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Planning Is Almost Everything - Human Resources in Project Management
August 21, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: HR Management, Project Management for Beginners, Team Building
Planning Is Almost Everything - Human Resources in Project Management (#2 in the series Human Resources in Project Management)
By Joseph Phillips
If you’ve read my other project management articles or any of the books I’ve written on project management you’ll know that planning is a cornerstone for successful projects. I like to say that my projects always fail in the beginning, not the end. But when it comes to human resources, at least in the project manager’s world, there are some constraints that affect how planning will happen.
The biggest influence on the project manager’s control of the project team is the organizational structure. Okay, take a deep breath, because this stuff gets really nerdy. (Yes, even for me. Shocking!)
There are six organizational structures that basically describe companies throughout the world. Figure 1 shows all the structures and so we’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.
The functional structure is no fun for the project manager. I say this because the project manager has little to no power and may be known as a project coordinator rather than a project manager. In this structure, the organization is grouped by discipline, such as marketing, engineering, sales, information technology, basket weavers, and so on. Projects are limited to the specific function and don’t cross boundaries across the organization. Multiple project teams can work together, but it’s all considered separate projects with separate managers.
In a functional structure, the functional managers have all the power. Whatever they say goes. This isn’t too bad, as team members have a clear picture of who’s in charge and so that when the project’s over they can go back to their day-to-day routines. Communication demands are also fairly shallow because the structure itself is shallow. It’s easy to communicate and share ideas in a functional structure.
Joseph Phillips is the author of five books on project management and is a, PMI Project Management Professional, a CompTIA certified Project Professional, and a Certified Technical Trainer. For more information about Project Management Training, please visit Project Seminars.
Related Articles
- Project Management Process - Phase 1 - Initiating - Select and Brief Project Planning Team
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Develop Project Schedule
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Develop Project Design
- Project Management Process - Phase 2 - Planning - Create Risk Management Plan
- What is "Good Enough"? - Project Quality Management, Part 1: Planning
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