Sapiential authority is becoming accepted as an important factor when determining and eliminating disproportionate pay differentials in enterprises as required by sec 27 of the Employment Equity Act.

“Authority as a term has bad public relations at this time because of the confusion between its meaning and that of the word “power”, the two often and incorrectly being used as synonyms.

Power is that which is used to change the way people function/behave without their consent.  In effect it makes slaves of them, denying them the rights and privileges of citizenship while imposing upon them merely duties and responsibilities.  Military people are familiar with this in the form of conscription, a conscript army being indistinguishable from a slave army”.

The above extracts are from an article written by Erik T. Paterson, M.B., Ch.B., D.Obst.R.C.O.G., F.B.I.S (with footnotes omitted) and first published in The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Vol. 15, 2nd Quarter 2000.   He is the son of Dr TT Paterson.

Basic forms of Authority

See below for an explanation of the forms as described by Thomas Paterson.

I am grateful to Gareth van Onselen whose “A word on wisdom” was first published in Business Day today and provides a greater understanding of the concept of ‘sapiential authority’ in the context of the World of Work.

Sapiential authority, characterised by wisdom, is the product of three things:

  • experience,
  • knowledge and
  • judgement.

And so what constitutes the collective wisdom of the day is worth interrogating, and to what degree each of these three components is emphasised is worth consideration.

  • Knowledge without experience engenders understanding devoid of compassion;
  • experience without knowledge encourages conviction without principle; and
  • experience and knowledge without judgement provokes expediency at the expense of any noble vision or purpose.

The line between wisdom and moralising is a fine one indeed.  Beware those who walk it.

Earlier in his article Gareth van Onselen had this to say:

“Wisdom, a relatively complex idea, enjoys an overly simple reputation.  Often we are told there is much wisdom in a platitude, as it is eagerly promoted by those who believe its ostensible profundity says as much about them as does the idea itself – that such people are wise themselves because they recognise wise things.  But a cliché never contains inherent wisdom.  Its great trick – that it appears universally applicable – masks its great weakness: that its worth is only ever particular to a specific circumstance.  Thus, by advocating in this way for some brilliant and common truth, ironically one often reveals little more than ignorance about the ambiguity and difference that defines the human condition.

Each element on its own does not constitute wisdom.  It might be wise to cross the road today; tomorrow it might be equally unwise.  And so, if anything, wisdom is a rational response to uncertainty: an ability to distinguish one moment from another and to use precedent and understanding to plot the best course of action in response to different conditions.  There is a risk, then, that wisdom lends itself to pragmatism, as opposed to principled decisions, for self-interest is often pursued as the ultimate good”.

Five basic forms of Authority (Paterson)

Æsculapian Authority and the Doctor-patient Relationship

The complete article needs to be read by clicking on the link but here are some extracts from an article by Erik T. Paterson, M.B., Ch.B., D.Obst.R.C.O.G., F.B.I.S (with footnotes omitted) and first published in The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Vol. 15, 2nd Quarter 2000

“Authority as a term has bad public relations at this time because of the confusion between its meaning and that of the word “power”, the two often and incorrectly being used as synonyms.

Power is that which is used to change the way people function/behave without their consent.  In effect it makes slaves of them, denying them the rights and privileges of citizenship while imposing upon them merely duties and responsibilities.  Military people are familiar with this in the form of conscription, a conscript army being indistinguishable from a slave army.

This is an appropriate point to consider the term ‘Swanelo’.  This Ugandan word was identified by Paterson as expressing the essence of citizenship.  In return for voluntarily carrying out a person’s Duties and Responsibilities to society, society in return bestows certain Rights and Privileges upon that person.  However, a person who has only Rights and Privileges is a tyrant, and, currently, there are too many tyrants in society all demanding their Rights without consideration of what Duties they ought to perform to merit such Rights.  A slave has merely Duties and Responsibilities, having no say in how his or her life ought to be conducted.   Someone without either Duties and Responsibilities or Rights and Privileges is nothing, not even human as we understand it–see ‘nidding’ above.  A citizen has Duties and Responsibilities in perfect balance with Rights and Privileges, i.e. Swanelo.

An important aspect of Swanelo is Authority.  It is society, or a component of society such as a company or other organization, which bestows authority upon a person by common consent. And it is that consent which distinguishes Authority from Power. Which form of authority (or combination of forms) is given depends upon what function or role that person is to fulfill in society.  Understanding of the forms of Authority in a clear and unambiguous fashion helps us to use it constructively.  And it is a very potent tool which the group uses to make the decisions which it has to make, often to achieve the very survival of the group”.

Paterson identified 5 basic forms of Authority:

1#     Structural Authority

The right to command (and discipline) by reason of a person’s position within an organization.   An example of this is the authority of the manager of a business.   The manager is required to secure the economic survival of the business.  An employee enters the business to perform some function which the business requires to further aim of the survival of the business.  And the employee voluntarily accepts that the manager has Structural Authority.  Without that authority the manager is unable to give the necessary orders to ensure that the business does survive, and the employee’s very livelihood, and ultimately survival, depends on that.  It also confers the right to discipline by reprimand, or even more severe sanctions, if the employee acts in a fashion which is contrary to the survival of the enterprise.

2#     Sapiential Authority

The right to be heard by reason of a person’s superior knowledge and experience.  The wise manager recognises that employees have knowledge about their jobs which the manager cannot possess.  While the ultimate responsibility for the outcome of the employee’s work lies with the manager, it is better for the business if that knowledge is recognised.   The unwise manager gives arbitrary orders without acknowledging the Sapiential Authority of the worker.  An important aspect of Sapiential Authority is advisability, the right to give advice.  But this does not confer the right to retaliate if the advice is not accepted.

3#     Charismatic Authority

Literally God given Authority – the right to be heard by reason of the religious, or pseudo-religious, mantle borne by the person.  Commonly this is bestowed upon the clergy of the various world religions, but can be a feature of other ideologies.   It tends to be used to bring about correct behaviour within the tenets of the ideology.  The danger is always that of ‘righteousness’, a rigidity of thinking which cannot tolerate deviations from such tenets even though such deviations might bring about an improvement in a situation.  Currently many medical authorities and licensing bodies are guilty of righteousness.

4#     Moral Authority

The right to be heard because the person is trying to bring about a betteringness of the situation.   Hold frequent meetings between management and the staff at the office.   First of all this is done to bring home the recognition of their Sapiential Authority.   But, more importantly, the moral authority of everyone is invoked to improve the service provided, which is ‘a good thing’ and far from righteous.

5#     Personal Authority

The right to be heard by reason of a person’s personal qualities.   In the meetings referred to above, there are members of staff who tend to speak up more on matters than others.   Necessarily they have more Personal Authority.

Either consciously, or unconsciously, humans seem to recognise these forms of Authority.   Perhaps that recognition is hard-wired into our brains genetically by evolution.   Certainly they are universal in all known human cultures, even those separated from each other by many millennia of separate development.   This is also true of Æsculapian Authority. No individual is restricted to one form of authority.   Often, depending on the circumstances and the differing roles which we play, we may switch from one form to another or even adopt combinations.

Related posts in GilesFiles

Proportional and fair wage structures

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Graham Giles

It is a myth to refer to a ‘Paterson Plan’ or ‘Paterson System’.   Dr TT Paterson was a scientist who became interested in organisational management and the structure of organisations.  He wrote a number of books and consulted widely, even in South Africa in the early 70s.   His last book was published in 1981 – “Pay: For Making Decisions”.   To the best of my knowledge he never advocated any specific plan or system as such.   This has not stopped adherents of his approach and methods from using his name to propagate their own ‘systems’ or ‘plans’ based on the thinking of Dr Paterson.

Relative deprivation and the need for proportional income differentials

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Graham Giles

Inequality in the workplace is targeted in the Employment Equity Act 1998 by requiring the elimination of ‘disproportionate income differentials’.   Schedule EEA 9 mentions six equivalent occupational levels and refers to a semantic scale, Paterson, Peromnes, Hay and Castellion.   That schedule and those six levels are based on structures that were created 40 years ago with a completely different objective in mind (to prevent Africans from doing skilled work).

Adding just one level in the middle and ensuring true proportional income differentials across all seven levels will go a long way towards solving many problems of inequality.