Chapter 2 : The Organizational Context : Strategy, Structure and Culture Flashcards
- how effective project mgmt contributes to achieving strategic objectives - 3 components of corporate strategy model : formulation, implementation, evaluation - importance of identifying important project stakeholders and managing them within the context of project development - recognize strengths and weaknesses of 3 forms of organizational structure and their implications for managing projects - how companies can change their structure to a "heavyweight project organization" structure to
What is strategic mgmt?
Science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives
Projects are ___ ___ or ____ ____
Projects are stepping stones of corporate strategy
4 internal stakeholders
- top mgmt
- accountant
- other functional managers
- project team members
4 external stakeholders
- clients
- competitors
- suppliers
- environmental, political, consumer and other intervener group
6 steps to manage
- assess the environment
- identify goals of principal actors
- assess your own capabilities
- define problem
- develop solution
- test and refine solutions
3 key elements of organizational structure
- Designates formal reporting relationships
- Identifies groupings
- Design of systems
formal reporting relationships into key elements or organizational structure are described by
number of levels in hierarchy
span of control
groupings into key elements of organizational structure are described by
- individuals into departments
- departments into total organization
design of systems into key elements of organizational structure are described by
- effective communication
- coordination
- integration across departments
3 forms or organization structure
- functional organizations
- project organizations
- matrix organizations
what is functional organization
group people performing similar activities into departments
what is project organizations
group ppl into projects teams on temporary assignments
what is matrix organization
create a dual hierarchy which functions and projects have equal prominence
4 strengths of functional organizations
- firm’s design is maintained
- fosters development of in-depth knowledge
- standard career paths
- project team members remain connected with their functional group
4 weaknesses of functional organizations
- functional siloing
- lack of customer focus
- projects may take longer
- projects may be sub-optimized
5 strengths of project structures
- project manager is sole authority
- improved communication
- effective decision-making
- creation of project mgmt experts
- rapid response
4 weaknesses of project structures
- expensive to set up and maintain teams
- chance of loyalty to the project rather than the firm
- no pool of specific knowledge
- workers unassigned at project end
4 strengths of matrix structure
- suited to dynamic environments
- equal emphasis on project mgmt and functional efficiency
- promotes coordination across functional units
- maximizes scarce resources
3 weaknesses of matrix structure
- dual hierarchies means two bosses
- negotiation required in order to share resources
- workers caught between competing project and functional demands
What is a project mgmt office?
Centralized unit that oversees or improve the mgmt of projects
PMO are resource centers for
- technical details
- expertise
- repository
- center for excellence
3 forms of PMOs
- weather stations
- control tower
- resource pool
4 actions performed by the PMO control tower
- establishes standards for managing projects
- consults on how to follow these standards
- enforces the standards
- improves the standards
4 things about the organizational culture
- unwritten
- taught to new members
- rules of behavior
- held by some subset of the organization
key factors that affect culture development
- technology
- environment
- geographical location
- reward systems
- rules and procedures
- key organizational members
- critical incidents
