How to Assign Roles, Responsibilities, and Authority
Hello, I’m Ichiki of Sync Logistics.
In this issue, I’d like to share my thoughts on how to assign roles, responsibilities, and authority in business operations.
■Division of roles: a problem that often occurs in business operations
In any organization, issues such as “who must do what,” and “up to what extent will decision-making be allowed” often emerge while doing business or when going forward with a project.
Even in our company, we have several ongoing projects, but there are times when work stops or fails to produce results because of ambiguous role assignments within the team.
Even when assignments are clear, there may be times when roles and responsibilities are not fulfilled, for example:
- The person assigned doesn’t want to do the job (the person is only forced to do it);
- The person wants to do the job but can’t (the job might be too difficult for the person);
- The person doesn’t think it’s their job to do (a disconnect in perception).
In general, I believe that in many cases, people try to do their best in any given role. However, I also feel it’s easy for problems to arise when people are forced to shoulder responsibilities they don’t want or can’t handle.I’ve had problems caused by various things, but oftentimes in projects, things work out when you gather people who want to do the job. If people are motivated to do the job because they “can grow,” or “it will be profitable,” they will autonomously fulfill their roles and responsibilities. Meanwhile, people who want to do the job but cannot do it will be given as much support and advice as possible. We shouldn’t just assign a role and leave the person alone – I believe it’s important to encourage them and give them growth opportunities.
■The project manager (PM) is responsible for appointing
In external projects I have been involved in, I have seen problems regarding the scope of authority, such as:
- Not being given the necessary authority in the roles and responsibilities people have been made to fulfill;
- Authority has been given to inappropriate people which resulted in partially optimal (not fully optimal) decisions.
In such cases, problems such as “the motivation of the person responsible may decrease,” and “interest is biased towards a specific stakeholder” may arise.
Regarding the ultimate responsibility for role-setting and appointing authority, I think this should be shouldered by the PM who oversees the entire project. Because it’s inevitable that disconnects in perception will arise among members, the PM must first have the responsibility to appoint, and clearly assign roles and authority after determining each member’s characteristics. Also, I think it is important for the PM to explain the reasons behind the appointments, so that each member will properly understand.
Moreover, by having the responsibility to appoint, the PM who has a bird’s-eye view of the project can clearly adjust interests from the perspective of overall optimization, such as where to “extend” and where to “give up.” However, when decisions are made based on overall optimization, a certain percentage of people won’t understand or won’t be convinced. Therefore, it is important to sincerely and continuously convey the goals of the decisions and the benefits they will bring over the medium to long-term and gain the understanding of as many people involved as possible.
It is very difficult to make adjustments while looking in every direction and gain the understanding of all involved, which I too sometimes find difficult to do. Moreover, on our job sites every day,I apologize for the inconvenience and burden placed on those involved due to our unclear role and authority settings, and insufficient explanations..
I will continue to persistently convey the importance of dialogue, and of clarifying roles, responsibilities, and authority so that our employees can fulfill their roles and contribute to the maximization of your profits.
Thank you for your time.
