Ownership (glossary entry)
The dictionary defines ownership in terms of the transitive verb own, in the sense of posession. I refer to ownership in this ordinary sense as physical ownership. This article covers an metaphorically extended concept of political ownership. Political ownership extends the ideas of physical rights and responsibilities to a set of analogous "political" rights and responsibilities.
Using a physical ownership example, with which all readers should be familiar, it is easy to see that ownership involves several related components:
- There is an agreement, respected by the entire community, that an individual owns something (like a parcel of land),
- Certain rights are granted, and responsibilities imposed upon, the owner (for example, rights to access, privacy, and to use the land as provided by zoning regulations; responsibilities to pay taxes and respect neighbors),
- Certain responsibilities are also imposed upon the rest of the community (for example, do not trespass, and do not pollute).
Now translating to the case of political ownership, all of the same components are present. Considering the example in the cartoon below: the workgroup members (or at least the boss and the worker) agree that the project is owned by the worker; they have the right to define the details of the project's implementation and to use necessary resources to carry it out, and the responsibility to not get in the way of other company projects, and others at the company also have the responsibility to help out in certain ways and not to obstruct progress.
Typically, because political ownership goes with something new or different (like a work project, which usually differs in substantial ways from anything that has come before), the responsibilities concomitant with ownership are almost all of the assumed type (see responsibility for more). Because of the nature of assumed responsibilities, there is a need for accurate and complete communication and agreement to ensure that the commitments and the expectations are correlated.
Assuming this communication and agreement has occurred, we can then separate the ownership entity into its personal and communal aspects. The personal aspect is commitment, and the communal aspect is empowerment.
In order to manifest ownership successfully, an individual must have both, and in an ongoing fashion.
Commitment to Responsibilities
Ongoing commitment is fairly well understood. Here it is important to note that true ownership pretty much requires taking "recommitment" actions like those suggested on the priorities page. This includes identifying when a commitment to a lower-level thing (such as a task or a goal) must be abandoned (and possibly replaced) in order to keep the higher-level commitment to a project, mission, or purpose.
Within a context of ownership, an individual often finds himself lacking in some way. It may be necessary to strengthen, learn, grow, and/or improve in other ways to address this. The improvement can come even when the individual was not aware of what was needed or how to gain what was needed. See below for a concise summary of this.
Empowerment via Others' Commitments
The empowerment part of ownership is the part that is generally not acknowledged, and mainly because it requires cooperation on the part of more than one person. The influence of empowerment upon ownership is illustrated clearly by this example:
Foisted Disempowerment vs. Ownership
The individual who is to manifest ownership (of some kind of tangibly-stated task, goal, or project) often must remind others that empowerment (through their responsibilities as members of the community and as collaborators in the assignment of ownership) is necessary to achieve the task, goal, or project. In workgroups, communal ownership of workers' well-being is a common and important example.
(See also management, deadline, and the Tech Lead Coat of Arms.)
Here is the relevant text from the 1990s Legacy Game. It covers only the personal commitment aspect of ownership:
Beyond dedication to a purpose and completing tasks with excellence is the state in which a man makes a full personal investment in a cause. The performance of his mission mirrors [his] character, including his standards, his flaws, and his merits. As his OWNERSHIP increases the needs of the task start to shape and mold the man to suit it. If decisiveness is necessary, then he will develop that trait. If sensitivity to emotion is needed, he will acquire that ability. If the purpose or task that he has chosen is worthy, honorable, and true to his commitment, then the evolution of his character will be enhanced by OWNERSHIP.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2025 Sep 22.
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