The concept of "interactional authority" (p. 439) was brought home to me when I served on a jury in a criminal trail. As deliberations began we introduced ourselves and briefly mentioned what kind of work we do. One well dressed white man talked about the fact that he was a tax attorney, for an accounting firm located in Pasadena (considered a prestigious location in Southern California). As deliberations began in earnest, I noticed that his opinions seemed to receive an inordinate amount of consideration, inspite of the fact that his knowledge of the tax code did not confer special insight into criminal procedings.
Although the majority of jurors were in favor of convicting the defendant, the attorney's misgivings resulted in a hung jury. When it came time to select a foreman, many jurors turned to him almost automatically. I believe this is a clear example of the way status can influence what should be a "democratic process."
Streaning Star Trek: Insurrection Full Movie
6 years ago
2 comments:
You make a very interesting point. Many times I also wondered where does authority really comes from. I remember a particular situation where people were discussing life in Europe. I am from Europe, everyone knew that but my opinion did not count. I experienced this type of situation many times and I questioned what specifically was I doing or saying that made people not give me any consideration. I wonder if the fact that I spoke with an accent or the fact that I am short were possible factors. I observed that tall people with no accents seem to also be getting an "inordinate amount of consideration" even when what they are saying is not very clever. I also noticed that when I dressed more formally then people would give me more consideration. I guess I'll have to continue to find ways to make myself heard with non verbal cues.
The most remarkable experience I had with interactional authority took place in 2002, when I worked for a Canadian company. My ex-manager, Carlos, was responsible for all training provided to the Sales Team. Carlos was really respected by everybody at this company due to his strong leadership and communication skills.
In one occasion we were making the arrangements for one of our annual Sales Convention. For this occasion, the Sales team could either invite a guest speaker, or they could select someone from inside the company. Although both options were provided to the team, they preferred to have Carlos as the speaker of the night. Although there were other qualified “communicators” in the team, Carlos’s prestigious reputation put him ahead of everybody else. This is my example of status’ influence. And in this case, it was a "democratic process."
Post a Comment