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A theory of bureaucratic authority
Author(s) -
Santos Conrado R.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-7121.1978.tb01764.x
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , sanctions , politics , political authority , context (archaeology) , political science , legitimacy , law and economics , order (exchange) , primary authority , public administration , sociology , law , economics , paleontology , finance , biology , legal research
. There are at least two major streams of thought in the literature on administrative authority: the structuralist Weberian view which conceives of bureaucratic authority as something attributed to an organizational position, and the behaviourist Barnard‐Simon view which considers authority as a particular type of observable interactional relationship between any two individuals within the organizational context. This paper presents and discusses these two views of bureaucratic authority, along with other minor views, and then attempts an axiomatic theoretical definition of authority in the political and bureaucratic realms of life. Bureaucratic authority has been defined as the legitimately established right within the bureaucratic order of the administrative organization to set goals, to formulate policies and decisions, to settle conflicts and, in general, to do other legitimate acts to maintain and enhance the bureaucratic order but within the limits set forth by the sovereign political authority which sanctions and sustains the broader political order in the community or society.