What are the main Project Organization Types?

There Are Three Main Project Organization Types.
Which Are You?

The project organization is described in the Project Charter. The way that the project team is organized is directly related to the way the entire organization is structured. There are three major organization structures to manage work and people.

Functionally Based

In a functional organization, a project team is generally staffed with people from the same department. All the resources needed for the project team come from the functional organization. For instance, if the project is related to the finance function, the project resources come from the Finance Division.

Another way a project is staffed in a functional organization is by executing portions of a project in separate functional organizations. For example, let’s say that a large project needed resources from the Finance, Purchasing, IT and Manufacturing departments. In a functional organization, the project would be broken down by organizational unit and each unit would do its own part relatively independently. At the end, all of the independent solutions would be integrated into one final solution.  

The biggest advantage of functionally-based projects is that there is usually clear authority, since the project managers tend to also be the functional managers. You also do not need to negotiate with other organizations for resources, since all of the staff needed for your project will come from the same functional organization. 

A major disadvantage of the functional organization is that your functional area may not have all of the specialists needed to work on a project. A Finance project with an IT component, for instance, may have difficulty acquiring specialty IT resources.

Project Based

When projects are large enough, it's possible to form functional departments around the project team. This is especially practical when a large program has hundreds or thousands of people assigned over a long period of time. Advantages include clear authority, since the project manager is also the functional manager, and a clear focus, since everyone on the team has only the project for their primary responsibility.

One disadvantage is duplication of resources, since scarce resources must be duplicated on different projects. For instance, a large project may have its own Human Resources staff, which could duplicate a central Human Resources Department. There can also be concerns about how to reallocate people and resources when projects are completed. In a functional organization, the people still have jobs within the functional department. In a project-based organization it is not so clear where everyone is reassigned when the project is completed.

Matrix Based

Matrix organizations allow functional departments to focus on their specific business competencies and allow projects to be staffed with specialists from multiple functional organizations. For instance, a Legal resource might report to the Legal Department, but be assigned to a project in another department that needs legal expertise.

The main advantage of the matrix organization is the efficient allocation of all resources, especially scarce specialty skills that cannot be fully utilized by only one project. The matrix-based organization is also the most flexible when dealing with changing business needs and priorities.

The main disadvantage is that the reporting relationships are complex since many people have multiple work managers - both a functional manager and one or more project managers. Staff members need strong time management skills to ensure that they fulfill the work expectations of multiple managers.

Summary

The matrix-based organization is the most common. Can you tell which model your organization uses? 

Effective Communication Basics in Project Management

Be Effective with The Four Communication Basics

There's not one 'best' way to communicate with your project team but rather a number of different things you can do to communicate. That being said, there are some fundamental communication options that are applied on most projects. Before you get too sophisticated with your communication approach, make sure you are very effective with these fundamentals.

1. Status meetings

There's nothing like a status meeting to communicate effectively with your project team. The best time for a group meeting is early in the week, preferably Monday.  The purpose of this meeting is to make sure that everyone is aligned, expectations for the week are set, and any issues or obstacles are addressed and resolved. Ideally, this meeting takes place face-to-face allowing everyone to contribute to the discussion and get the most out of it as possible. This is your opportunity as a Project Manager to address the needs of the group and make sure everyone is on the same page.

2. One-on-one meetings

Another great opportunity to manage your project teams are the one-on-one conversations you have with individual team members. This type of conversation can take various forms. A regular weekly meeting can be set up with team members that may be new or have minimal experience. This can take 30 minutes or less and serve as a time to touch base with them, make sure they are not having any problems in getting their work done, or discuss any other topics that would not be appropriate to bring up in a larger meeting. One word of caution... don't use this time to talk about any disciplinary or corrective actions that need to be addressed. That should be left for a separate meeting.

What if you have more experienced or senior members on your team? This is still a great way to manage your team, but it can take a slightly different form. First, it could be reduced to once or twice a month that you get together. Plus, the focus of the meeting can be to discuss any ideas or suggestions the team member has for improvement or making things better. At this point in their career they won't need too much direction, but they will appreciate the opportunity to provide their input.

3. E-Mail

In 10 years it is nor clear if we will rely so heavily on email for fundamental communication. But we do today. Email is a powerful addition to face-to-face talking. There are lots of uses for emails - one-on-one discussions, group discussions, one-way notifications, fyi's, decision making, problem solving, etc. If you are weak at email communication it can dramatically impact your ability to manage staff and engage stakeholders.

Be mindful to not let email take the place of face-to-face meetings when you have the personal meeting as a viable alternative. It's easy to go down this path feeling that it's faster or less complicated than talking in person. Email should always be in addition to, not instead of, talking to your team in person.

4. Reports

Reports cover a lot off ground - status reports, performance reports, issues reports, safety reports, etc. You may not typically think about reports as a way to manage your project team, but if you create your reports in the right way you will find they can be a useful tool.

What is the right way to create reports that can help manage your team? Make them actionable. Making a report actionable means that someone can read the report and then know what needs to be done next. The report will not be muddled with a lot of unnecessary details or information that could lead to confusion.

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The four fundamental communication mediums above are practical ways you can communicate with and manage your project team. The spirit of managing your team can be summed up in two words... be available. Your staff will do well if your team knows they can reach you at any time with questions, issues, or suggestions and feel comfortable in doing so. Your group meetings, one-on-one conversations, email, and actionable reports will keep you in that position of availability.