Exam 13: Project Management Organisational Structures

provides the benefits associated with specialisation and functional excellence.

A disadvantage of a functional organisational structure is that team work is emphasized, with much cross fertilisation of ideas among functions.

In , employees work on multiple projects at any given time.

A disadvantage of a matrix organisational structure is that members of a project team in a matrix organisation structure have a dual reporting relationship, which can cause anxiety and conflict over work priorities.

is typically used in businesses that primarily sell and produce standard products.For example, a company that manufactures and sells video recorders.

As projects wind down and are completed in , the company hopes to get contracts for new projects.

is also known as a projectised organisational structure.

In , people experience greater learning and growth, and their knowledge and skills are transferred from project to project.

In , team members may be assigned to the project either full time or part time.

In , the objective is to maximise the number of functional person-hours applied to work on projects and minimise the unapplied time.

A company with may periodically undertake projects, but these are typically in-house projects rather than projects for external customers.For such projects, a multifunctional project team or task force is formed.

A disadvantage of an autonomous project organisational structure is that individuals are dedicated to working on one project.

In , the project manager also needs to take the time to regularly update the other functional managers in the company on the status of the project and thank them for the support of their people assigned to the task force.

A disadvantage of an autonomous project organisational structure is that at the end of a project, people may be made redundant if there is not a new project to which they can be assigned, leading to team members experiencing high anxiety about reassignment.

Because they have a functional home in , individuals can be moved among projects.

allows efficient utilisation of resources by having individuals from various functions assigned to work on specific projects.

In , the company always needs to have new projects coming in as other projects are completed, in order to maintain a high applied-time rate for the functional staff.

In , the project team has full control over the resources, including authority over how the work gets done and by whom.

In , a full-time project manager has complete project and administrative authority over the project team.

In , each project team is dedicated to only one project.