My people,
As some of you know, I’ve been reading the autobiography of Alex Ferguson–quick background for those who don’t know him: He managed British football club Manchester Utd. His success makes him, arguably, the best football manager in the history of the game.
On Saturday while seating in Starbucks and drinking a tasty hot chocolate, I ran into this two interesting lines on his book. They read, “The moment the manager loses his authority, you don’t have a club. The players will be running it, and then you’re in troubles” “The authority is what counts. You cannot have a players taking over the dressing room.”
What’s your thought on this?
I personally agree with Ferguson. In the football world, managing big egos is a challenge and keeping them under this check is a must.
Now, I believe this can be applied in the office or organization management as well. In this case, the name of “boss” or “manager” etc is irrelevant, it is how subordinates accept this person and ultimately granted him/her the right to delegate them. Let me get this crystal clear, an authority should not mean neither oppression nor total freedom within any team, which I believe both oppression and total freedom seat at the extremes of the spectrum. There’s got to be a balance. Assuming that in team X, all its members know what their task is and how to go about it. But if they do not know who the authority is and who is setting the direction, not matter how good they are, it is possible that chaos may arise as a result of conflict of interests or power struggle etc. There’s got to be some sort of reference point.
Authority also shows that the person who is the authority is doing a good job staying at the top of a team, because the moment you see someone as authority, it is implied that you have given him/her power over you. Why did you decide to give him/her power? who knows!… but its implied that you have given up some of your power to that person because you respect, believe him/her in some capacity and that your hard work will contribute to an ultimate goal. This is different from power, power is all the way around. It is exercised by the other party without your consent, the minute someone has a gun over you, it has power over your by coercion e.g. Saddam Hussein. Authority is exercised because you have given that consent previously e.g. governments running a democratic society–as explained in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.
Cheers!
Andres
Sir Ferguson’s leadership style attracted players from all over the world, and their desire to play for him went beyond negotiated contracts and money involved. His management skills ensured that players, with sometimes larger than skill egos, understood that club rules apply to all equally and that the club will never bend its philosophy to any individual player.
I found this article which compares authority to leadership and these excerpts speak nicely to Ferguson’s style and legacy in terms of organizational management philosophy.
“When dealing with adults, the sole use of authority to direct and discipline them hardly works, leadership provides a better approach of sharing and involving thus building rapports with followers and creating long term relationships. Authority can hardly make people change their attitudes and behaviors with lasting effects and results however a leader inspires followers through self modeled ways and hence leadership displays greater effectiveness in addressing attitudes and behaviors of people.
Individuals, who do not rely on authority but lead people, are the ones who enjoy the privilege of their ideologies and thoughts practiced by later generations long after they are gone.
Even with individuals who held positions of responsibilities, the ones who actually led their people are the ones remembered and followed.
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/authority-and-leadership.htm
I have to agree that authority is what counts especially as a manager. If you have no authority and your staff does not respect the capacity you are supposed to function in, chaos is bound to ensue. At work for example, there are many managers who have the “management title” but no authority over their subordinates. The subordinates attribute it to their manager not knowing how to help them in their time of need and are therefore left feeling as though they are managing themselves. I personally feel more comfortable when I can trust that if I have a problem, I can go to my manager and they can help me. If they can not help me then they will find out for me or can point me in the right direction. That enables me as a worker to “give” that person power over me since I can trust that they will function in the role as being my “superior.”
~Modestina
I can definitely see how important authority is to be an effective coach, or a military leader. And certainly if you want to effect change, in any kind of meaningful way, it’s virtually impossible without real authority. However, I don’t necessarily think it translates to many other professions.
My workplace (not as much my specific organization, but a state agency that is co-located with us, and part of our system) is very hierarchical. And what I’ve witnessed is the ways in which it completely tamps down the kind of discretion and adaptability that would be needed to effectively serve a diverse population. Any time something “out of the ordinary” comes up, no one feels comfortable making a move without first consulting Mr. Murray (yes, he even ensured everyone calls him Mr. Murray!). When he is not in the office it’s a disaster. And what’s worse, he is a micromanager, so that there are significant gaps in workflow when he is absent.
So while real authority is critical in certain industries and in certain cases, it can be severely damaging to other organizations – where a more diffuse power system can allow for greater flexibility.
While one could argue that like the invisible hand if everyone knew their job an organization would function well this is not typically the case. In these situations people often find themselves at loose ends and the organization flounders. However, direction might come from the person holding positional authority or it might come from a person who has become an information leader.