Different Powers Of A Project Manager And How To Apply Them

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What is a power, it is an ability of getting things done by others. The powers of a Project manage can be categorize in five types or categories.

  1. Legitimate power- Also known as formal power, is the authority granted by the company or organization. In other words, such power comes about as a result of the individual’s designation.  It authorizes managers to assign the task to their team members and seek explanation at any point of time. It gives the project manager a formal authority to order and give directions to people with the full backing of their senior management.
  2. Coercive power –Also known as penalty, involves threatening of team members with consequences if expectations are not met. It is opposite of reward power. Some project managers use indirect ways of penalizing their team members, for example by transferring their task and responsibilities to other members, by not copying them in important emails, and by not inviting them in important meetings.
  3. Reward power- To reward your team in the form of monetary or non-monetary benefits. If you lack the power to use monetary incentives, there are other ways to reward the performers of your team like good performance appraisal so that they get good increment and bonus, or by recommending them for training and other perks. From a non-monetary perspective, you can reward people by praising them in public, allocating them high-visibility and critical projects.
  4. Expert power- Expert power is based on a person’s qualification, talent/expertise, skills and knowledge. Some employees accidently becomes project manager because of long tenure and experience, some becomes manager for having exceptional project management skills and some for having a sound knowledge and hands-on experience of the technology required in the project. In the last case management feels that the project should be handled by a subject matter expert so they choose a person with a similar background. But the issue which might occur is that such project managers often become narrowly focused in the area of their interest, giving less weightage the big picture and other key areas. So the management must arrange for project management trainings so that they can play the role of both project manager and technical leads. The technical team always respect a technical project manager more than a non- technical one for 2 reasons. One they feel they can put their point across more comfortably. Secondly they would always try to learn from him and would never doubt on the decisions taken by him.
  5. Referent power- Referent power is based on trait theory – that is, how influential the person is. These project managers are very influential and maintain good terms with senior management. Due to these characteristics people fear them and want to follow them.

Although designations do matter but if you are talented, you don’t have to be in a senior level role in your organization to have some form of power. Generally people respect talent over profile or designation. If you are on a high position with lesser qualification and experience, your team may show respect to you just for the sake of it, it is not a genuine respect. There is more respect for talented and deserving individuals than the ones who are accidently on that profile. So employees are more influenced by the leadership’s powers expert and referent. These 2 powers can turn employees to be more engaged and devoted to the organization.

It is entirely up to you to decide what is your source of power and how effectively are you using it to meet the key goals and objectives of your organization.

About Aditi Malhotra

Aditi Malhotra is the Content Marketing Manager at Whizlabs. Having a Master in Journalism and Mass Communication, she helps businesses stop playing around with Content Marketing and start seeing tangible ROI. A writer by day and a reader by night, she is a fine blend of both reality and fantasy. Apart from her professional commitments, she is also endearing to publish a book authored by her very soon.

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