Project management

Explain what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of the functional,
matrix, and dedicated team approaches to managing projects?

Functional Type Organization Structure

There are different types of organization structures ,some organizations are functionally structured ,some are project type while some are matrix organizations.Functional structure is one of the most commonly used structure by companies and sometimes it is also known as the classical or traditional structure.In this type of structure the main authority lies in the hands of functional managers as it is a kind of a top-down hierchy based structure.

Functional structure generally have vertical communication channels hence the communication and decision making can be good but because the main authority lies with the top functional managers or supervisers which inturn make the communication process slow.Different functions carried out in the organization can be very flexible ,in the event when the functional manager has to deal with budgeting ,costing and different other kind of work load he can simply assign anyone who is fit for the job this is because functional manager has control over all the manpower resources.In this type of structure employees mainly work alongside with other employees who share the same interest as they would be working in the same department with similar kind of tasks hence they can help each other in solving problems.Apart from that when the organization is undertaking a single project and the scope of the project is narrow then it can assign a proper functional unit to deal and handle the project this can lead to indepth analysis of the project which inturn can increase the success chances of the project.

While there are negative aspects of this kind of an organization structure,Generally it has been argued that organization who undertake multiple projects at the same time should have a horizontal communication structure which makes communication and decision making much easier while functional structure lack the contribute of horizontal and direct communication,this increases time to complete the project because of slow responce.secondly employees could be demotivated while working on a project because they are given a particular segment of a project to work with and are unlikely to share there views to the senior management.Normally all projects have project managers assigned to complete the projects but because authority lies in the hands of functional managers and therefore project managers may not be given the priority and full responsibility by the functional managers which might make their job more frustrated and which can also lead to low motivation as they are not given full access to the organizational resources.

Matrix Type Organization Structure:

The matrix organization is said to be the most complex structure as it is a combination of both project and functional organization structure.It was actually created so that it can eliminate the disadvantages of the functional and organizational structure while keeping their advantages . so unlike the functional structure the matrix have two chain of commands ,this consist of project manager and the functional manager so the project team is required to report to both their respective project manager and the functional manager example of Famous organizations who follow this kind of the structure are British Aerospace and the motor company Renault.Many companies apply matrix arrangement in different kind of way ,it can be permanent or it can be temporaryas well for example organization might want to stay in a simple functional structure but they may temporarily set up the matrix structure to work on specific projects.This type of structure also allow different departments along the chain of command to work and coordinate with each other .Lets take an example .There are four ongoing projects in a company and the structure of the company is matrix.Now there would be 4 project managers handling each project and they will each have a project team while on the same time they will be working under one supervisor or in other words the project director.Members in the project teams are taken from different departments of an organization and they can be either working temporarily or permanent depending on the how well they do and project manager.The matrix structure generally have 3 forms which are functional.balanced and project matrix.

Although there are levels with vertical command but with matrix structure the project manager have greater authority over the organizational resources unlike the functional structure,hence he is more motivated and more focused towards his task Since the project and functional structure are spreaded over each another or overlaid the projects can use a flexible amount of technology and expertise from several functional departments in the organization.it also help indivisuals who are working in the organization to gain more knowledge and learn more because they work on several projects within the organization .The main aim and objective in this type of structure is the customer focus.All the projects carried out in an organization are focused towards the needs of the customers .while this type of structure also have disadvantages the main disadvantage is the multi reporting system hence it is like going against the principle of unity of command because employees actually have two bosses ,the project manager as well as the functional manager this can be very stressfull for the team members .In some cases where an individual is working on multiple projects he can have multiple project managers to report to.In matrix structure as the resources are being shared across different projects and different functions there are possibilities where conflict can occur on the use of resources because every project manager would want the best resources for his/her project.

Dedicated Teams:

In this situation the organization creates a separate team who work independently to finish a specific project ,the team members are hired on permanent basis from within the organization as well as outside and they have a single project manager,This team does not work within the organization ,organization may have administrative control over the project but normally it let project manager to do what ever he/she wishes as he would have the maximum freedom to finish the project with the given resources.Top computer companies like Apple and Ibm have used this kind of approach and had been successful.

This type of structure has its own advantages and disadvantages .This is a very simple way of completing a project because it wont disrupt the ongoing operations of the company and secondly the project manager and his team wont be disrupted as they would be working independently ,hence it increases the focus on the project ,and disregarding what is happening in other departments ,team will focus on the task given to them.Unlike the functional structure ,dedicated teams can finish the project more quickly because they would be dedicated in finishing the project rather than worrying about other obligations and duties.This type of structure also tend to motivate people who are working in a team ,they feel as if they are more recognized and they have been given the task to prove how good they are and their capabilities are seen.while on the other hand this can be very costly for the organization ,as they have given project manager and the team to use the resources freely which can lead to wastage of resources if they are not being utilized in a proper way.Sometimes this type of work can also lead to something known as Projectitis,when dedicated teams finish a complex task and project ,the members working in the team are normally put back to their old operations and when they are not hired again they feel that their prestige is being taken away from them and it can create jealousy and low morale. between employees .After the project is finished and the team members are sent back to their original functional department they might feel it difficult to catch up as they had been absent for a long time from their functional area