John Maxwell's Five Levels Of Authority Systems

CM3100-Week One-1.6 Authority Systems

“Positional authority is critical to making the right decisions for the company, but it shouldn’t be used when managing and leading people” ("positional authority," 2014, p. 1).

In the military, there is a chain of command, a rank, and file. It is an example of positional authority as each level of authority is assigned by rank, each level has people under their charge. They have been assigned the responsibility to lead them as orders are passed down from the top brass to the squad leader.

In the secular world, organizations function on a similar order of authority. There are owners, boards, executives, CEO’s directors, managers, supervisors, and lead people who all have a title and have been delegated a position with some authority. In every area of our government, there are positions of

So, the questions at hand are, does positional authority matter? Is there a need for positional authority? And the answer is, of course, there is!

A person in a position of authority is task oriented. They are who are not intimidated by pressure to make decisions. They are people who seem to thrive on being under the gun to get things done. John Baldoni (2010) writes, “Authority is what holds leadership promise together. With it, you can lead; without it, you might as well do something else” (p. 1).

Making tough decisions and getting things done are critical and of great importance to a leader’s ability to be what I call the shot caller. People in a position of authority may possess a wealth of knowledge and skill of their position. They could be considered to be the experts in their field. They are good at commanding, but may not be so good at being able to have a positive influence over the people under their position of