Struggles at work!
Authority
Legitimacy
Power
The fourth struggle that we found is about power. In this paper we refer to Positional power
meaning the power that the project manager and the functional manager have from the position
their role gives them. Larson and Gobeli (1987) found in their studies evidence of power
struggles between project managers and functional managers. The underlying causes for the
struggles are competition for the control of the same resources and different personal objectives.
Power in leadership and management is based on the classic view of management being
planning, organizing, leading, coordinating and controlling (Fayol, 1949). In matrix
organizations most of these activities are performed by the project manager, some by the
functional manager and others are shared between the two. This creates a power struggle
generated by the ambiguity and overlapping of roles. This was treated by Ford and Randolph
(1992) in their literature review about integration of matrix and project management. They
highlighted conflicts about scheduling, personnel resources, administrative procedures and
priorities.