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Reference:
Project Management, 5th Edition by Meredith
Project Management, by S Choudhury
 PROJECT ORGANIZATION
A) Project Mgr as a Staff Assistant to the Chief
Executive :
 Depending on the position of the PM, the authority he wields would
be different. In this type of organization, the PM virtually has no
authority.
 He does not make decisions for the project nor does he provide
staff service to the functional department who make all the
decisions relating to the project.
 He merely collects information and communicates the same to the
Chief Executive.
 This arrangement may be chosen by a chief executive who wants to
directly control the project, but cannot devote much time himself.
 Project Mgr as a Staff Assistant to the Chief
Executive :
 The CE may expect the PM to co-ordinate and expedite the
project which the latter will find difficult because of not having
any authority.
 The PM has to relay on Personal Authority for getting things
done rather than on Positional Authority.
 This arrangement works well generally for small projects, but
not for large projects.
B) Consultant as a Project Manager:
 A consultant is retained to advice the Chief Executive. He would
be an outsider without any authority.
 He would be able to influence the decisions of the CE and the
functional department.
 His task would be to collect, collate and communicate information
to CE and also add his suggestions/improvements.
 What the CE gains in this arrangement is the recommendations by
the consultant which would be authentic, reliable and impartial.
 What is amiss in this arrangement is the informal communication
and direction of the staff project manager could have given to the
functional executives.
C)Project Mgmt as a specialized Staff
Function:
 There is a different Project Mgmt Division and the PM in this role,
provides schedules, budgets and information to the various functional
departments who will execute the project.
 In this role, the PM should be a specialist in Project Mgmt tools and
techniques.
 He acts as a focal point for communicating with the participating
functional departments
 He does not make any decisions for the functional groups.
 It is interesting to note that the OM in this arrangement fully
identifies himself with the project and considers himself responsible
its successful completion.
 The drawback is that a great deal could be expected, but may
not be delivered.
 The functional manager might expect the PM to take all
responsibilities without any authority, but he cannot.
 D) Functional Organization

University of Cincinnati organization chart

Advantages of Functional/Hybrid
Organization
 Highly flexible staff use
 Ease of switching experts among
projects in same functional division
 Specialist pooling in functional division
 Technological continuity
 Quicker career advancement of
specialists
Disadvantages of
Functional/Hybrid Organization
 Project not client focused
 Different goals between functional parent division
and project
 PM competes with FM for role of central project
responsibility
 Slow response to client needs
 Weaker project team motivation than in pure project
organization
 Not a holistic approach to project management
E) The Matrix Organization
Matrix Organization Advantages
 PM sole responsible for project managing
 Access to entire technology of firm
 No worry about “life after project”
 Rapid response to client need
 Consistent with policies, procedures of parent
firm
 Company wide sharing of resources
 Flexible between “weak” and “strong” matrix
organization
Matrix Organization Disadvantages

 Political infighting: PM against FM

 Political infighting: PM against PM
 Projects resist shutdown
 Over-reliance on negotiating skills of PM
 No unity of command
F) Pure Project Organization
Advantages of Pure Project
Organization
 PM with full project authority
 Team directly responsible to PM
 Shorter communication lines than hybrid
organization
 Skill pools of technical experts
 Higher project commitment of team
 Faster decision making
 Unity of command makes life easier for staff
 Organization is structurally simple and flexible
 Holistic approach to project management
Disadvantages of Pure Project
Organization
 Duplication of staff among projects
 Stockpiling of expertise and equipment to assure
critical state never reached
 Experts develop too much depth --- not enough
breath
 Inconsistency in carrying out policies and
procedures
 Projectitis: excessive attachment of team to
project
 Team worries of “life after the project ends”
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