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Organization Structure & Its Impact On Project Management

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
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Organization Structure & Its Impact On Project Management

Uploaded by

maya ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Organizational Structure Influence on Project

Management Execution
The summary table just below represents a cross reference between an organization structure
and different characteristics in a project.

Figure 2-1 shows a classic functional organization where each employee has one clear superior.
Groupings occur from at top level down to the bottom level (e.g. accounting, engineering,
marketing). Project work of each group is typically performed independently of other groups.
Figures 2-2 through 2-4, reflect a blend of functional and projectized matrix organizations that
are classified as weak, balanced, or strong depending on levels of power and influence that
functional and project managers have.

Weak matrix organizations:

• similar to functional organization


• project manager: functions as expeditor or coordinator
• project expeditor: works as staff assistant and communications coordinator but does not
make or enforce decisions
• project coordinator: makes some decisions, has some authority, and reports to a higher-
level manager

Balanced matrix organization:

• recognizes the need for a project manager


• neither provides the project manager with full authority over the project nor over project
funding

Strong matrix organizations:

• similar to projectized organization


• have full-time project managers with considerable authority
• full-time project administrative staff
Figure 2-5 illustrates a projectized organization, the opposite end of the spectrum from the
functional organization.

Characteristics of a projectized organization:

• team members are often colocated


• most of the organization’s resources involved in project work
• project managers have a great deal of independence and authority
• virtual collaboration techniques often used to accomplish benefits of colocated teams
• organizational units sometimes sometimes called departments
• team resources can either report directly to the project manager or provide support
services to the various projects
Figure 2-6 shows a composite organization that involves all these structures at various levels.

• Example 1: Even a fundamentally functional organization may create a special project


team to handle a critical project. Such a team may have many of the characteristics of a
project team in a projectized organization. The team may include full-time staff from
different functional departments, may develop its own set of operating procedures, and
may even operate outside of the standard, formalized reporting structure during the
project.

• Example 2: Also, an organization may manage most of its projects in a strong matrix, but
allow small projects to be managed by functional departments.
Because many organizational structures include strategic, middle management and operational
levels, the project manager may interact with all three levels depending on factors such as:

• strategic importance of the project


• capacity of stakeholders to exert influence on the project
• degree of project management maturity
• project management systems
• organizational communications

This interaction determines project characteristics like:

• project manager’s level of authority


• resource availability and management
• entity controlling the project budget
• project manager’s role
• project team composition

Execution of projects falls into one of the above organization structures. Because managing the
day-to-day activities of the team is necessary for project success but not sufficient as a whole, I
provided the needed context to help with a broader understanding. Doug Sundheim's HBR
article, Closing the Chasm Between Strategy and Execution, provides an even greater context of
how project execution fits into overall strategy of an organization.

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