Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
In your opinion is there a difference between POWER and AUTHORITY?
To what extent does reflection on these concepts contribute to the exercise of Project Manager profession? Saving Changes...
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Drake SettsuProject Manager / BloggerHi, United States
POWER is the ability to influence and make things happen.
AUTHORITY is having control over things.
How these two words relate to Project Management is very important. A Project Manager needs the power to make things happen and leverage the Project Sponsor to use their authority to help out the Project Manager as needed when a certain situation arises where the Project Manager has no authority. Saving Changes...
I found this comparison online which resonated with me: "Power is the possession of authority, control, or influence by which a person influences the actions of others, either by direct authority or by some other, more intangible means. ... Power can reinforce authority, and authority is one of the primary sources of power."
A charter provides a PM with legitimate authority to use organization resources to deliver a project. The PM's abilities will give them the power needed to influence decisions to achieve project outcomes.
Both are needed.
The former without the latter is an ineffective PM. The latter without the former is a vigilante.
Yes, there is.
I agree with both Drake and Kiron. Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
As Kiron stated, the project charter legitimately empowers the project manager (i.e., authority and/or power given to the PM from an institution). However, the PM has other constructs of power at their disposal, such as:
- Expert or SME Power: Implicit power provided through a PM’s knowledge or expertise in a given domain.
- Referent Power: Implicit power provided through individuals who desire to follow the PM due to their leadership traits.
- Reward Power: Implicit power provided through the belief that one will gain something from following the PM.
- Coercive Power: From a negative perspective - implicit power provided through one’s fear of consequences if they don’t yield to the PM. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
Authority is a formal recognition of responsibility, command, or decision-making ability. Power is merely the ability to apply force.
I have the power to throw my old laptop off a bridge because I want a new one. I don't have the authority, though, and I might get fired.
If you're a project manager, you might have the power to delete your entire project. But you don't likely have that authority. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
In a self-organizing team there is nobody with authority, but there probably are some with power.
A US President may have the power to act in certain ways, but his authority to do so might be disputed.
Authority is given to you by a organizational structure, power you have to gain by yourself. There is authority without power and power without authority. Authority might be used to borrow power.
Power often corrupts and tends to grow and sustain itself (that's why we need checks and balances), authority wanes and tends to diminish.
PMBoK ed 6 now lists 14 forms of power, way more than previous PMBoKs (which had 4-5).
As a project manager, you need to build your power, you often get it from the sponsor, funding sources, the client, your team, peers and your network. Saving Changes...
