MGM400H5 Chapter Notes -Richard Branson
Document Summary
Weber"s principal contribution to the study of organizations was his theory of authority structures which led him to characterize organziations in terms of the authority relations with them. This stemmed from a basic concern with why individuals obeyed commands, why ppl do as they are told. To deal with this problem weber made a distinction between power, the ability to force ppl to obey regardless of their resistance, and authority, where orders are obeyed voluntarily by those receiving them. Under an authority system, those in the subordinate role see the issuing of directives by those in the superordinate role as legitimate. Weber distinguished between organizational types according to the way in which authority is legitimized. Based on the personal qualities of the leader. Any quality of individual personality by virtue which the leader is set apart from ordinary ppl and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or specifically expectional power or qualities.
