> Anybody have any ideas about how we choose who we will consider to be an
> authority?
Let me add a note in response to this question.
We typically assume that "someone" is in authority. Very often this is
the person designated as our "leader" (manager, priest, parent, etc.). I
have found that often these very same people do not see themselves as "in
authority." They are responding to what THEY say to do just as we are.
The authority which drives most social situations (and I see any
organization as a social situation) is often not one person. An
individual may direct that certain actions take place but the authority
which keeps such actions in place is usually detached, over time, from
that individual so that the actions are internalized by the group (and
often by the individuals within that group).
The force of social or consensual standards is as strong, if not stronger,
than the authority of an individual. As such, this must also be
considered authority and looked at similarly to that of an individual.
This does not remove the burden of individual responsibility for the
actions and consequences of complying with this authority any more than
orders from a leader removes that responsibility. But it is very helpful
to view systems as self-sustaining phenomena with an inherent agenda to
reserve its "self" in present form, just as an individual in power tends
to seek to preserve that power.
--Clyde Howell orgpsych@csra.net
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>