ELC 347 project management

1. ELC 347 project management Week 3

2. Agenda • Assignment 1 Due • Assignment 2 Posted

3. The Organizational Context:Strategy, Structure, and Culture Chapter 2 © 2007 Pearson Education

4. Successful project management • Contextual --- organization itself matters • Must reconcile with • Organizational Strategy • Stakeholders • Organizational Structure • Culture

5. Projects and Organizational Strategy Strategic management – the science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives. Consists of: • Developing vision and mission statements • Formulating, implementing and evaluating • Cross functional decisions • Achieving objective • BUS 411

6. Projects Reflect Strategy Projects are stepping stones of corporate strategy The firm’s strategic development is a driving force behind project development Some examples include:

7. Mission Objectives Strategy Goals Programs Relationship of Strategic Elements Fig 2.1

8. An example

9. Stakeholder Management Stakeholders are all individuals or groups who have an active stake in the project and can potentially impact, either positively or negatively, its development. Sets of project stakeholders include: Internal Stakeholders • Top management • Accountant • Other functional managers • Project team members External Stakeholders • Clients • Competitors • Suppliers • Environmental, political, consumer, and other intervenor groups

10. Parent Organization External Environment Other Functional Managers Project Manager Top Management Project Team Accountant Project Stakeholder Relationships Clients Fig 2.3

11. Managing Stakeholders • Assess the environment • Identify the goals of the principal actors • Hidden agendas • Goal displacement • Mutually beneficial alignments • Assess your own capabilities • Define the problem • Develop solutions • Test and refine the solutions

12. Identify Stakeholders Implement Stakeholder Management Strategy Gather Information on Stakeholders Project Management Team Predict Stakeholder Behavior Identify Stakeholders Mission Identify Stakeholder Strategy Determine Stakeholder Strengths & Weaknesses Project Stakeholder Management Cycle Fig 2.4

13. Organizational Structure Consists of three key elements: • Designates formal reporting relationships • number of levels in the hierarchy • span of control • Groupings of: • individuals into departments • departments into the total organization • Design of systems for • effective communication • coordination • integration across departments

15. Forms of Organization Structure • Functional organizations – group people performing similar activities into departments • Project organizations – group people into project teams on temporary assignments • Matrix organizations – create a dual hierarchy in which functions and projects have equal prominence

16. Functional organization

17. Functional Structures for Project Management

18. Project Structure

19. Project Structures for Project Management

20. Matrix Structure

21. Matrix Organization • Cross-functional & Project teams

22. Matrix Structures for Project Management

23. Heavyweight Project Organizations Organizations can sometimes gain tremendous benefit from creating a fully-dedicated project organization Lockheed Corporation’s “Skunkworks” http://www.skunkworks.net/ • Project manager authority expanded • Functional alignment abandoned in favor of market opportunism • Focus on external customer

25. Project Management Offices Centralized units that oversee or improve the management of projects Resource centers for: • Technical details • Expertise • Repository • Center for excellence

26. Forms of PMOs • Weather station – monitoring and tracking • Control tower – project management is a skill to be protected and supported • Resource pool – maintain and provide a cadre of skilled project professionals

28. Organizational Culture The unwrittenrules of behavior, or norms that are used to shape and guide behavior, is shared by some subset of organization members and is taught to all new members of the company. Key factors that affect culture development • Technology • Environment • Geographical location • Reward systems • Rules and procedures • Key organizational members • Critical incidents

29. Culture Affects Project Management • Departmental interaction • Employee commitment to goals • Project planning • Performance evaluation

30. People hate change! Why? What do you as a Project Manager do about it?

31. Seth Godin (Fast Company) • “Competent people are quite proud of the status and success that they get out of being competent. They like being competent. They guard their competence, and they work hard to maintain it. “ • “Competent people resist change” • “ Why? Because change threatens to make them less competent. And competent people like being competent. That's who they are, and sometimes that's all they've got. No wonder they're not in a hurry to rock the boat.” • In fact, competence is the enemy of change!

32. External forces that drive Change • Environmental • Economics • Competition • Interest rate • Distribution channels • Labor • Availability of raw materials • PROJECTS !

33. Reaction to change • Behavior is manifested in company culture • “what people do when no one is telling then what to do” • Peter Bijur, CEO of Texaco, Inc

34. Organizations must adapt • “For sustainable competitive advantage, you have to change the culture” • Peter Bijur • Company culture must see change as a positive • Raising to a challenge

35. Effect of Change on the project manager • Projects Manager deal with change on a daily basis • Schedules • Specifications • Supplies • Labor • Project manger are “Change Agents” • Seth Godin • http://www.fastcompany.com/finder/fc?w=godin

36. Individual responses to change • People responds differently to change depending on past experience with change • Tolerance of ambiguity • Novelty • Complexity • Insolubility • Project mangers must display a positive response to all change

37. 3 Possible reactions • Negative reactions • Employees stop being cooperative • Accepting change but not embracing change • We do it because we have to • Grudging acceptance • Inciting change • Change for change’s sake

38. Professional Survival in the face of change • Adopt the following behaviors • Develop awareness for external conditions that drive company success • Recognize cause and effect relationships in the workplace • Take creative actions • View change as positive • Read “Who Moved My Cheese?”

39. Organizational approaches to change • 3 Common approaches • Slash and burn • Support and nurture • Inspire and motivate • Project managers do not make large changes decisions but are responsible for implementation of those decisions.

40. Urgent Change • Problems are aggravated when change is “URGENT” • Challenge #1 Bailout • Provide real information • Set priorities and get commitments for “on high” • Challenge #2 Poor Morale • Remain realistically positive • Get the facts • Move to the new agenda ASAP

41. Ways to speed Change Acceptance • Explains reasons for change • Project positive outcomes • Hold a “wake” for old ways • Create group “memories” • Get change implementation ideas for departments affected • Ask employees to drive the change process

42. Ongoing Change Managament • A project manager is a facilitator • Set an example • Behave consistently • Recognize employees for embracing change • Nurture growth in employees • Involve employees min goal setting