PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN FUNCTIONAL ORGANISATIONS
Managing projects by application of the Project Management Concept can bring many benefits to organisations. The government has recognised this and recently introduced a separate ministerial portfolio for Project Management.
Most organisation structures in Sri Lanka at present are arranged on a functional basis rather than as projectized systems. A functional organisation structure is a hierarchy where employees are grouped under their areas of
Projects are undertaken at all levels of organisation and may involve a single department or may cross several functional groups. The question therefore is whether the projects can be undertaken within a framework of Project Management Concept in func- specialization. Depending on the type and size of the business activity, these organisations incorporate several different groups such as Design, Engineering, Production, Finance, Administration, Marketing, Sales etc.
The employees in each group are supervised by a Functional Manager (FM), with sub divisional managers supervising different departments under the FMs. Accordingly lines of communication and authority are vertical as shown in Figure 1.
John Hurney has spent much of his life trackside. He recently sat down with David Gear to chat about how he helps “grease the wheels” for the student team who design, build and compete in a new race car each year.
tional organisations. The recommended strategy is to convert a functional organisation into a matrix structure without losing the functional characteristics and areas of specialisation. There are two methods to achieve this objective.
Method 1: Matrix Structure with a Separate Functional Group of Project Managers