Project structuring is very crucial to the success of any project team. An organization or project team which is structured gives encouragement to the work which is already being done. Disarranged project management teams or organizations affect the outcome of a project negatively. This is all due to the organizational structure which has an impact on the authority of the project manager, with affecting how projects are operated. It goes without saying that non-structured project management teams often lack the direction and teaching. After all, a guided team operates successful projects.
Building the project structure is only covers a portion of organizing the project. We can say that it is the basic execution and application that takes the most of efforts. The project organization chart creates the formal relationships among project manager, the project team members, the development organization, the project, beneficiaries and other project stakeholders. This organization must ease an efficient interaction and combination among all the major project participants and accomplish open and efficient communication among them.
The project manager must build a project structure that will meet the various project expectations at different stages of the project. The structure cannot be created too intact or too lose. Since the project organization’s main motive is to ease the interaction of people to accomplish the ultimate goals of the project within the described restrictions of extent, schedule, budget as well as standard. The intent to create a project structure is to give it a formal environment that the project manager can make use of for impacting team members to do their best in finishing their assignment and their respective responsibilities. The structure needs to be formed with the view to help build alliance and cooperation among individual team members. And all of it is done in an affordable manner with a minimum of copying of effort and overlay.
The organization chart has a restrictive way of functioning. It only presents the ranking relationship among the team members but does not present how the project organization will work. It is for this reason that the design must comprise of the factors that will ease the operation of the structure. These include communications, information flows, coordination and collaboration among team members.
Three Types of Project Management Structures
An organizational structure could be defines as the official boundary of authority and control within an organization. Project management structures therefore, tell us how describing relationships work in certain organization.
Based on the atmosphere the organization discovers itself running in, the aims they set for themselves and the nature of work being done, you would find that organizations are structured in 3 manner:
- Functional Organizational Structure
- Matrix Organizational Structure – This can be further broken down into – Balanced matrix, Strong Matrix, and Weak Matrix
- Projectized Organization Structure
Now that we know how organizational structures are sub-divided, let’s grasp a closer look at each one of them to understand what makes them different from others.
Functional Organizational Structure
In a functional organizational structure, you would realize that the components of a ranking system are the responsibility of the functional manager. The components of ranking system are the one where the authority-driven decisions on budget, schedule, and equipment. The functional manager here has a remarkable level of expertise in the same domain.
Therefore, it is said that the project manager, in this type of organization has little to no authority. In some of the functional organizations, that position does not even exist.
However, what you would detect is the broken down work into departments just like the human resource department, sales department, finance, public relations, administration, and more. In layman’s term, it can be analogized to that of a more old company. The companies where staff is moderated over by a supervisor, depending upon their components within the organization and communication, which is now and again done by way of department heads to the senior management.
The most interesting thing about this type of organizational structure is that employees emerge as more experienced in their own departments. This leads them to an improved efficiency in work. Everyone knows who to hold responsible if something were to go off tracks as taking account are preset.
On the trouble side, the work may prove boring over time, which could result in less spirited and reduced allegiance to the organization. As well as, you would also realize that cross-departmental communication embellish poor and the high level of bureaucracy. And that could impact decision-making negatively.
Projectized Organizational Structure
The projectized organizational structure is the absolutely opposite of the functional organizational structure nonetheless the organization may still group staff according to their work functions.
Given such a case, where the project management team structure is organized in such a way that the project manager has project authority, he/she might have a jurisdiction over the project’s budget, schedule, and the project team. You would most possibly find him at the top of the ranking structure, calling all the shots along with employees taking a part in encouraging roles for the project. As the project reaches its end, the project team members are freed and resources administered towards more important regions.
The most prominent things about this kind of structure are that there is a comprehensive, accepted line of authority. This as a result leads to high-speed decision-making and agreement. Communication sets off simpler and more efficient. Project team members acquire more experience working on various types of projects as the need for them arises.
A major drawback to this type of organizational structure, however, would be that employees could see themselves being under a lot of pressure almost all the time. This happens if the employees happen to work on various projects at the same time. This often results in poor communication amidst the team members as everyone is left more or less playing “catch-up”.
Matrix Organizational Structure
The matrix organizational structure can be found lying somewhere te middle of the functional organizational structure and the projectized organizational structure based on what type of matrix structure is being operated.
For example, the strong matrix organizational structure has some resemblance with that of a projectized organizational structure in the sense that the project manager has to be accountable for a project. If the organization is operating a feeble matrix structure, then the project authority would fall to the hands of a functional manager as it is in a functional organization. Curiously enough, in a stabilized matrix organization, both the project manager and the functional manager shares equal dominion for the project.
If an organization discovers itself working in a spirited environment, then this might be the accurate structure to operate with it. It encourages efficiency in abundance, helping the organization answer to customer demands or changes in the marketplace, at a faster rate.
This can be simply accomplished as during the project manager shows project authority in a horizontal manner, the functional manager does so in a vertical, flowing downwards.
Conclusion
Thus, in this post, we looked at what an organizational structure was and how important and crucial it was for project managers to realize the different organizational structures, along with using the right project management tools.
After taking into account all the advantages and disadvantages of running a functional, projectized and matrix structure we understood that the decision to go with either of them would depend on the kind of environment in which the organization runs in, their motives and the nature of work being done.
References
- Pros and Cons of 3 Project Organizational Structures – The balance careers
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Introduction to Project Management Organizational Structure – Nutcache
