to be fair and tell him/her where to go to get there. It can also be seen in the police force when dealing with a black man and a white man for the same charge, the policeman has to treat them both the same no matter what colour they are or nationality. 3. Politeness and Tolerance When officers are either on duty or off duty it is expected of them to be polite with members of the public or there colleagues and show them respect avoiding giving them abuse or unacceptable behaviour. This can be seen when officers are dealing with a case and other units are called in, the police officers who were already there must treat everyone with respect and be polite towards everyone.

Fire and rescue services act 2004

This act entails that the fire service within England and Wales and replaces the fire service act 1947. It set out a variety of rules within the fire service, its main aims are to promote fire safety to young people and elderly people and to reduce the time it takes to respond to a fire or RTA (road traffic accident), it also aims to reduce the times for natural disaster such as earthquakes and also terrorist attacks e.g. London bombings 2005. This act empowers the fire and rescue services to respond to the needs of the community at a faster rate then previously seen in earlier acts. It also means that the fire and rescue service needs to practice for emergencies e.g. burning high rise flats in case such a thing arises, they must meet the demands of modern day society. Authorities nowadays also have the right to combine the fire and rescue service with other authorities such as the police force in order to promote fire safety. They could work with the police force to make young people aware that playing with fire and alcohol at the same time is not a sensible idea. They also have the power to combine the forces in dealing with an emergency e.g. RTA because most police forces doesnt have the equipment to cut someone from a car safely and quickly.

Bases of Power
A guy called raven believed that there were 6 basis of power in which people respond to either in the workforce or everyday life, below I am going to describe each of these bases of power ad then link them into how they could be used within the uniformed public services.

Reward Power
Coercive power Informational Powr Expert Power Legitimate Power Referent Power
1. Reward Power We complete a job because at the end of it we expect a reward such as; Praise, money, Self satisfaction or promotion. This can be seen in the uniformed services because in the armed forces you can get promoted much easier if you carry on doing something right than in the police force 2. Coercive power We do what we are asked because we fear what my happen to us if we do not complete it e.g. sack, more work to do. This can be seen also in the armed forces because if you do not obey a command given to you by your superior then something unpleasant may happen to you. 3. Informational Power We complete what is asked of us because some people are persuaded by the amount of communication we receive or give to other people. I can see this in the police force because when you are on a case you communicate with a variety of people to get the job done to a high standard. 4. Expert Power

We complete given tasks because we believe that the power figure has greater expertise in a particular field. I can see this in the Armed forces because you complete a task given to you by an officer because you believe they have a greater expertise than you. 5. Legitimate Power We do what is asked of us because the power figure is commanded by a higher authority recognised by the power structure. I can see this in the NHS because a nurse will do what a doctor tells him/her what to do e.g. administer a drug to a patient. He/she will do this because of the power structure in which the NHS is built upon. 6. Referent Power We do what is asked of us because we recognise the source of influence and we may be attracted to them or respect their authority. I can see this type of power being used in the Police force because a constable will recognise that a commissioner is the main source of power within the UK met.

M4
When you are in the Uniformed public services it is important to be able to recognise authority and where that originates from, you will also have to known what the consequences will be if their is a lack of authority within the service. Overall I believe that authority is very important within the Uniformed public services because of a variety of reasons, firstly because if there was no authority who would be in charge of everyone? Nothing within the service would ever get done and public would have no one to turn to if they are in trouble. Because without authority there wouldnt be obedience, authority has the right and power to enforce obedience upon someone. A key part of authority is the nature of power theses are; Power, Position, Status, Influence and corruption below I am going to explain each of them.

Power
Power is like discipline because it can be implemented in several ways and again like discipline it depends on how it is used and who it is used on. Power can mean to persuade someone to act in a certain way with a demand because the person performing the persuading is seen to have power or authority over the person in question. Power may come from a lawful or unlawful source e.g. a person is reluctant to step out of their car to a stranger but if the stranger is holding a gun then it reinforces their demand.

Position
Position when used in the context of power means a high position within the government or organisation e.g. commissioner holds a higher position of power than a constable simply because the commissioner is in charge of the police force (South Yorkshire).However if you join the uniformed public services and are placed in a position of authority you can lawfully command other members within your team, the other team members recognise that you are in a position of power and therefore their duty is to obey your orders lawfully.

Status
Status or Rank can be seen as a symbol of power within many uniformed public services e.g. the status of admiral of the fleet holds more status power than a midshipman because he is higher up in the royal navys rank structure. Within each service within the uniformed public services everyone knows his/her status and knows their colleagues status and where everyone fits into the structure of authority.

Influence
Influence is very different to power, because power is often used to put pressure on someone when conflict is happening. However influence can make a person carry out a task or alter their plans because person applying the influence is regarded as knowing more than you in certain aspects. On the other hand influence doesnt have to be all about status it can be applied to someone who has got respect and trust from a whole host of people.

Corruption
Corruption is when a person lacks morale fibre and may be willing to undertake tasks which can affect their organisation in either a positive way or negative way. This could be seen in the police because in the 70s there was a lot or corruption, many police officers at that time would often plant evidence that didnt exist to get a person arrest and off of the street. And also within the uniformed public services any people have access to confidential information which in some circumstances can lead to personal gain.