3.3. The authority of the head.

The authority of the leader is one of the essential aspects of the problem of the authority of the individual in a social organization. Therefore, we begin with a description of the authority of the person in general, and then consider the features inherent in the authority of the leader.

The phenomenon of personal authority can be viewed from different angles, but three of them seem to be the most important - this is its essence, the psychological mechanisms that determine its influence on other people, and the final effect to which it leads.

The essence of the authority of the person is determined by the value that a person has for other people as a member of a team and as a participant in socially significant activities. It follows from this that the objective value of its properties, which is revealed in the course of joint activities with other people, is the most important factor of the personality’s credibility. In this regard, all socially significant properties of this person are attributes of authority. However, the decisive moment in each concrete situation of the interaction of a person with other people is the subjective value of its properties for these people, which is formed under the influence of their perceptual images, value attitudes, value judgments. This allows all socially significant properties of the individual to be considered the basis of authority.

Authority - the result of reflection in the minds of people of social significance, value, usefulness of those properties that are inherent in this person as a member of a social community and as a subject of socially significant activities.

Such an understanding of the essence of the authority of the personality makes it possible to explain the peculiarities of its motivating influence on people through the psychological mechanisms of suggestion and imitation. In this regard, authority acts as a special socio-psychological property of the individual, with a pronounced motivating effect. Any property of an individual has a greater or lesser motivating effect to the extent of the value it has for us.

Authority is a certain integrative property, which is formed on the basis of professional, moral, intellectual properties. The powerful incentive effect of the phenomenon of authority is explained by the summation of the values ​​of these personality traits. However, authority as a socio-psychological property that arises in a joint activity of a person with other people may be lost if a reassessment of the “basic” properties of the personality occurs.

Characteristic forms of manifestation and existence of the incentive effect of authority are suggestion and imitation. According to A. G. Kovalev, suggestion is a way people influence each other, and imitation - a way to reflect this influence in the process of communication

In this case, it is primarily about the so-called unintentional or involuntary suggestion, which, according to M. Bekhterev, can be carried out imperceptibly for the person perceiving him. And the higher this "invisibility" of the influence of an authoritative person, the more it seems to us the more credibility of this person we have

Imitation is a form of reflection of the stimulating effect of the authority of the individual. The most typical form of imitation of an authoritative person is the so-called involuntary imitation . This imitation is almost not realized, although this does not exclude our control over changes in the personal characteristics of an authoritative person, their subjective value for us. But this is a secondary form of imitation of an authoritative person, preceded by so-called arbitrary imitation , when we consciously imitate his behavior, we follow his actions, we share his views and tastes.

It should briefly be said about the important role of persuasion in the problem of the authority of an individual. Unlike suggestion, this psychological phenomenon is not a form of personal authority. Conviction - a means of strengthening and maintaining authority, realized in the speech activity of an authoritative person.

Under the influence of these psychological mechanisms, our opinions, attitudes, attitudes, behavioral characteristics change reflectively, acquiring characteristics inherent in opinions, attitudes, attitudes of an authoritative person.

According to the concept of X. Kellman , our installations can be modified in three forms of internalization , identification and external subordination. The most profound change is achieved in the first case. Internalization - changing attitudes, when the opinion of an authoritative person is included in our value structure, becoming our personal opinion.

Depending on the nature of the basis of the authority of the personality, three of its forms , moral , functional and formal authority, are revealed . The grounds of the first are the worldview of a person and his moral qualities. This form is the core of the authority of the individual, because it is determined by the system of social relations and the socio-political structure of society.

Functional authority is formed on the basis of a person’s professional competence, his various business qualities, his attitude to his professional activities. Together with moral authority, they form a single personal authority of a person, which to some extent opposes that kind of personality authority, which can be called "formal" authority. The basis of the latter, in essence, is the social position that a person occupies in the social structure. The most significant type of formal authority. is the official authority of the head, the characteristic basis of which are the powers of authority. Any social organization can not function effectively if the personality authority is not formalized to the extent necessary. If the organization is built like this. that all its members have moral and functional authority, and none of them are formal, such an organization will not be able to function normally - the personal preferences of its members will impede this.

The role of formal authority as a form of fixing personal authority at a certain social level is interesting ; Formal and personal authorities can complement, and can also contrast with each other. The long and significant divergence of these forms of authority can lead to a loss of formal authority, i.e. to change the social position occupied by man. In other words, the formal authority of the leader must constantly be supported by his personal authority.

The integration of all three forms of personality credibility is achieved within the framework of specific social roles played by a person, which leads to the formation of an aggregate personality credibility as a subject of a social role. This is actually the existing authority of the individual, inherent in each person as a member of a social organization. This real phenomenon is formed on the basis of not some separate, albeit very important, properties, but on the basis of their aggregates - “evaluation standards ”, into which they are combined under the influence of specific social and psychological factors. These standards are updated in each of us when evaluating another person and, according to A. A. Bodalev, play the role of a kind of yardstick. Based on them, we attribute this person to any psychological type of people, the idea about which we have formed earlier.

In collectives that differ in the nature of activities, forms of communication and the structure of value orientations, there are different “evaluation standards” in content and factors. For example, in student groups, the study revealed four standards of authoritative and three standards of non-authoritative people. Some of them are united by the factors “general development of personality” (informational content is equal to 25.8%) and “effectiveness of persuasive communication ” (inf. = 20.1%). They act as specific selection criteria on the basis of which an individual is recognized as “his” and decide the question of the level of his authority in a team. Other evaluation standards are more specific and are associated with certain features of the personality and professional activity of the person being assessed.

In the primary production team there are other evaluation standards of authoritative and non-authoritative people. The factor analysis, in particular, revealed that the personality traits of the head of the primary production team, which are most closely associated with his authority among the workers, are united by the factor “effectiveness of organizational activity” (inf. = 30.2%). These are the foundations of the moral and functional authority of the leader,

Among the foundations of moral authority, the most significant are the properties expressing attitudes towards people: consistency, understanding the needs of subordinates, goodwill, etc. These properties are of particular importance in women's groups, in which the leader’s lack of authority is directly related to his negative character traits: irritability, self-conceit, sharpness in dealing with people. Such qualities are combined by the negativism factor (inf. = 10.1%).

All the bases of the moral authority of a leader are assessed not just as personality traits, but as features of his organizational activity . LI Umansky showed that the so-called "psychological selectivity" is the most important specific feature of talented organizers. Psychological selectivity is a property that consists in the selection of specific people from a number of others, in selective sensitivity to their psychological characteristics. Psychological selectivity is characterized by the stability of interpersonal relationships. It is complemented by a group of properties that characterize the psychological tact of a manager. Psychological tact is the ability to find the right tone, the desired form of communication with a person. Psychological tact is the most important prerequisite for the authority of the leader, enabling effective communication with subordinates.

The specifics of the basis of the functional authority of a manager are also determined by the peculiarities of his organizational activity, since his most important function, as is well known, is organizational. All the functional and psychological characteristics of a manager, including business competence, particular attitudes towards professional activity, are attracted to a single center, ensuring in the end effective organization of the production process and coordinated work of team members. Outside of this "attraction" they lose the quality of the foundations of the business authority of the leader, becoming the basis of the authority of a more or less competent specialist. Therefore, it is not by chance that the professional competence of a manager is taken for granted, as if playing the role of a background, often overlooked by subordinates whose attention is focused on the peculiarities of the leader’s attitude towards them. If the manager’s professional training is insufficient, it becomes the object of close attention of his subordinates, because they have a question - does the head correspond to the position held.

Therefore, the head of the primary production team would make a mistake if, in order to gain credibility with his subordinates, he would concentrate all his attention on improving relations with them, ignoring the improvement of business, organizational qualities, and business competence. The truth is to improve both groups of these personality characteristics and activities of the leader. Only in this case he will have real personal authority from his subordinates.

However, the authority of the leader is not limited to his personal authority. Its significant side is also the official authority, the bases of which are the powers delegated to the head of state power. Official authority can be defined as the authority authorized by the state authorities and the legally enshrined right of the leader to exercise authority over members of the team entrusted to him.

There are several reasons that make the position of a leader necessary. The most common of them is the collective nature of labor in a modern enterprise. The psychological diversity of individual characteristics of team members has the effect that their personal interests, needs, motives of activity and actions may not coincide with public interests and needs. As a result, there may be a threat of disorganization of collective labor, disruption of production programs, the possibility of some members of the collective ignoring the manager’s requirements. In such cases, the official authority of the head is necessary. However, personal authority should be recognized as a leader in the authority of a manager, since the essence of a manager’s activity is to organize joint activities of people, and not to exercise power as such.

The dialectic of the ratio of official and personal authority of a leader is clearly manifested in leadership styles , which are combinations of various forms of leadership. These may be prescriptive forms (order, remark, reprimand, and other types of coercion) if the manager chooses to influence his subordinates, relying on official authority, or there can be a request, conviction, advice, approval if he seeks to use his personal authority.

The analysis of these forms as the basis of authority showed that a leader can not gain personal authority from his subordinates, relying only on directive forms of leadership. The so-called "volitional" leadership style allows in some cases to achieve high production results, but, as a rule, does not bring the desired personal authority to the manager . The optimal leadership style that provides authority to the leader, combines both groups of the above forms of management actions. In this case, advice and persuasion, request and approval usually are popular means of influencing subordinates. The censure measure is often a remark, very rarely - a reprimand. At the same time, the manager's ability to reckon with the opinions of subordinates is necessary. This leadership style generates the satisfaction of people with work and has a positive effect on the social and psychological climate of the team.

Features of the interaction of the individual and the team and the implementation of the authority of the head helps to understand the proposed table - the scheme.

The interaction of the individual and the team.

The effectiveness of management activities largely depends on the authority of the leader, since authority is a relationship, and power is a resource.

Test questions.

1. What is “authority”?

2. Show the main components of the authority of the head.

3. What does a “threatened authority complex” look like?

4. Analyze possible mistakes in the way of gaining authority.

5. What is included in the general model of managerial authority?

6. What are the differences between leadership and leadership?

7. What is a “leader”?

eight. Analyze the main theories of leadership.

9. What personal characteristics should a leader have?

ten. Define the essence of the concept of "charisma."

Literature .

Mall E.G. Management career manager. SPb., 2003.

Kabachenko TS Psychology in the management of market structures. M., 1997.

Ladanov I.L. Psychology of management. M., 2000.0.