What is meant by Formal Authority Theory?
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Formal authority is the authority provided by an organization or the law to an individual enabling him to carry out certain actions in accordance with his own will and without the need to consult others.
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AUTHORITY
●The right to acquire action of others is known as authority.
There are various types of authority like formal authority, acceptance authority, authority by situation, positional authority and technical authority.
●The authority, which originates from the placement of a person in the organisation is called formal authority.
Since authority originates from the position of persons in the organisation structure, it is also termed as positional authority. It is the official power, which comes from the positions in the office organisation.
● In formal authority, authority stems from the top and is transmitted downwards through the line by the help of delegation of authority.
The authority is highest in the hands of the chairman and lowest in the hands of first line supervisors.
●. Legal/Formal Authority:
According to this theory authority is based upon the rank or position of the person and this authority may be given by law or by social rules and regulations protected by law. Law has granted authority to a policeman to arrest a person committing a crime.
The chief executive of a company may take an action against an employee for not complying with rules because company rules have given this authority to him. This authority is called formal authority which is given in the bureaucracy also i.e., where authority is bestowed upon contractually hired and appointed officials.
In a company form of organisation, the ultimate authority is vested in the shareholders who delegate the authority to a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors delegates its powers to the chief executive who delegates it to the managers and so on. Thus we see that authority flows in a scalar chain from the highest level to the level of Rank and File Authorities.
While bureaucracy is the purest form of legal authority, other forms may comprise of elected or appointed office bearers of organisations. These persons possess authority since their roles are defined by the rules and regulations formulated by such bodie