AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

 AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

 Authority and responsibility go hand in hand. Classical theorist emphasized the significance of equating authority with responsibility9 . Henry Fayol for instance stressed that authority should be commensurate with responsibility. If someone is assigned responsibility, he should be given equal authority for utilization of resources like authority to incur necessary expenditure, recruit personnel and to exercise the necessary control the subordinate official to fulfill the responsibility entrusted to him. Authority if not accompanied by responsibility is likely to be misused and the whole purpose of organization may be defeated. George R. Terry says “Authority without responsibility lacks an ultimate purpose or justification for existing, and likewise, responsibility without authority to curry out the assigned duties has a hallow ring.” Thus no one can fulfill the responsibility without commensurate authority but while the superior officer can delegate responsibility, he cannot delegate responsibility. He can only take the assistance of subordinate official the assigned duties to full fill but ultimately responsibility lies with him. Also while the authority flow downward through the process of delegation and decentralization, responsibility on the other hand flow upward. Authority is a long lasting process than responsibility. Responsibility may be over after the completion of a specific task but authority may continue even beyond it. Thus, authority and responsibility are complementary and supplementary to each other