Project Management Authority & Effectiveness
October 5, 2009
A significant insight provided in the survey responses documented in Andy Crowe’s “Alpha Project Managers” is the potential correlation between perceived and actual authority a project manager maintains, and the potential impact this has on the perceived effectiveness of the project manager.
The book details an array of surveys of 860 project manager professionals, and their respective stakeholders: senior managers, team members and customers. Through a rigorous evaluation process, 18 project managers were distinguished as the “Alpha” group, and the survey results provided throughout the book compare the two groups of project managers; the Alphas and the non-Alphas.
Here I wanted to highlight the findings of the surveys related to the attitudes and beliefs held by project managers and respective stakeholders on the subject of authority, to which I have provided corresponding survey results below.
The first two graphs correspond to the rankings given by the project managers and respective senior managers on the level of authority granted to the project manager. The first is the PM’s ranking of perceived authority each believed they maintained, the second is the authority level ranking senior managers gave to the PMs. The variation in the ranking non-Alpha project managers provided on their perceive authority to the level ranked by their senior managers was far more significant than the Alpha PMs and respective senior managers rankings. The Alphas, in fact, rated their authority very closely with how senior manager rated the authority granted, and the rankings from senior managers on Alphas and non-Alphas was only a 1% difference. If senior managers have reserved a high level of authority for 860 project managers, why do only 18 realize the appropriate level of authority? Why do 842 project managers essentially think they only have 39% of the authority actually reserved for them?
The second two graphs correspond to the rankings given by the project manager’s on the importance of their role, and the respective senior managers ranking the PM’s role importance. The rankings the Alphas and non-Alphas give themselves on role importance are similar to the rankings given on authority; 96% to 70%. The interesting point here is that Sr. Managers of non-Alphas rated the important of the PM role lower than did the non-Alphas. As in the authority survey, Alpha PMs’ average self-given ranking for Importance of Role was 2% above that given by Sr. Managers.
Although senior managers of Alphas and non-Alphas entrust very similar levels of authority to the PMs, a conclusion can be made that the dynamic of perceived authority, or lack thereof, on the part of the project manager directly affects the perception of importance of the overall PM role with senior managers. A postulation may also be made that lack of perceived authority may well have a direct impact on overall project management performance, and possibly a root cause of the non-Alpha PMs consistent underperformance compared with their Alpha contemporaries.
One final lesson here for senior managers, in light of the responses on authority, would be to reinforce and ensure your project managers are empowered to execute on project initiatives, and they know it.
And for all the project managers: realize the authority you truly have.
Attitudes & Beliefs Survey Graphs
(Crowe, 2006)
Crowe, A. (2006). Alpha Project Managers (What theTop 2% Know That Everyone Else Does Not). Velociteach.
