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 AUTHORITY, POWER, STRESS, LEARNIG, OBMOD

AUTHORITY AND POWER

Authority-
• Authority is the right to give orders and exact obedience. Authority is
formally granted or provided to a particular position in an organization. It
includes the right to take decisions and get them executed from
subordinates.
• There are limits on every authority. It is not unlimited in nature.
• Authority is legitimate and legal as it is provided formally by the organization
to positions.

Kinds of authority-
1. Rational legal authority- legal authority is derived by a position holder from
rules, regulations, policies and norms laid down for systematic functioning of
an organization. It is officially provided by the organization to a position
holder and rests with the position and not the person. Whoever occupies
that position gains authority over his subordinates. For example, the position
of Chief Minister of a state provides authority. Any person occupying that
position is legally provided authority over others.
2. Traditional authority- authority that rests with a person due to a position that
is traditionally recognized is called as traditional authority. For example,
authority given to a royal family in a state is traditional authority.
3. Charismatic authority- this kind of authority is generated due to charisma or
exceptional power resting within a person. For example, Mahatma Gandhi
did not have any formal authority over Indian followers. His charisma made
him the leader of national movement.

Sources of authority-
1. Formal authority theory- According to this theory, authority originates at the
top of the organization and flows downward through delegation.

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Shareholders command ultimate authority because they own the

organization. They entrust a part of their authority to board of directors who
in turn delegates it to the management. This way, authority flows down to
each and every level of the organization.
2. Acceptance theory- According to this theory, authority is which is accepted
by others. Authority has no meaning unless it is accepted by the other
person. If subordinates reject authority of their superior, it loses its
importance and becomes redundant. The concept of “zone of indifference” is
related to acceptance theory. Zone of indifference is the specific limit that is
defined or set by individuals. Subordinates willingly accept authority within
this zone of indifference only. As soon as authority goes out of this zone, the
subordinates reject the exercise of authority over them.
3. Competence theory- According to this theory, an individual derives authority
because of his personal competence. Formal authority is useless unless the
person occupying it is able to prove his competence for that positional
power.

Power:

Power can be defined as the capacity and ability to exert influence over others. If a
person has power, it means he is able to influence behavior of other individuals.
While authority provides right to a position to get the work done from others, power
provides capacity to influence others at a personal level.

Sources of Power-
1. Coercive power- based on influencer’s ability to punish the other person for
not obeying orders.
2. Legitimate power- based on formal rights one receives as a result of holding a
position in an organization. It is also called as positional power
3. Expert power- based on special expertise or knowledge of the influencer.

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4. Referent power- admiration towards the influencer provides him referent

power over his followers. When followers try to imitate the behavior of
influencer, they are made to follow the influencer.

Tactics to Gain Power-

1. Bargaining or Trade off- It refers to quid pro quo (this for that) agreement
between two or more groups. Negotiations happen regarding what party A is
willing to give up to party B and vice versa. The party having greater
bargaining power is able to get more benefits than sacrifices made.
2. Competition- many groups compete for limited resources in an organization
and try to influence others by winning in the competition and getting hold of
those resources.
3. Co-optation- whenever there is a threat from group B, group A includes
key people of group B in important positions or policy making committees
in order to remove criticism and threat emanating from group B.
4. Coalition- a temporary alliance to combine efforts and deal with a
bigger threat is called coalition.

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STRESS MANAGEMENT

Work Stress:
R.S. SHULER:
• Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an
opportunity, demand or resource related to what the individual desires
and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and
important.
• Generally discussed in a native context.
• An unpleasant psychological process that occurs in response to
environmental pressures.

• It is a body reaction to any demands or changes in its internal and

external environment.

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Hindrance Stressors
• Stressors that keep you from reaching your goals — example: office
politics, red tape, confusion over job responsibilities etc.

Challenge Stressors
• Stressors that are associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks,
and time urgency.

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• Sources of Stress
1. Individual Sources
1. Career Development
2. Type A and Type B profiles
3. Life Change
4. Life Trauma
2. Organization Sources
1. Organization Structure and Design (Climate)
2. Administrative Policies
3. Working Conditions
4. Organizational Processes and
leadership

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Consequences of Stress
• Physical Consequences
• Behavioral Consequences
• Psychological Consequences

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• Counseling
• Job redesign
• Role clarity
• Stress reduction and management programs
• Supportive organizational culture
• Meditation

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LEARNING

Learning can be defined as a change in behavior brought about as a consequence of

experience. It is accompanied by acquisition of knowledge, skills and expertise which
are relatively permanent.

Theories of learning:

1. Classical conditioning- CC states that behavior is learned by repetitive

association between a stimulus and a response. Organisms learn to show a
response to a particular stimulus. For example, if a dog is given stimulus in
terms of bell ring and taught to respond with a bark, the dog will learn the
connection between stimulus and response and bark every time bell rings.
2. Operant conditioning- OC states that behavior is not a result of stimulus but a
result of perception of reward or punishment. Behavior is voluntary and it is
determined and controlled by its consequences. For example, the behavior of
applying brakes in the possibility of an accident is not dependent upon the
stimulus of accident. It is dependent upon the expected punishment of
accident.
3. Cognitive learning theory- CLT states that learning is achieved by thinking
about the relationship between events and individual goals.
4. Social learning- social learning combines behavioural and cognitive concepts.
It recognizes the importance of consequences as determinants of behavior
and also recognizes the fact that people acquire new behaviors by observing

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others. Learning under social theory is a combination of environmental

response and individual learning.

OB MOD

• OB Mod is a programme where managers identify performance related

employee behaviors and then implement an intervention strategy to
strengthen desirable behaviors and weaken or suppress undesirable
behaviors. OB Mod stands for Organization behavior modification. It is a tool
to modify behaviors of employees in order to enhance their productivity and
contribution in the organization.

• In order to reinforce desirable behavior, 4 strategies can be followed:

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o Positive reinforcement- Use of rewards that stimulate desired

behavior and strengthen probability of repeating such behavior.
Positive reinforcement can be money, promotion, recognition etc.
o Negative reinforcement- it is also called avoidance learning. It entails
use of unpleasant consequences to condition individuals to avoid
behaving in undesirable ways. Avoidance learning is not a strategy of
punishment. For example, we learn to watch for traffic when crossing
streets to avoid accidents.
o Extinction- Extinction implies withdrawal of all forms of reinforcement
to remove undesirable behavior. For example, a disruptive employee
who is punished by his supervisor for his undesirable behavior may
continue the disruption because of attention they bring. By ignoring
and isolating the employee, attention is withdrawn and the
motivation for disruption is also possibly withheld.
o Punishment- punishment is followed when an undesirable behaviour
needs to be eliminated. For example, wages may be reduced if a
worker is not producing good quality products.

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