Project Success Through Gaining & Maintaining Authority

A primary challenge in project management is not only having the right resources in the right numbers working on the right actions at the right time, it is also having the authority to hold team members accountable for the responsibilities delegated in the project plan.  Normally the project manager’s role and authority are established at the beginning of a project and for dedicated teams, the management structure is well defined.  For matrix-structured organizations however, conflicts and politics can interfere very quickly with project success.  In the article ‘Gain and maintain authority to ensure project success’ found here, Jason Charvat discusses how the three key elements authority, accountability and responsibility are required for project success.  What I find interesting is how the last two, accountability and responsibility, are immediately applicable to the project manager for the project, but can only be delegated to the remainder of the team once authority is established.  In a worse case scenario, a project manager could attempt to launch a project, but the entire team would be directed by their functional managers to consider it their lowest priority.  What can a project manager do to avoid a situation like this from happening?

When beginning a new project, one of the key concerns a project manager should have is how much authority I will have.  In most cases, organizations know who will be on the project team, when they want the project complete, and sometimes what level of purchasing approval a project manager will have.  Rarely, however, does an organization give much thought about how much authority a project manager has to hold team members accountable.  For a project manager with extensive experience in the same organization, the project’s importance to the organization, team members and primary stakeholders are mostly known.  For project managers new to an organization though, additional effort will be necessary to assess what level of authority one has.

To determine what level of authority one has as the project manager when not defined, develop the project documentation including the project definition, schedule, and select core team members with input from the project sponsor and functional managers.  Once you have buy-in from the functional managers on the resources, continue to copy them on project scope and especially the roles and responsibilities of all team members.  This will give each manager insight as to the amount of work that is required and provide an estimate how much their department representative can dedicate their time to other tasks outside of the project.  Another advantage of involving managers from the beginning and providing continual updates is you have a direct communication path with someone that can influence a team member’s performance.  If a team member is not fulfilling their role and you don’t have the authority, “you can arrange a meeting with stakeholders who do have the authority to ‘make things happen.’ “

In my experience, I’ve also found that, as the article states, “The most successful project managers are those that are also willing to work with executives in order to get this authority.”

5 thoughts on “Project Success Through Gaining & Maintaining Authority

  1. I work for a growing retail company who is expanding locations at a double digit pace after stalling during the recession. In order to keep up with this new pace, many coworkers had to acquire additional skills to move from “maintaining” to “expanding” mode. In order to accomplish this, a young enthusiastic field employee was promoted to the home office to coordinate efforts. I’ve included his initial meeting notes below which was a successful attempt to establish authority. His work has been noted by our CEO as one of the key reasons our new shop opening process is going as smoothly as it is:

    This meeting will occur weekly to review, document and take action on the status of upcoming new shop openings.

    As a result of increased communication, accountability and teamwork, the expected outcome of this meeting is continuous improvement toward flawless new shop opening execution.
    It is critical each department is represented at this meeting each week. Attendance is mandatory and will be noted in minutes – if you cannot attend, please ensure a delegate from your department is present. I will send a recap following the meeting to department heads.

    The shops will be discussed by zone to allow scheduled call-in from the field. We will stay on track and table off-topic items for later or separate discussion.
    Ground Rules:
    • No B.S……….. Straight Talk
    • Be here now….. Turn off Blackberry
    • Use the Advantage
    • Listen to understand
    • Ask questions to clarify
    • Be timely
    • Express difficult positions
    • Start on time… end on time

    Thanks in advance for your attendance, preparation and engagement,

  2. I think this post brings up some great ideas regarding gaining authority as a project leader. Dan, I appreciate you commenting and sharing your example from a project manager in your company. This communication is very clear, to the point, and extremely relevant for all of us in today’s busy environment. There is nothing more irritating than a meeting where your time is wasted because the key stakeholders are not in attendance, show up late, or are distracted due to multitasking. It’s a good reminder for all of us that when acting as project managers it’s up us to keep the meeting on track and maintain authority.

  3. Base on my experience, matrix-managed organization are notoriously poor when it comes to accountability and responsibility. Even though as a PM, you might be keeping the functional manager informed and update him on his reports contribution (or lack thereof), the functional manager is also juggling priorities and he will do what it takes to complete the task assigned to him even if it means other project suffer due to resource constraints, i.e., using an already assigned member to work on other higher priority items. There are numerous other examples of how accountability is not translated in a matrix organization.

    Matrix organization addressed one aspect of resource utilization by allowing expertise to flow freely within an organization but they have unwittingly created a vacuum when it comes to accountability and responsibility.

    I’d like to hear of examples where a matrix organization has successfully addressed the accountability and responsibility conundrum.

  4. Asif, unfortunately I do not have a successful story of a matrix organization because I too have experienced that matrix-managed organizations present a difficult situation in terms of accountability and responsibility. I think it is highly difficult for a PM to have total control of his or her team in a matrix. Of course we would all like to believe that each and every team member will do their expected work promptly and at a high level; unfortunately that is rarely the case and negative consequences should occur. But in my past experiences, negative consequences do not appear because it is unclear exactly where and whom the consequences should come from. Does anyone have any ideas on a better project management structure than a matrix?

  5. I think it is an interesting point that accountability and responsibility come only after authority is established, especially in that of a matrix environment. After giving this some thought, and being part of a new (and confusing) matrix organization I couldn’t help but think…. Who ultimately has the authority, accountability, and responsibility? An important part of project management is having an executive sponsor who champions the project; wouldn’t a project be doomed without this level of support? In a matrix environment, I see that this is critical for the project to get the support needed across the organization and to me that would be the beginning part of creating authority. That executive sponsor / champion will ensure buy in across the organization to ensure alignment across functions / businesses which is than delegated down to the project manager.

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