ABSTRACT
This chapter considers treat authority as a psychological rather than a legal phenomenon. It examines the various motives that cause persons to accept the proposals of others. The chapter explores the motives that lead employees in organizations to accept authority. A large part of the work performed by members of organizations—particularly those we call "supervisors," "executives," or "administrators"—lies in making proposals for the behavior of others. The only important difference between non-organizational and organizational acceptance of authority is that authority is probably used more frequently and more systematically as a method of specializing the decision-making process inside organizations than it is outside. The proposals that one person in an organization makes for the action of others take many forms. People accept the proposals of persons in whom they have great confidence. The chapter describes various kinds of authority: authority of confidence, authority of identification, authority of sanctions, and authority of legitimacy.
