What is the difference between authority and responsibility?

Answer 1

Answer
Responsibility
Responsibility implies a relationship. The person responsible to ensure something happens in the expected manner. In project management, this means completing all major milestones on or before their scheduled times, keeping costs and cash flow within the project budget, and delivering quality in accordance with the project standards.
The person responsible for a project is not necessarily the same person who is allowed to change to the project requirements.
Authority

Authority connotes a function or title. The person authorized to make decisions as to the cost, schedule and other questions that arise throughout the course of the project execution.

The person with authority over a project may allow change the project requirements.
Responsibility, Authority And Reasonableness

When authority and responsibility get confused, conflict and tension occurs. Whether people are marriage partners, parents or children, are neighbors or in business, a lack of understanding about the nature of the relationship between responsibility and authority can create hard feelings and alienate people from each other.
Responsibility involves being accountable for, or having obligations or duties, and acting reasonably. It involves communicating, and being aware of your relationships with others.
Authority involves having the power to enforce obedience or compliance. It can also involve a sense of having the right to control others. Authority may be seen by people as being bad or wrong. It may also be confused with decision-making, something all of us must do regularly in many areas of our lives.
The danger with authority is that it can become an end in itself. Authoritarian people are those that focus mainly on their power and authority, forgetting that any position of authority brings with it the responsibility to communicate and relate with others.
When authority, rather than responsibility, becomes the basis for a relationship between marriage partners, a parent and a child, or a community and an elected body, confrontation and blow-ups will likely occur.
Marriage is a partnership based on respect. One partner does not own the other. If a marriage has team leadership rather than an individual boss, the struggle that is then required to arrive at joint decisions strengthens the relationship. But when you tell your partner, "I'm your boss. You do what I want," you're not being responsible to that relationship. You're trying to take it over authoritatively. You may get compliance. But, you don't build trust, affection or respect.
Responsibility in marriage involves recognizing your needs, expressing them, listening to your partners needs, and then struggling together to come up with a decision which best respects them all
Parenting is built on responsibility, not authority. Parents are responsible to teach social values to their children. The best teaching is teaching by example. Parents have the responsibility to see that children learn how consequences result from their actions. While children remain at home, parents also have the responsibility to prevent them from getting into situations where the consequences of their behavior may be harmful and dangerous to them or to others.
Children often see their parents as authority figures. The difference between being a responsible parent and an authoritarian parent is in your attitude towards what you do. Parents need to honestly tell their children, "I am responsible for making certain decisions while you are under a certain age. I am willing to listen to your feelings, concerns and wishes, but I am not willing to give up my responsibility as a parent. I will make certain decisions, whether or not you totally agree with them." This is quite different from the much too common expression: "Because I'm your father, that's why," "I'm the boss here at home," or "You better do what I say".
Relating to someone with responsibility involves listening, understanding, assessing, and then making a decision, something which you can only do after weighing all the facts and evidence you can gather.
The key to making responsible decisions is to act reasonably. Many teenagers think their parents are unreasonable. Many parents in turn believe their teenagers are making unreasonable demands of them. Marriage partners often complain about their partners being "unreasonable".
What then is reasonableness, then? Reasonableness involves relating to others and listening. It involves dialogue. It involves assessing a situation, having as many facts available as possible, being prepared to make a decision when it needs to be made, and making that decision as responsibly as possible. Responsibility is a challenge in any area of our life. You might end up by saying that responsibility is a responsibility in itself.
Telling it shortly without all this sollu simple definition is
Power is the ability to get things done by others. The principle of power is to punish and reward. Power can exist with or without authority. For instance an armed robber has power but no authority. Whereas authority is the power to enforce law and take command, and to expect obedience from those without authority. Authority can exist with or without power, for example a teacher has authority over the pupils but no real power. Steven Lukes states that there is three dimensions of power, decision, non decision making and manipulating desires. In parliament when a law is being discussed by MP's and any other form of political group there must be a body which has power so that they can actually come to a decision.
by prasad reddy GIIB