The type of work processes that an
organisation adopts has a significant effect on the growth and success of any
endeavor or activities. Based on my work experience and professional engagements;
having worked with three different organisations within the past nine years and
the difference approach I see in culture and structure with obvious results has
necessitated the choice of this subject. In congruent to this, I strongly
believe that the Organisational culture results into a belief system which in
turn affects the structure and relative output of the firm in terms of best-in-class
approach to project management issues with respect to all other concerns
affecting the bottom line of the project.
Looking through the definition of Organizational
Structure via Wikipedia, (2014), it defined it as the way activities such as
tasks allocation, coordination and supervision are directed towards the
achievement of organisational aims. By this, we can say that a good structure
can positively affect the work process, human capital development and resource
management of the firm in order to meet up with its defined goals and
objectives. In accordance to this, I share in the view of Torres et al
(2007), where they explained that a project organisational structure is a
structure that facilitates the coordination and implementation of project
activities. They further explained that the main objectives of the structure
are to reduce uncertainties and confusion that typically occurs at the project
initiation phase. With this in mind, and the thoughts of Handy (2007), who
explained how the culture affects the structure of an organisation and
vice-versa, it is very clear that a project manager has a lot to do in terms of
having a stable culture to have a successful project. In tandem to this,
(Handy, 2007), added that culture conveys more of the feeling of a pervasive
way of life, or sets of norms. Hence, it is necessary to give utmost importance
to the core beliefs of the organisation because it affects virtually everything
that concerns the way the systems function in terms of approval process,
recruitment, job design, people management, reward systems, appraisal and goal
setting. This can be achieved through training, collaboration and improved work
processes.
Following this approach, and in order
to get a clearer view of this subject, it is pertinent to understand the
different types of organisational structure available and their influence or
relationship with the project. This idea is in line with Kloosterman (2013),
who identified three organisational structures, namely; functional, matrix, and
projectized and how it can affect project management decisions. In her
explanations she delved on three organisational structures and how a project
manager can adopt any for his benefits. They are:
• "Functional
Organizational Structure. These firms are organized into functional divisions based
on primary functions such as engineering, human resources, finance, IT, planning
and policy. Each different functional division operates independently and
isolated groups of workers in a division report to a functional manager. The
functional manager generally both allocates and monitors the work and carries
out tasks such as performance evaluation and setting payment levels. In this
model project managers have very limited authority. Functional organisations
are set up for ongoing operations rather than projects and so this
organisational structure is often found in firms whose primary purpose is to
produce standardized goods and services.
• Matrix Organizational
Structure. In a matrix organisation control is shared. The project manager shares
responsibility for the project with a number of individual functional managers.
Shared responsibilities can include assigning priorities and tasks to
individual team members. But functional managers still make the final decisions
on who will work on projects and are still responsible for administration.
Project managers take charge of allocating and organizing the work for the
designated project team.
• Projectized Organizational
Structure. In
a projectized organisation the project manager has full authority over the
project. This includes the authority to set priorities, apply resources, and to
direct the work of team members assigned to the project. All members of the
project team report directly to the project manager and everybody is assigned
to a project. After completion of the project, resources will be re-assigned to
another project. This type of structure is common in firms that work on
sizeable, long-term projects, such as in the construction industry."
• I wish to add that the
project manager can take advantage of these types of structure and the role the
culture in an organisation paly to meet up with the project objectives and
shareholders expectations through well-defined organisational structure. If
applied appropriately, it has its attendant advantages; but according to Stare
(2011), he stated that unfortunately, many projects do not bring the benefits
for which they were implemented. Some of the resultant effects are; cost
overruns, increased cycle time, throughputs and reduced quality and all of
these cuts short the perceived outputs; this is because they fail to identify
the root cause of the aforementioned challenges which are due to ignorance or
inexperience.
• Here, am aligning my
thoughts to that of Handy (2007), who identified six areas that determine the
organisational structure. These are; history and ownership, size, Technology,
goals and objectives, the environment and people. I believe this can be used as
a road map forming a model that can be utilized to scan every organisation so
as to develop the best approach to influence a positive culture for improved
expectations. The bottom line of these expectations is increased profit, happy
stakeholders/investors and satisfied client or customers as the case may be.
Contributed by: Engr. Olumide Aina (Principal Facility Manager, OE&A)
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