Project teams often rely on staff from a variety of internal departments to help move initiatives forward. Stakeholders from different functional areas may take the lead on activities ranging from equipment calibration to the oversight of safety management in work areas affected by the project. But even as those individuals apply their time to project tasks, they typically remain part of their original departments. They’ll return to their normal roles and responsibilities when the project is done and may continue to carry out some of their normal duties while the effort is underway.
Why Resource Hoarding Happens in Matrixed Organizations
The challenge comes when middle managers agree to share their department’s resources—covering not just money and time but also people and the expertise they bring—but instead reserve so much of it for their own use that it conflicts with the commitments made in support of the initiative. It can be a tricky situation for project teams and it’s something leaders should watch for from the earliest days of project planning.
If you’re concerned about resource availability in your project, consider these signs that middle managers might be hoarding the support you need for success.
Only Partial Commitment to Shared Resources
Middle managers might restrict their team members’ capacity to participate. Reasons that people can’t devote the agreed-upon time to the project may include other departmental priorities, open positions within the department that put too much pressure on existing staff, and a lack of understanding or consensus on how much time they originally agreed to give. Negotiations for support can drag on but resources may never materialize at the level promised or needed.
Last-Minute Withdrawals of Key Personnel
If a department’s participants are pulled away from project activities at the last minute, particularly when critical work is being carried out, it may be due to resource hoarding. Managers may cite urgent department business that requires team members’ attention or the arrival of an unexpected request, such as from the senior leadership group or an outside collaborator. Team members might be completely absent during key project activities, despite having committed to participating during early project planning.
Substituting Junior Staff for Promised Experts
Substituting junior individuals in place of the promised senior staff may be an appropriate action in rare circumstances, but when managers consistently send less experienced people, it’s usually a warning flag project leaders should recognize. The excuses can range from the need to focus senior-level reports’ attention on other activities to a desire to expose junior staff to the project process and its growth opportunities.
Functional Managers Running Parallel Decision Tracks
Organizations frequently maintain matrix reporting structures so that individuals participating in project activities don’t lose engagement with their department teammates. However, if functional managers require that their employees check in with them on project decisions, whether or not those decisions will obligate the department to additional time or budget outlays, there’s a possibility that resources may be approved or denied outside of the normal project decision-making process. This can significantly slow progress and erode the project team’s ability to maintain control over resource procurement and consumption.
Resource Hoarding: Resource hoarding occurs when internal departments retain promised personnel, time, or expertise to prioritize their own operations—often without formally withdrawing from a project.
Communication Gatekeeping by Functional Managers
Managers may put themselves in a position to review messages and data going to or coming from the project participants in their departments. Requiring that all communications route through them as the sole conduit for information flows creates an environment where project communications may not reach participants in a timely manner, contributors may not have the opportunity to respond with requested data when it’s needed, and people could be essentially locked out of project discussions if their manager wants to preserve their time for department-related work.
When department managers hoard project resources, whether through partial commitments, last-minute withdrawals, or information bottlenecks, they undermine both collaboration and execution. Recognizing these early warning signs allows project leaders to proactively secure support and protect their timelines.
FAQ
What is resource hoarding in project management?
It’s when department managers retain staff, time, or expertise for their own use—despite commitments to project teams.
How can I tell if a department is under-delivering on resource promises?
Look for patterns like staff being unavailable, junior substitutions, or communications routed exclusively through managers.
What impact does resource hoarding have on projects?
It slows progress, causes delays, lowers quality, and often forces repeated renegotiations that burn leadership capital.
Is it always intentional when managers don’t deliver resources?
Not always—sometimes it’s due to staffing shortages or unclear agreements—but repeated incidents usually indicate a pattern.
What can project leaders do about resource hoarding?
Secure clear agreements, track commitments, escalate as needed, and build relationships with influential stakeholders to reinforce support.