Delegation of authority in construction project management : case in public organizations in Sri Lanka

Abstract

A considerable portion in the construction industry of Sri Lanka is covered by the government sector and organizational structure of most of them is different and they use different strategies for performing projects. There is no unique organizational structure for all the organizations in the government sector in the construction industry. Most of organizations in government sector follow a centralized management system and decentralized system not much significant. Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) as a government organization bare a large portion of construction and consultancy works in the construction industry of Sri Lanka at present and it is a grate example for practicing decentralized management system to perform project undertaken by it. It has separate eighteen sub divisions under Additional General Managers and this separate sub divisions function independently with sub organizations structures using delegations of authority. Deputy General Managers, project managers and other technical staff members directly working under Additional General Managers. Five AGM divisions of CECB out of eighteen were selected for the case study done under this research and three persons namely AGM, DGM and PM were interviewed from each division according to a semi-structured interview. Content analysis and cognitive mapping techniques were used for data analysis in this research. Cross-case analysis includes a comprehensive comparison between the selected cases and with the extant literature. It was observed that there are three most significant features affect to superiors in delegation of authority Viz.; saving time and energy, releasing of operational working load, opportunity for real top management functions and five most significant features affect to subordinate 'in delegation of authority Viz.; autonomy, decision making, responsibility, participation, and motivation and satisfaction and six most significant factors leading to effective delegation of authority Viz.; goals and roles, authority, communication, control mechanisms, trust and understanding, and rewarding and training.