Authority in the work place

In many cases ‘power over others’ is often mistaken for authority. Aggressive bullying, turf –protecting snipping, mindless obstructionism  and capricious decision making  are often the mark of asserting this kind of authority and underneath it all are sure sings of a business that operates on ego, insecurity and fear – Deborah Bier.

As an overall business development function, the HRM is supposed to facilitate the employees to give their best to the business and ensure that the organization provides a favorable environment for the employees to work.

There are some things that can be done to balance out and define authority in the workplace and curb its abuse as indicated below:

1.       Proper Recruitment

In some cases abuse of authority can be caused by hiring a candidate with some extreme personal traits that make him/her unsuitable for a position of authority. So to try and reduce this, during recruitment it is imperative to incorporate personality tests, assessment centers focusing on team management and behavioral based interviews. These will help hire the candidate with the most suitable personal traits to handle authority.

2.       Clear Job Descriptions and Designations

Everybody in an organization should know what they were hired to do, whom they report to and what their position is. If this is clearly defined it might reduce cases of abuse of authority.

3.       Well mapped out Organization charts

Organization charts show the flow of authority in an organization, when designing the organization chart, bear in mind it is what will be used to guide the organization on the authority levels and it should be accurate and clear.

4.       Disciplinary policies

All employees regardless of their seniority or authority should be subject to the company’s disciplinary regulations. Therefore rules regarding abuse of authority should be clear and whatever penalties should be executed effectively. When such cases are identified proper investigation has to be done first but the cases should resolved  fast.

5.       Effective communication

Ultimately, communication is the very core of defining and explaining anything in an organization. All employees should be able to communicate well with each other and in cases where it is not well done, there can be training to people on communication or a third party can be involved to facilitate it and correct the problems.

6.       Training and team buildings sessions

Relevant trainings should be organized in the organization whenever needed to train the employees on various issues that concern authority in the company. Team building sessions are essential to help the employees know how to work together and have mutual respect  and this is essential getting all employees to recognize, exercise and respect proper authority.

If authority is not defined and balanced, the work place becomes more of a war zone with misguided energies where there is too much politics and most people do not focus their energy entirely on getting their work done.

Striking a balance and proper exercise of authority creates a sustainable and conducive work environment that enhances performance in the business. So, good luck giving authoritative support to the authority holders on how authority should be exercised in the organization.