Reflective Journal (Jeganathan Nivethan) 100075707

Week one study experience was an online learning based one. The study material focuses on the
importance of structure and culture in an organization. The organizations structure plays a major role
in the success of the company. I also understood that there are many ways to design an organizations
structure and the important part is that we need to design one that is suitable which best aligns with
the strategy of the organizations which will be the primary goal. This approach would help the
company to achieve its business results effectively. The organization structure decides on who can be
the decision maker at every level which helps operations proceed smoothly and functionally. The size
of the company is one of the major aspects which decides on the type of the structure which needs to
be implemented. Moreover, I was able to adopt the knowledge of the organizational charts developed
for different projects and how the leaders want to run the organization and direct their followers.

Learning about organizational structure I was able to link it with project management and understood
that it can have a major impact on it. Understanding my working environment better will always help
me to figure out the business issues and overcome it and run smoothly for a better successful project
management. Different types of organizational structures such as Functional, Matrix and projectized
organizational structure are all designed to serve different types of projects.

Functional organizational structure best suits for ongoing operations instead of projects and therefore
this kind of a structure is mostly practiced in organizations where the primary purpose is to produce
standardized good and services.

Matrix organizational structure fits for both ongoing operations as well as projects, therefore it best
suits for organizations which carry out both new construction projects as well as maintaining existing
construction projects.

Projectized organizational structure is best suitable for large long-term projects which takes place in
the construction industry. In this type of a structure the project manger has full power over the project.
Therefore, everyone on the team directly repots to the project manager on completion of each task.

Reading through the articles and journals I was able to witness that organizational culture plays a
major role in an organization and how it effects on the performance, delay in construction as well as
knowledge transfer. These have crucial influence over the success of a project.

One of the main cultural drawbacks I was able to notice was communication and coordination. Hence
recommendations were suggested on how to overcome such as “Cheering participation and consensus
in decisions”, Management of environment through teamwork” and so on. The organizational culture
can have an impact on the project management and this result will effect on the team work between
departments on achieving a project goal, influence on the commitment of the employee towards his
task, and finally on how the managers assess the project performance and how the employees view the
project result.

The learning experience was challenging to me since online learning wasn’t something I was always
used to. Yet I am glad that I was able to understand and reflect on my understanding. And I hope I
have done my work to satisfy the expectations of what the unit required. In future I am looking
forward to more of blended learning.