Empire-building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the context of political science and the world at large, empire-building refers to the tendency of countries and nations to acquire resources, land, and economic influence outside of their borders in order to expand their size, power, and wealth.
In the context of the business world, empire-building is demonstrated at a human level, where an individual or small group attempts to gain control over key projects and initiatives in order to maximize their job security and promotability. Project leadership hoards potential credit and prestige the project can produce. Because this approach prevents other people in the organization from contributing in a meaningful manner, and alternative or competing projects to address the project's goals are destroyed regardless of their merit, the company suffers as a whole, the projects fail, and the goals of the project are achieved only partially, inadequately, or not at all.
