Max Weber's typology of authority in the context of project management

Abstract

The article is devoted to the relations of power that develop in the conditions of the project form of organization of activities. The main purpose of the article is to analyze the impact of project characteristics on the need for a certain type of authority to effectively manage a team. The article uses Max Weber's typology of authority, and provides a comparative description of each type of authority in relation to the the existing conditions in the project. The need for a traditional type of authority arises in circumstances of strict compliance with the institutional context of the project and with powerful stakeholders. The means of expressing the traditional type of authority in the project is contextual competence in the content as defi by the IPMA standards. The charismatic type of authority is relevant in projects with high uncertainty, requiring creative, unique solutions. This type of authority ensures team cohesion in the confi pursuit of project success. Finally, the bureaucratic type of authority is relevant in standard projects with open regulated interaction of team members. And this type of authority is expressed through the application of professional standards and corporate project management techniques, which is most noticeable in companies with high organizational maturity. The fi part of the article presents a semantic differential of types of authority according to the characteristics of the project. As a result of the work, a conclusion was made about the possible combination of all three types of authority in a project in the form of a triad of managerial roles «project sponsor - project manager - head of the project offi (or functional manager)».