Authority and power arise, in capitalism, from one primary logic which stands on two major legs. The primary logic is bargaining power in the form of coercive capacity. The two main bases for such power are ownership of property which conveys a large measure of control over all decisions bearing on the property's use, and bargaining power in negotiations over disputed priorities, which arises from all manner of factors, such as special monopolized talents or knowledge, organizational strength, social attributes, and so on. The structural embodiment of the prime norm and two main causes with diverse factors is the corporation and autocratic decision making. The corporation is run ultimately by owners, but administered by what we call the coordinator class.
Workers obey orders that come from above without their input, or they resist.
The result is that some people are able to make decisions, often even unilaterally, that have tremendous impact on the lives and circumstances of huge numbers of others, the latter being excluded from having a say. The manager of a division changes the pace of work affecting the daily circumstances and even the health of hundreds or thousands of workers who must simply abide the choice. And so on. The operating criteria for who makes decisions in a parecon is that those affected have a say or influence proportionate to the degree they are affected. This norm is called participatory self management.