Project managers are identified and authorized in the project charter to manage the project, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have all of the power in their projects. When I talk about power, I mean autonomy – the power to make decisions on how the project should move forward. These are decisions such as scheduling, resource assignments, budget, meetings, and project team discipline – the usual powers you’d normally associate with a project manager rather than a superhero.
The organizational structure typically defines the amount of power the project manager is allowed to have in the project. Now certainly there are policies and procedures within every organization, but as a general rule, how the project is structured defines the amount of power a project manager can expect. There are six different organizational structures that a project manager can expect to work in – let’s have a peek.
Functional structures. Functional structures are organized by functions; think of sales, marketing, manufacturing, and so on. The function of the business unit defines and shapes the power within the organization. A project manager working a functional structure doesn’t have much power at all over her project. She’ll mainly be acting on behalf of the functional manager and may even be called a project coordinator or project expeditor. Projects within functional structures are very isolated and don’t use resources from other departments as part of the project team. Functional structures are shallow, but they allow for clear communications, it’s easy to see who’s in charge, and the project team has regular day-to-day work besides the project work.
Matrix Structures. Matrix structures use resources from all over the organization. A project manager in a matrix structure may have team members from many different departments on his project and can expect to work with these team members’ managers and other project managers to determine what resources are needed and when those resources are available. As you can expect, there is a lot of competition for key resources, and this often leads to power struggles. Matrix structures require more layers of communication than a functional structure because of the array of departments and projects each project manager has to work with to get the project to move forward. Sounds fun, huh?
There are three types of matrix structures:
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- Weak matrix – The functional managers have more authority over project decisions than the project manager.
- Balanced matrix – The functional managers and the project managers share the authority over project decisions.
- Strong matrix – The functional managers have less authority than the project managers over project decisions.
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Projectized Structure. A projectized structure puts all of the project resources on a project full-time, and the project manager is in charge. Project managers operating within a projectized structure have complete autonomy over the project, but they may be working under a project office or project management office (PMO) to guide the project decisions. The project team in a projectized structure is dedicated to one project full-time. The downside of a projectized structure is that as the project is nearing its completion the project team may get anxious, as they may not know which project they’re moving onto next.
Composite structure. The sixth structure is a blend of any of the other five. For example, an organization may traditionally operate as a weak matrix structure, but for one high-profile project they’ve created a projectized project structure. Composite structures aren’t that unusual, but can create challenges for communications and rules on governing the project decisions.
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