Project Management Organizational Structures In Aerospace - Research Paper Example

It is not, however, just the practices and knowledge coding capabilities of the project manager that determine success, it is how the project manager adapts within different organizational structures when working on a project. This essay highlights the dynamics of the three different types of project management organizational structures, emphasizing the potential advantages and disadvantages of each structure. The role of the project management office within a matrix organizational structure receives special prominence in analysis.

Describing the Three PM Organizational Structures The first organizational structure analyzed is the functional structure, one that is primarily found within companies that sell standard products. In the aerospace industry, this structure is common when there is a very high volume of production output and where there is a single core product that drives the basis of manufacturing. The functional structure individuals that maintain the same technical expertise are placed into functional groups, for example a team of engineering specialists, which are responsible for handling activities associated with their level of skills and responsibilities toward meeting the objectives of the business mission (Gido & Clements, 2012).

The types of businesses that utilize a functional structure are those that have dedicated research and development teams, such as Johnson & Johnson, where functional experts are grouped into expert laboratories where group members share the same skills, competencies and technical capabilities. In the functional structure, there is generally a main executive leader that governs the entire division (such as engineering or marketing) by which divisional managers maintain reporting responsibility.

For instance, systems engineering, mechanical engineering, and software engineering management report to the Vice President of Engineering with no other additional tiers of hierarchical control in the functional model. The next organizational structure analyzed is the autonomous project organizational structure, a structure found in a business that works with a variety of projects that have varying characteristics, different needs for specialist work, and where there is no standard project framework that will guide the projects in which the company operates.

For example, a company may contract the project-oriented company for a multi-million dollar project that will require three years to complete that involves engineering experts, installation specialists, or special manufacturing requirements. Because this type of business maintaining a functional structure is working on many different projects concurrently, it will be necessary for some specialist groups to work autonomously until a specific aspect of the project has been completed by which the specialist groups maintains responsibility for completion.

Resources in the autonomous project organizational structure are allocated permanently until this portion of the project has been completed and the specialist group is then managed by a project manager that oversees the administrative function of the group. These partially-autonomous groups only provide support to the project until their unique responsibilities have been completed and then another functional group continues forward until all