As Henry Fayol said, “Authority is the right to give orders and thepower to exact obedience.” In every organization authority is practiced atcertain points. It is part of what we call communication that is consideredwhen people from different levels in a company interact.
Authority must be usedfor certain goals, and it should not be taken for own benefits. Being in amanagerial position, managers cannot work properly and improve without practicingauthority. It is the basis of everything, without it, managers will not succeed,and his words will not be heard among others in a group. Authority is one ofthe main pillars used to make right and powerful decisions across thesubordinates. Authority comes from the higher levels and takes its directiondownwards. Everyone on the lower levels should accept the authority that isimposed on them keeping a healthy relation between themselves and theirmanagers. This is what we call superior and subordinates relationship. Addingif one person is given too much authority without being given the same matchingresponsibilities, then his authority will be misrepresented in different ways.
Not a single day passes without having mistaken, but what isimportant is to look back and examine what went wrong, learn from them and finddifferent ways to improve. Many lessons are learned after the sessions, as theywill help me improve my managerial skills, communication skills and all what isneeded to succeed in my professional paths. Lesson I:Understand people around me and how to deal with them. What took myattention most is the issue of communication and being responsible for everyact I take. Whether in a big project or with a small group of employees beingresponsible and prepared for every step I take.
Communication is very importantfor me as a lab supervisor dealing with different types and levels of students,different personalities and backgrounds, make me think twice beforecommunicating with them. Lesson II:Holding authority and all issues related to it. All my work isrelated to the managing of different facilities related to model making thatare available for architecture students and how to manage the students ingeneral. Adding to that, the lab student assistants that should be availableaccording to a certain schedule.
Especially, when due dates arrive and all thestudents come to finalize their projects. It is very important for me to knowhow to deal with students, the different ways of communication to help themgrasp different ideas and negotiate concepts related to their models. To reacha firm final decision related to student issues, this course taught me tounderstand different problems through the facts I have that help in cases ofconflicts. The act or the behavior and decision I should take is the mostimportant above all. Mostly one should understand how to treat people by tryingto understand their characteristics and how to communicate with each beingdirective, analytical, affable, and expressiveLesson III:The importance of documenting every single detail. Inventory sheetsabout the tools, maintenance schedules, assistants’ schedules, and many others.As a lab manager I should do all of this to keep everything on track. Takingresponsibilities and accepting what I have to show the successful outcome.
