The Organization

Dec 22,2008 00:00 by admin
The Organization
What is the company organization, and what is its character? What is the
source of project personnel? Will your people be provided through a matrix
organization, or is your project ‘‘projectized?’’ To whom do you report
functionally? Is there a ‘‘dotted line’’ reporting scheme? Is there a centralized
Project Management Office (PMO), or are the projects on their own?
Phew! That’s a bunch of questions, and the answer to each is important.
Let’s take a look at each one.
What is the company organization and character? Is the company
a Research and Development (R&D) organization? Is the company a
manufacturing organization? Is the company a services organization?
Is the company a hardware-oriented organization? Is the company a
software organization? I don’t mean to answer a question with other
questions, but these distinctions are important. Each organization type
has its own character, and you must understand what that character is.
If all your experience has been in manufacturing and you are going
into an R&D organization, you will find the character of the two quite
different. I’ve only presented two company types for purposes of explanation.
There are, of course, many other types, and you need to be
aware of what you are getting into. Sometimes, the purpose of the organization
is not consistent with the usual character of the organization
type. For instance, early in my career, I hired into an R&D organization.
It seemed reasonable to expect an R&D atmosphere, right?Well, it may
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have been reasonable to expect that atmosphere, but that’s not what
it was. This organization was a spin-off of an old-time manufacturing
organization, and they carried their manufacturing rules and policies
with them when they founded this new R&D arm. There was difficulty
in the organization from day one, and it continued for as long as I was
there. It’s one of the main reasons I left. Some time later, the organization
changed, but only after there was a change in upper management
resulting in a change in management philosophy. Look at the organization
you are going into and understand its expectations. For instance,
if your new organization is an old-line manufacturing organization, expect
the procedures to be solid. You will need to conform to the mold.
The emphasis is on production, even for the projects. If your new organization
is a new software house, expect a lot of serendipity and few
procedures. The emphasis will be on creativity. Over time, this attitude
will change . . . if the company survives.
How does your new organization provide the personnel to the projects?
Will your project be a matrix, or is it ‘‘projectized?’’ To recap the
operating characteristics of a matrix organization, let me say that a
project operating under the matrix concept gets its personnel from
functional organizations. These personnel get their raises from their
functional managers and thus owe their allegiance to the functional
manager. What does this mean to you? Simply stated, you are required
to provide more leadership and fewer orders to get the project personnel
to do what you need them to do. Some ‘‘enlightened’’ organizations
(where the higher management has been a project manager) institute a
process that allows the project manager to have a heavy input to the
individual’s performance evaluations. This action gives the project
manager a lot more leverage in the individual’s performance appraisal,
meaning his raises!
On the other hand, if your project is projectized, you have considerably
direct control because you are the one who passes out the raises
and promotions. You can expect responsiveness to be a lot more crisp.
To whom do you report functionally? This means purely and simply,
who signs your paycheck, your promotions, and your raises? Is
there a ‘‘dotted line’’ reporting relationship? A dotted line simply
means this is the office that coordinates and may temporarily control
your operating activities. Is there a straight line and a dotted line to
your function? If this is the case, you report functionally to one office
and are technically directed by another office. This is usual for quality
assurance people and is used with project managers whenever the centralized
PMO staff concept is used (see below).
Is the Project Management Office (PMO) a LINE function or a
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178 MAKING YOUR CAREER MOVES
STAFF function? The PMO usually has one of two functions. If it is a
LINE organization, it is the organization element from which all project
management activities emanate. In this case, the PMO is the directing
agency for all project activities in the company. It is the creator of all
project management policies, plans, processes, and procedures. It is the
‘‘home’’ or functional organization of all project managers. It makes
assignments and controls the activities of project managers to each
project. The line PMO controls the raises of the project managers.
Alternatively, it can be a STAFF organization fromwhich projectmanagement
activities are coordinated. In this case, it is the creator or coordinator
of project management policies, plans, processes, and procedures.
It ‘‘logs’’ projects and may receive reports from ongoing projects. In some
cases, the PMO will simply collect and post project performance data. But,
the project managers do not report functionally to this PMO; instead, they
are technically responsible to the PMO for employing the policies, plans,
and procedures demanded by the PMO but functionally responsible to
their line functional manager or director. The functional manager, in this
case, controls the project manager raises.
What does all this mean to you? It means you need to understand
the position and authority from which you operate whenever you go
into a new organization. You should know who signs your paycheck
and who signs the paychecks of the people on your team. You should
know the method of control you have over the personnel on your project.
You must know to whom you report and in what capacity. By knowing
all these things, your assimilation into the new organization will be
a lot easier.