"A project manager should not distribute power and responsibility to team members"?

Question

True or false?

Answer 1

True. Lets say you are the project manager, you are still responsible for the project.  Military 101, i can delegate a task, but i am still responsible for.  If it doesn't get done, i am the one whose held accountable.  Same thing with power.  You are the decision maker for the whole project, a subcontractor for electrical can't make a decision for concrete work.

Answer 2

I would say false.  A project manager should delegate responsibility and in so doing would distribute some portion of power.

Answer 3

There are different kinds of both power and responsibility.  Some forms of power are not sources that the project manager owns, or can give away.  Clearly the project manager cannot be responsible for conducting and completing every single task on a project, even if he/she wanted to.

Project managers in different organizations have different power and responsibility.  In many organizations the project manager is responsible for delivering the project, but the people on the project team do not report directly to the project manager.  If the project manager is to be successful, he/she must get buy-in from the project team that they can support the plan.  This also means giving team members the “power” to change parts of the plan.  In most cases the project manager integrates the work/responsibilities of the project team members, who are subject matter experts in their own fields.