Project management---management of project organization - Essay Example

al Affiliation) PROJECT MANAGEMENT---MANAGEMENT OF PROJECT ORGANIZATION For Week 1. Project management environment requires the sharing of resources like top management, personnel, infrastructure, and facilities between the projects and the base organization. It also requires the sharing of control, administrative, and communication systems (Cordes 2013, pg. 30). Further, project documentation and the generic project process are more often than not standardized. The project management environment has fewer risk factors compared to an operational environment because planning is more detailed and thorough than in any other environment.

The project management environment also has fewer distribution and supply networks.2. The United Nations; Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); The World Bank Group; International Committee of the Red Cross; CARE; Mercy Corps; President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); Oxfam; World Vision International; Plan International; ActionAid; Doctors Without Borders; Greenpeace; World Wide Fund for Nature; ADRA; CAFOD; Save the Children International; SOS Children’s Villages.3. In project-oriented organizations personnel and departments are organized around individual projects.

For instance, many project-oriented organizations have project managers that manage teams of personnel. These personnel are usually from different departments and have different responsibilities, but all are required to successfully implement the project. Typically, many teams operate simultaneously, but they do not have to interact with each other because each is focused on completing its own project (Cordes 2013, pg. 37). Project-oriented organizations employ structures borrowed from organizations based on functions, hierarchies, and operations.

They use a matrix structure in which important organizational functions are housed in a management structure, while the work is conducted in project-based teams that have a hierarchical structure.4. Unlike the construction contractor, the management consulting company would have an organizational structure that is umbrella-based. This means that it includes all organizational structures that are not based around projects. It would, in summary, employ a functional model as its organizational structure, unlike the construction contractor’s matrix model.

In the functional model, a manager supervises several different department heads, each of who manages one department in which specific tasks are carried out (Gibbons 2013, pg. 12). For instance, the management consulting company may have several departments for accounting, human resources, marketing, and research. Unlike the construction contractor company, the management consulting company’s structure is designed around functions, and not projects.For Week 21. The biggest challenge of managing projects under different structures involves resource allocation, project classification, policies, and priorities, and general supervision/management.

The rationale behind this is that different structures involve the integration and consideration of several different perspectives, risks, and conditions (Cordes 2013, pg. 39). This can prove to be a very difficult task in cases where top management is not experienced enough and if it is a first-time initiative by an organization.2. The organization’s structure will determine how it relates to its strategic suppliers and alliance partners. Depending on the structure adopted (functional, matrix, or project-oriented), the relationship between the organization and its strategic suppliers and alliance partners may be mutually beneficial and effective, or protracted and lukewarm.

For instance, in a matrix structure power and control of resources usually rest with the base organization (Gibbons 2013, pg. 23). This may cultivate and entrench a lot of bureaucracy, which is not good for strategic suppliers and alliance partners. In addition, transformation of experiences and knowledge between the organization and its suppliers and partners, and between projects can cause problems.For Week 31. Conceptualizing project management as a technology at the organizational level, project management can be further classified into types with distinct attributes.

These types can be considered as methodologies/techniques, and include:a) Calendarsb) Gantt chartsc) PERT chartsd) Matrix diagramse) Timelinesf) Flowchartsg) BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation)h) Mind mapsi) The Critical Path Method (CPM) j) Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)k) Event Chain Methodology (ECM) 2. Matrix Structure It can be developed in a variety of ways, and this is related to the classical conundrum concerning double loyalties and double management. Its aim is to balance the needs of different functional areas while giving project managers the support needed to coordinate projects across organizational boundaries (Thompson 1967, pg. 29).Functional Structure This is common in the film industry, theatres, civil engineering, and software consulting.

Using this structure, projects are divided into sections that are assigned to the respective functional units and each unit is tasked with completing its part of the project.Project-oriented structure In this structure individuals are the key components of projects. In contrast to the matrix structure, individuals do not belong to base organization, moving from one project to another. Project managers are generally responsible for the project, including control of available resources and performances (Perrow 1988, pg. 27). Project work is carried out in different specialized functional spheres, and project teams have the right to create their own procedures and rules.3. This structure (usually functional) is extremely focused on helping firms in the film industry to realize their objectives, which are: growth and integration, globalization, ownership concentration.

As such, this structure is highly flexible, dynamic, stable, and expansive. Considering the capabilities and sizes of most film companies, such features are not desirable but essential. Such a structure provides the solid, futuristic, and dynamic foundation that can support aggressive expansion and management of numerous departments and in all this, ensuring that profitability maintains an upward trend (Thompson 1967, pg. 33).References Cordes, P., 2013, Dynamic capabilities: how organizational structures affect knowledgeProcesses, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Gibbons, R. 2013, The handbook of organizational economics, Princeton University Press,Princeton. Perrow, C. 1988, Organization design and structure, American Management Association, NewYork, N.Y. Thompson, J. D. 1967, Organizations in action; social science bases of administrative theory,McGraw-Hill, New York.