1-14 Responsibility and Authority Defined

Authority is the legal right to give the

command, order or instruction and
compel the subordinates to do a
certain act.

We define ‘authority’ as the legal and

formal right of the project manager or
supervisor or any of the top-level
executives, of the organization to
command subordinates, give them
orders, instructions and directions, and
access obedience. The project manager
is entitled to make decisions, concerning performance or non-performance of a
task in a particular manner, so as to accomplish organizational objectives. It
comprises of some permissions and the right to act for the organization in a
particular area.

On the other hand, Responsibility is the outcome of authority. It entails the

obligation of the subordinate, who has been assigned the duty by his superior.

Responsibility is the obligation of an individual, whether a project manager or any

other employee of the organization to carry out the task or duty assigned to him by
the senior. The one who accepts the task are held responsible for their
performance, when an employee takes the responsibility of an action, at the same
time, he becomes responsible for its consequences too.

1-15 Personnel Coordination

The company organization is also dependent upon the special abilities and
skills of personnel to perform the work. This is true particularly as the
establishment of leaders, supervisors and foremen. Two factors are
significant.
 1. The need for close supervisions as judged by the skill of the workers and
the difficulty of the operations
2. The availability of experienced and trust worthy personnel capable of
acting in supervisory capacity.

The shortage of people who are capable of leadership and supervision of other is
one of the biggest difficulties encountered capable of acting in supervisory
capacity.

1. Lack of incentive in the supervisory positions

2. Inadequate or ineffective recruitment of those possessing potential
leadership ability.
3. Insufficient training of present and potential supervisory personnel.

Virtually, project construction bring together people knowledge and skills. Most of
the workers associate with the project for less than its work duration. Some go
from one project to another as their services is needed while others are on loan
either on a full time or part time basis from their regular job. This is usually the
case when special projects exist within the framework of a more traditional
organization.

1-16 Scientific Management

The root of management science extends to the

work of Frederick W. Taylor, an engineer who
was accredited the title of father of scientific
management. He propounded the machine
model or scientific or task management theory
with the following peculiarities.
  Division of labor specialization
 Unity of command and centralization of decision making
 One way authority
 Narrow span of control

The origin of management science has started from the works of Frederick W.
Taylor, an engineer who was accredited the title of father of scientific
management. Some of those early contributors to scientific management principles
were graduates in engineering schools but many were practitioners who make
industry a working knowledge of engineering principles. Associated with Taylor in
those early years were, Carl G. Barth, Henry L. Gantt, Stanford E. Thomson and
many others. Barth Introduced to the world the use of research mathematics, which
he merged with his knowledge of machine tools. Gantt contributed to the
recognition of worker psychology, the development of bonus plan, and the charts
used in production scheduling.

Engineering thus come to be closely associated with the management of

various enterprises. Out of this, Industrial Engineering was born. Today, it is
a descriptive of the work of functional staff responsible for the activities such
as

 Incentive standard
 Methods analysis
 Quality control
 Production control
 Material handling

Engineers as executive are not paid for doing things they like to do. They are
paid for getting the right things done and most of all in their specific task, that
is, the making of right decisions. To be effective is the job of the executive. He
is first of all expected to get the right things done. And this is simply that he is
expected to be effective.

Work Simplifications
Rank and file employees are frequently called upon to contribute. The term
simplification is often used to designate the cooperative project. Worker’s
acceptance of methods improvement activities is essential to any program, if their
enthusiastic participation can be obtained, results and savings will be felt.

Companies, who fail to call on employees and workers for improvements, overlook
the fact that the persons who spend eight hours or more a day on a job is perhaps
the one best informed about and most interested in the job and how it is performed.
Frequently, he can suggest changes that would elude even the trained method
person. The more people in the organization thinking about new methods and
techniques, is the better.

1-17 Humanistic Management

Humanistic management aims to create a more balanced relationship between

those things that can be exchanged on markets and those that are not but
make life worthwhile, human dignity and well-being. Markets are an
important tool and can help protect dignity and contribute to well-being, but
our organizing practices need to encompass an understanding for inherent
value and values that matter.

Humanistic management therefore creates a higher awareness of who we are

as human beings, what matters to us, and how we can lead a good life that
does not cost the earth.