From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishempire-buildingˈempire-ˌbuilding noun [uncountable] attempts to get more power within the organization you work for
Examples from the Corpus
empire-building• Together, they point to aggressive empire-building by the duke in the north.• Any change in the boundaries of authority should be the result of conscious planning, and not surreptitious empire-building.• Once the process is under way, empire-building adds fuel to the fire, and more fat to the bureaucracy.• All these colonies belonged to powers whose empire-building had begun in the age of the great discoveries. 