Lecture – III PROJECT MANAGEMENT UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES Different organizational structures determine the level of authority senior management is willing to delegate to Project Managers. 1. FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL • •
• • • •
Oldest style of organizational therefore known as Traditional approach to organizing business. Are centered by specialties & grouped by functions; the organization might have a HR department, a marketing department, a manufacturing department, finance department etc. Specialized HR skill sets to perform unique departmental function. Hierarchy: Staff –managers, managers-departmental heads, departmental heads – VP, VP-CEO. A strict chain of command may exist.[e.g. Don’t talk to the big boss without talking to your --]
Each department is managed independently & enjoys limited span of control. Marketing dose not run finance department or their project, BUT incase marketing department need financial Information, chain of command is fallowed, Manager Marketing talk to the Manager Finance, gets the relevant information & pass it back to project team.
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES Advantages: a) Enduring Organizational Structure. b) Clear upwards Career paths with separation of functions allows specialty skills to flourish. c) People with similar skills and experience are easier to manage as a group. d) Assignments distributed to those, best suited for the task. e) One supervisor with a clear chain of command.
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Disadvantages: a) Project manager has little to no formal authority, [VP holds the control]. b) Multiple projects compete for limited resources & priorities. c) Project team members are loyal to the functional managers. 2. PROJECTIZED ORGANIZATION • • • • •
Nearly the opposite of Functional organization. Focus of this type of organization is Project itself. PM reports directly to CEO. PM acquire & assign resources for the project. Support Departments like HR & Finance might report directly to PM. • Team members report directly to the PM not their functional manager. • At the end of project team is dissolved, & project members return to their functional areas to resume their duties. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES Advantages: a) Organizational resources are purely dedicated to projects & project work. b) Collocated [physically work at the same location], build collective team work. c) Team members develop loyalty to the project not to the functional manager. d) PM almost have ultimate authority over the project. Disadvantages: a) Project team members may find themselves out of work at the end of the project. b) Highly specialized skills can be useful at one time but might be idle during other time in the project. ----------------------------
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3. MATRIX ORGANIZATION Minimize the differences between & take advantages of , the strengths & weaknesses of functional and Projectized organizations. The idea at play here is that the best of both organizations can be achieved by combining them into one. •
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While maintaining the hierarchical structure in the organization objectives are fulfilled and good project management techniques are utilized. Employees report to one functional manager and at least one project manager. Functional managers pick up the administrative positions and assign employees to projects. Functional managers also monitor the work of their employees. Functional managers & PM’s share the responsibility of performance reviews for the employees. Functional manager assign employees to the project while, PM assigns the tasks to the employees. Balance of power is maintained due a lot of communication & negotiation between project manager & the functional manager.
Strong Matrix Organization
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Balance of power rests with the PM’s. They can press Functional managers to give the best of their resources for the project. • Sometimes more resources then necessary are assembled
Week Matrix Organization: •
Functional managers have all the powers in this matrix, project managers are really project coordinator or expeditors with part time responsibilities on project • Project managers have little or no authority on the project • Functional managers enjoy a lot of authority and make all the work assignments.
Balance Matrix Organization: •
In between week matrix & strong matrix is an organizational structure called the balance matrix. • Power is balanced between project managers and the functional managers. • Employees get assigned to the project based on the needs of the project NOT the strength & weakness of the manager’s position. • PM reports to functional manager but share power & authority.
COMPARING MATRIX STRUCTURE
Strong Matrix Project manager’s Title:
Weak Matrix
Balance Matrix
Project
Project
Project
coordinator,
manager
manager
project leader
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or project expeditor Split focus
Projects &
Projects &
manager’s
between
project work
project work
Focus:
project & responsibilities Minimal
Balance of
Full authority &
manager’s
authority &
authority &
power
Power: Project
power Part time on
power Full time on
Full time on
manager’s
projects
projects
projects
Time: Organization
Most like
Blend of both
Most like a
Style:
functional
weak & strong
projected
organization Functional
matrix A functional
organization Manager of
manager
manager, but
project
shares
managers
Project
functional Project
Project manager Reports to:
authority & power
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