Project Management Organization Structures

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Project Management and Organizational Structures The foundation for which projects and their groups are structured is referred to as organizational structure. An organizational structure has an impact on every part of a business. This includes operations, communication, strategic goal planning, and decision-making. The most successful companies have a solid understanding of each organizational structure and how it impacts the business. This paper will define the three primary project management organizational structures. In addition a comparison and contrasting of the functional, matrix, and pure project organizational structure will be reviewed. Lastly, this paper will provide situations in which each project management organization structure would be the best method to manage a project team. Functional Organizational Structure In a functional management organization structure, “the project is assigned to the functional unit that has the most interest in ensuring its success or can be most helpful implementing it” (Meredith & Mantel, 2006, p.187). The functional organizational structure is one of the most widely used methods used by businesses. The traditional ways that the functional organizational structure are applied is 1) the project is assigned to a functional manager who works with other groups or individuals that contribute to the overall project or 2) the project is distributed amongst different departments that assume responsibility for the portion of the project and subsequently reports their work back to the manager. As stated in Project Management a Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling (2006), “organizational behavior is important because the functional employees at the interface position find themselves reporting to more than one boss – a line manager and one project manager for each project that are assigned to”. There are

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