Resource Hiring
5.2 Project Organization
5.2.1 Types of Organizations
All types of organizations have their advantages and disadvantages.
Therefore, they must be taken into account when choosing the appropriate organization of the project according to the nature of the project, its char- acteristics, and prior experience for projects undertaken by this company or other similar organizations.
We must have a full knowledge of these types of organizations and the advantages and drawbacks whether you belong to members of the clients for the work of this organization, are one of the directors of the project, or are a member of the project because you must know the gain and loss that could happen when working on this project. In addition, through advantages in
every organization you have the motivation and driving forces, which will be used to move the individuals who work with you. Through the defense of those features, you have the motivation of the company’s head office.
The types of organizations are as follows:
5.2.1.1 Project Organization as a Part of the Company
This organization is used, often, for small projects that are within the com- pany itself, such as industrial projects that entail increasing the product line, expanding the plant, or creating a new production line.
In this case, define the departments that are responsible for the project.
This organization is also used in a type of project that contains new tech- nology, such as buying a new advanced machine in which the supervision of the project rests and operation will be with the engineering management responsibility.
In this project organization, one of the departments will manage the project. This department will have daily work performed by individuals and the department shall be responsible for the project and report to the senior management of the company. Now let us imagine what the advan- tages and disadvantages are to this type of organization.
The most important features can be summarized as follows:
• We can easily transport the personnel to and from the project, which helps to exchange experiences and transfer modern technology to the largest number of company labor.
• It is easy to utilize the employment.
• The individuals are working on the project in the same section of functionality that they normally work and, there- fore, their presence in the project will enhance the promo- tion of individuals.
• Increasing the experience of individuals who work in the project will increase the benefit to each individual and the company as a whole.
The disadvantages to this type of organization are as follows:
• The department is in charge of the project and the daily routine must be taken into account to determine the time that will be taken to implement the project.
• Technical problems can be solved easily as they work on the same job function, but they usually avoid the administrative work.
• This organization, in most cases, will not be given respon- sibility for a specific individual, so that work will be the responsibility of the department as a whole. This means that it may be two persons working on the same activity in the project as maybe one of them busy in the department of regular activity or on vacation or the work may be reviewed by more than one person, which will cause a loss of account- ability in the project.
• The motivation of a working group will be weak, as the senior management will consider it their usual routine work.
5.2.1.2 Separate Project Organization
This organizational structure functions is an independent unit separate from the company and its connectivity is to discuss the company and the numbers of periodic reports on the achievements that will be sent to the company.
This sort of organization is in industrial projects and supervises projects for a company that may not have many projects at the same time.
There are some disadvantages and advantages of this organization and the most important characteristics are as follows:
The project manager has full authority to manage the project and reports to the Executive Director in the organization.
• Everyone in the team directly reports to the project manager.
• A separate working group is given a sense of independence, which creates a high level of commitment and accuracy in work.
• In this organization, the understanding of work orders and the implementation are easy.
• There will be powerful, fast decision-making and vitality throughout the project.
• It reduces the communication between individuals in the project and the people who work in the company head office.
The disadvantages of this type of organization can be summarized as follows:
In the case of more than one project in the organization, each project should have teamwork on it, causing a duplication of effort and increased costs if we look at the individuals who carry out the services and adminis- trative affairs, which would be repeated work in all projects.
• The less communication there is between the project and technical divisions, in the case of projects that need special technology, the more difficult it is to transfer expertise from the company organization to the project.
• The project group is considered individual and there is rebel- lion against the actions in the head office.
• The project has a specific time, objective, and target with separate project team members. Through this environment of work, there will be a growing sense of interdependence with the project, which means the relationship between these team members and their counterparts in the company head office will be cooled, but, on the other side, the indi- viduals in the head office believe that the members of the project benefited greatly from working on the project, which generates some feelings of hatred.
• There is control of the project personnel, the fear of loss of administrative promotion, and upward mobility in the com- pany head office.
• This kind of organization has defects that can be prevented if an appropriate project manager is selected.
5.2.1.3 Matrix Organization
The matrix organization is most common in the case of construction com- panies or consultancy firms that have more than one project running at the same time. The target of this type of organization is to be used for special projects working in the field of advanced technology, so that they
Figure 5.1 Matrix organization.
Project (A) Project
(B) Project
(C)
Projects Financial
dept.
Procurement Engineering HSE
Chairman
must be integrated disciplines for careers to work in implementing various projects.
The matrix organization will be functional posts in the parent organiza- tion, which consists of a set of integrated experiences that can be distrib- uted on projects and sent back again.
This organization, although more commonly used in construction, can be summarized in the following points:
• You can take a technical engineer or any specialist at any time and when more than one project has been executed, the functional departments will have available expertise.
• There is no concern for the careers of individuals who work in the project upon completion of the project.
• There is strong communication between members of the project and between the functional departments in the main office.
• It has the flexibility as a separate project, but independent expertise is available as in the case that the organization is part of the organizational structure. The pain of any com- pany is simply because it combines the advantages available to the two types of organizations.
• When there is more than one project, it can strike a balance between resources through good planning.
The disadvantages of this organization can be summarized as follows:
• The individuals in this organization are also scared of the end of the project, but not to the same degree as in the case of the independent project organization.
• The project manager controls the administration, while managers of the departments in the head office are managing the technical aspects only and this would cause confusion between the project manager and functional department head, as in some cases the technical decision may affect the project management from cost and time.
• Everyone has two managers.
• There is often overlap and conflict between the project man- ager and directors of different departments.
• A burden rests with the planning department in the head office in the distribution of resources commiserating with the nature of each project and its requirements.
Notes of such disadvantages can be avoided with an experienced project manager as well as select individuals who have experience com- miserating with the project until they do obtain a balance between the requirements of the project manager and the functional department in the head office.