Professional Autonomy and Employers’ Authority

Abstract

Need for establishing authority arises in circumstances where unrestrained individual discretion in decision-making conflicts with a desired degree of social organization and order. Accordingly, submitting to authority typically involves a willingness to accept some policies and directives that on their own merits one may find inadequate. Even to submit to the authority of a basketball referee requires playing by occasionally bad or even outrageous rulings. Similarly, an employee who regards the employer as having legitimate authority over him or her acknowledges the necessity to adhere to at least some of the employer’s orders and the company’s regulations whose rationale may be found wanting. Doing so voluntarily is part of being a faithful agent and trustee of the employer. Presumably this holds true for the many areas of business operations that affect the safety, health, and welfare of the general public. Many employees, however, are also members of a profession. As such, they are generally regarded as obligated to exercise their independent skilled judgment in a manner they calculate will avoid harm and promote the good of the public.