Difference between Power and Authority in the organization,

Power,

Power is the most commonly heard in talks regarding politics, wars, and sports. power is a factor in almost any organizational decisions and all levels of most organizations. At times is this word utilized in advanced business discussions. Management does know that there are Five Sources of control in an organization and they are utilizing them to control their organization. Management has the control to analyze and execute things to do things for his company.

According to Bachrach and Baratz (1962),Lukes (1974),Mizruchi(1983) power as the ability to control premises of actions, such that power becomes almost unobservable.

As the capacity to get things done in spite of the will and resistance of others, the capacity to "win" political battles, or a capacity to outmaneuver the resistance (Bierstadt, 1950), (Emerson,1962).

French and raven (1958) introduced five bases or sources of power in management as follows,

1.      Legitimate Power – The organization gives Managers the power to coordinate the activities of their subordinates. Legitimate power is comparable to formal specialist and thus it can be made, allowed, changed or pulled back by the formal organization. (as opposed to illegitimate in the eyes of the followers)

2.      Reward Power - This type of Power is the degree to which one person has control over rewards that are esteemed by another. The manager who employs commend and acknowledgment has moreover a great deal of power.(being able to give the others what he or she wants)

3.      Coercive Power - Management has, coercive power on the off chance that they have control over a few shapes of disciplines such as the danger of expulsion, suspension, downgrade or another strategy of shame for the people in the organization (Forcing him or her to do it)

4.      Expert Power - It is more of personal power than organizational power. Master power is the impact that one uses as a result of one’s involvement, uncommon ability or knowledge. (having expertise that others want to use)

5.      Referent Power - A person who is regarded by certain others for anything reason has referent power over those individuals. (having desirable attributes that make people wish to refer to the leader)

      Authority,

according to Barnard, ”Authority is the character of communication(order) in a formal organization by virtue of which it is accepted by a contributor to, or member of the organization as generating the action he contributes, that is, as governing or determining what he does or is not to do so far as the organization is concerned.”

Despite that authority and power are some differences between as follows,

	Power	Authority
Ability vs Right	Influence the action of others broader concept than authority	Managerial or administrative position Form of power
Formal Non-Formal	Non-formal	formal
Personal-Impersonal	personally	impersonally
Degree of structure	Less Structured	Structured
Association with responsibility	Without responsibility	Responsibility
Nature of compliance	mandatory	Not mandatory

References,

Lukes, S. 1974 Power: A Radical View. London: MacMillan.

Mizruchi, Mark S. 1983 "Who controls whom? An ex- amination of the relation be- tween management and boards of directors in large American corporations." Academy of Management Re- view, 8: 426-435.

Bierstadt, Robert 1950 "An analysis of social power." American Sociological Review, 15: 730-738.

Emerson, Richard M. 1962 "Power-dependence rela- tions." American Sociological Review, 27: 31-41.

Raven, B.H. and French, J.R.P. (1958). Legitimate Power, Coercive Power, and Observability in Social Influence. Sociometry, 21(2), p.83.

‌ Stewart, D.W. (1989). Barnard as a Framework for Authority and Control. Public Productivity Review, 12(4), p.413.