TVP – Metric 33 Project Ownership Empowerment

Background | User Guide | Program Contents | Stakeholders | List of Metrics

1. Metric Definition

A qualitative evaluation of the degree to which a project team is provided with the authority to make decisions on the project and to carry them out independently.

Empowerment involves management endowing the project team with the authority to make decisions on the project and to carry them out independently without constantly having to seek management permission or approval.

Project ownership encompasses a variety of feelings and beliefs of the project team that they believe in the project and its goals; are committed to the project and want it to be successful; will share in the credit and reward if the project is successful; and have authority and accountability for making decisions and carrying out the project.

This metric has been reported to correlate positively with successful innovation from R&D. It is also likely related to employee morale on a project team. The four levels of this metric are:

Level 1

• Projects are defined by the businesses and R&D management without the involvement of project leaders and technical people
• Project team members are working on projects because they were assigned to them. They may or may not believe in the goals or be committed to achieve them* Decisions are made by R&D management and business managers; project leaders and team members are not consulted

Level 2

• Some EMPOWERMENT and project ownership, but not extensive

Level 3

• Extensive empowerment and project ownership, but not uniform throughout the organization

Level 4

• Project leaders and technical people are involved from the beginning in defining all projects and their goals
• All project teams have a high degree of belief in and commitment to their projects
• Project leaders and team members have authority and accountability for making decisions and carrying out their projects; they review their decisions and progress with management and business partners on a regular basis * Project leader has financial authority and accountability for the project

2. Advantages and Limitations

This metric is relatively easy to assess. It requires an honest and objective assessment of practices in defining and carrying out projects, but it does not require a large amount of data collection, history or benchmarking.

3. How to Use the Metric

It is recommended that input be obtained from both managers and project teams to compare their perceptions. This metric would lend itself to measurement in an employee opinion survey. The metric is an overall assessment of practices throughout the organization that is being measured. If practices are different in different units or projects, the metric will be an average. Levels one and four are relatively straightforward. Levels two and three are interpolations between one and four.

4. Options and Variations

In general, empowerment is a necessary factor which precedes and contributes to project ownership. They might be split out into separate metrics.

5. Champions and Contacts

6. References

Weisbord, M.R. 1990. Productive Workplaces: Organizing and Managing for Dignity, Meaning, and Community. Jossey-Bass, 121-141.