{"id":21865,"date":"2017-03-19T07:56:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T02:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/?p=21865"},"modified":"2024-05-22T08:57:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T03:27:16","slug":"pmp-organizational-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/pmp-organizational-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"PMP : Different Kinds of Organizational Structures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>We are publishing series of articles on PMP topics to help the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/pmp-certification\/\">PMP exam preparation<\/a>. In this article we are going to explain about organization structures.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/project-management-professional-pmp\/pmp-free-test\/\"><span>TRY NOW : 50 PMP Practice Questions\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/project-management-professional-pmp\/pmp-online-course\/\"><span>Access our 487 mins Self-Study Training (Get 35 contact hours certificate)\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay, so you have a lot of experience working with various corporate and teams. Did you ever wonder what your company is structured like? Or say how cool would it be to assume your level of authority without having to reach out to someone every now and then. I didn\u2019t know that too, until I started learning for my PMP.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Project Management Principles from PMI not only tells you about the organizational structures, they have a whole section on describing what authorities you could assume in these structures and how each of these structures, function with teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As per PMP, there are 4 structures of Organization namely Functional, Matrix, Projectized and composite.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Organizational structures<\/b><\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b>Functional Organization<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This structure of organization is based on hierarchical structure of functions. A functional manger in this kind of organization has complete authority. All of the project work typically happens within a particular department, and that department\u2019s manager is completely in charge of everything.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The project team members report to a functional manager. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Project management decisions have to be cleared with functional managers. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Project managers are assistants to the functional managers in getting the work done. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Project managers spend a lot of time doing administrative tasks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They are called <\/span><b>project expediters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in functional organizations. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><i>Advantages:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Broad specialist base available<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shared knowledge of latest technology<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flexible resource scheduling<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Disadvantages:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Less Project Manager authority<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Complex coordination<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No one person responsible for an entire project<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Matrix Organization:<\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Matrix organizations as the name suggests minimizes the difference between Functional and the Projectized Organizations. It also takes advantage of the strengths of these two set-ups. The gap however is so big that even the Matrix organization had to be divided in to three categories &#8211; Weak Matrix, Balanced Matrix and Strong Matrix:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Weak Matrix<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2013 This structure is bent towards functional structure. \u00a0The decisions making still happens with the functional manager\u2019s cooperation or approval. The project managers do have some authority; however, they hold close to no authority over the resources on a project. Project expediters and project coordinators can work in weak matrix organizations, too. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Project coordinators<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are like expediters, except that coordinators typically report to higher-level managers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Difference between Project Coordinator and Project Expediter is that an Expediter may have no authority at all while a coordinator may have some decision making authority at a lower level.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Balanced Matrix<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 Clearly the authority level is balanced. Project managers share authority with the functional managers. Project manager, however, has to run his people management decisions by the functional manager, but \u00a0vice versa, the functional manager too have to run the project decisions by the project manager. Resources working in a balanced matrix organization report to a project manager and a functional manager equally.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><b>Strong Matrix<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 A strong matrix organization has its focus majorly on the delivery of the project. \u00a0In this set-up, the project managers have more authority than the functional managers. \u00a0The people management decision making lies with the functional manager and the team still reports to both managers. The team is appraised based on their project performance as well as their functional expertise.<\/span><\/i>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><i>Advantage:<\/i><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good control over projects<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Better coordination between the departments<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Identifying the problems early<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Change management becomes easier and in a timely manner<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><i>Disadvantage:<\/i><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Duplicate Reporting \u2013 team members have two different bosses, one their functional manager, another project manager of the project they have been assigned to.<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes conflicts would arise between departments.<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Information and workflow in multiple directions<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Projectized<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: In a Projectized set-up, every entity is organized around projects. Once a project is complete, the team is released. The resources of that project are reassigned to another project. \u00a0The project manager makes every crucial decision including that on budget. All of the decisions about a project\u2019s schedule, quality, and resources are taken by the project manager. \u00a0All said and done, the complete accountability lies with the project manager and he becomes responsible for the success or failure of the project. For example, a contractor or a consulting company is organized like this.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><i>Advantage:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Team reports to one manager<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No multi-direction flow, only single point focus on projects<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Change response happen rapidly<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">High project commitment<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Accountability for strong and disciplined line of communication and status updates.<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Disadvantage:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">High cost to the enterprise<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Team members cannot appraise their skill sets<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Duplication of resources<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Career insecurity<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Composite<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> &#8211; The last type of organization, a\u00a0composite\u00a0organization, is one that changes the authority level of the project manager from project to project. In one project, it might be more like that of Projectized organization, and in another project, more like a functional organization.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In a nutshell, Functional organizations are set up to give authority to functional managers, Projectized organizations give it to the PMs, and Matrix organizations share responsibility and authority between the two. Functional organizations are usually painted in a negative light because they tend to give less authority to project managers.<\/p>\n<p>For the PMP exam, if you see a question that mentions a Project Manager\u2019s role in some way, and if it doesn\u2019t up front mention which kind of organization is being described, then we must assume that the question is talking about a matrix organization.<\/p>\n<p>The diagram below depicts how from Functional to Projectized, the authority of a Project Manager goes on increasing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/organizational-matrix.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/organizational-matrix.png\" alt=\"organizational-matrix\" width=\"561\" height=\"173\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21957\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Practice Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>1. A project manager is having trouble securing designers for his project. Every time he asks the Creative manager for resources, she denies saying they\u2019re all assigned to other work. So he has to everytime reach out to her superiors and over-rule her. Which type of organization is she working for?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Functional<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Weak Matrix<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong Matrix<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Projectized<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Answer. C. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(The Project Manager in this scenario can overrule the functional manager, so he\u2019s working in a Strong Matrix organization.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. In which type of organization, the set-up is hierarchical, traditional and the employees report to their departmental managers?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Functional<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strong Matrix<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Projectized<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Composite<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b id=\"docs-internal-guid-cfe2cf28-e45b-ad8b-3858-ddf157fb535d\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Answer. A.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/project-management-professional-pmp\/pmp-free-test\/\"><span>TRY NOW : 50 PMP Practice Questions\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/project-management-professional-pmp\/pmp-online-course\/\"><span>Access our 487 mins Self-Study Training (Get 35 contact hours certificate)\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this article we have explained about the organization structures. If you have any questions, please write it in the comments section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are publishing series of articles on PMP topics to help the PMP exam preparation. In this article we are going to explain about organization structures. TRY NOW : 50 PMP Practice Questions\u00a0 Access our 487 mins Self-Study Training (Get 35 contact hours certificate)\u00a0 Okay, so you have a lot of experience working with various corporate and teams. Did you ever wonder what your company is structured like? Or say how cool would it be to assume your level of authority without having to reach out to someone every now and then. I didn\u2019t know that too, until I started [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":96341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1235],"class_list":["post-21865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-management","tag-pmp-preparation"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",725,282,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures-300x117.jpg",300,117,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",725,282,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",725,282,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",725,282,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",725,282,false],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",24,9,false],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",48,19,false],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",96,37,false],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",150,58,false],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures.jpg",300,117,false],"tptn_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures-250x250.jpg",250,250,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures-640x282.jpg",640,282,true],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pmp-organizational-structures-150x58.jpg",150,58,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Pavan Gumaste","author_link":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/author\/pavan\/"},"uagb_comment_info":9,"uagb_excerpt":"We are publishing series of articles on PMP topics to help the PMP exam preparation. In this article we are going to explain about organization structures. TRY NOW : 50 PMP Practice Questions\u00a0 Access our 487 mins Self-Study Training (Get 35 contact hours certificate)\u00a0 Okay, so you have a lot of experience working with various&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21865"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96344,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21865\/revisions\/96344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}