Decision Authority and Control
Authority Migration
Authority migration occurs when practical control moves away from the person or role that formally owns the decision.
What It Explains
The problem this framework makes visible.
How information, timing, access, dependency, and option-shaping can relocate decision power without changing the organizational chart.
System Mechanism
How the failure forms.
Formal authority remains assigned to a visible role.
Other actors control information, timing, or available options.
The formal decision-maker becomes dependent on those actors.
Practical control shifts toward the dependency source.
The system preserves the appearance of authority after control has moved.
Failure Signatures
What an observer would see.
Decision-makers approving options they did not shape
Information gatekeepers determining effective outcomes
Formal ownership without intervention access
Authority visible in policy but absent in practice