Welcome to Advanced
Project Management
Organisational Context of a
Project – Strategy, Structure and
Culture
Agenda
Topic Learning Outcome
Introducing Each Other
Module Topics
Projects and Organisational Strategy
Activity: Volkswagen TOWS Matrix
Projects and Organisational Structure
Activity: Recommend an Org Structure
Projects and Organisational Culture
Activity: Electronic Arts and Organisational Culture
Review of Apply & Consolidate Activities
Recap, Q&A, Next steps
Today’s Learning Outcomes
Critically evaluate how effective project management
contributes to achieving strategic objectives
Justify how strengths and weaknesses of different
organisational structures affect the managing of projects
Analyse key concepts of corporate culture and how
cultures are formed
Let’s Introduce Each Other
Module Topics
ORGANISATIONAL
CONTEXT OF A PROJECT
PROJECT GOVERNANCE
PROJECT SELECTION &
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
ROLE OF BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
LEADERSHIP &
THE PROJECT MANAGER
6
5
4
3
2
1
7
MANGING CHANGE & FUTURE
OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
ADVANCED TOPICS IN PLANNING
& SCHEDULING
Projects and
Organisational Strategy
Organisational Strategy
Organisational Strategy (David, 2001):
1. Organisation mission and vision
2. Formulate, implement and
evaluate strategic objectives
Projects are the key vehicle to size
opportunities, capitalize on
strengths and implement strategic
objectives
Only projects that support
organisation’s vision, mission and its
strategic objectives have to be
undertaken!
The TOWS Matrix (Weihrich, 1982)
Source: Pinto, 2020
| External Opportunities (O) 1. 2. 3. |
External Threats (T) 1. 2. 3. |
|
| Internal Strengths (S) 1. 2. 3. |
SO Strategy Develop projects that use internal strengths to maximise external opportunities |
ST Strategy Develop projects that use internal strengths to minimise external threats |
| Internal Weaknesses (W) 1. 2. 3. |
WO Strategy Develop projects that minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities |
WT Strategy Develop projects that minimize internal weaknesses and avoid external threats |
Activity 1:
Volkswagen TOWS
Matrix
Build a TOWS Matrix for Volkswagen
Source: volkswagen.com
| External Opportunities (O) | External Threats (T) | |
| Internal Strengths (S) |
SO Strategy Develop projects that use internal strengths to maximise external opportunities |
ST Strategy Develop projects that use internal strengths to minimise external threats |
| Internal Weaknesses (W) |
WO Strategy Develop projects that minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities |
WT Strategy Develop projects that minimize internal weaknesses and avoid external threats |
Projects and
Organisational Structure
Organisational Structure
| Organisational structure is how people who work in an organisations are grouped, so that their efforts can be channelled for maximum efficiency |
Grouping People in Departments |
| Formal Reporting Relationship | |
| Communication, collaboration and coordination across departments |
Source: Pinto, 2013
Functional Organisation
Source: Pinto, 2013, p. 66
• Stable organisational structure
• Reduce duplication of effort and avoid unused
resources
• in-deep knowledge in a department
• Clear chain of command
• Clear and standard career path
• Within the department communication, cooperation
and coordination are excellent
• Project manager has little to no formal authority
• Projects compete for limited resources and priority
• Project team members remain loyal to functional
manager (and not to the project manager)
• Organisation is stocked in l silos – difficult to achieve
cross-functional projects
• Projects take longer to complete – slow
communication between functions, bureaucratic
hierarchy, lack of direct ownership of the project
People performing similar tasks are
grouped in departments
Source: Meredith and Mantel (2003)
Project (Projectised) Organisation
Source: Pinto, 2013, p.68
• Clear line of authority solely to the project manager
• Breaking silos within the organisation and improving
communication between functional groups
• Flexibility and fast decision making
• Promote the creation of a cadre of project manager
experts
• Authority and power can make project manager
arrogant
• The work environment can be stressful – there is
always a deadline
• Setting up and maintaining team can be expensive
• Team members tend to develop loyalty to the
project rather than all organisation
• Team members have sense of insecurity because
once the project finishes, they may lose their jobs
People are grouped in project teams
on temporary assignments
Source: Pinto, 2013
Matrix Organisation (i.e., Strong, Balanced, Weak)
Source: Pinto, 2013, p.69
• Promote collaboration and coordination between
functions
• Perfect for organisations operating in complex and
rapidly changing environment
• Emphasizes the dual importance of project
management and functional efficiency
• Improve project management control over resources
• More support from functional areas
• Dual hierarchies mean two bosses
• Require extra administration (e.g., more time spent
on negotiating resource allocation between projects
and departments)
• Employees can feel caught between project and
functional demand
• Structure more complex to monitor and control
Dual hierarchy in which functions and
projects have equal importance
Source: Daft et al. (2010)
Virtual Organisation
Source: Reference for Business,
Accessed on the 4th of January
2021
• Quicker response to customer expectations and
alternatives, global competition, time compression,
complexity, rapid change, and increased use of technology
• Diverse innovations and higher expertise together
• More permeable than traditional organizational forms
• Lower direct costs and overheads
• Overcoming time-zone constraints
• Organisations are closely dependent on one another, and
this demand an unprecedented level of trust
• They are very complex and problematic (i.e., the virtual
organization are strategic planning dilemmas, boundary
blurring, a loss of control, and a need for new managerial
skills)
• Employees exposed to increased ambiguity about
organizational membership, job roles and responsibilities,
career paths, and superior-subordinate relationships
• Training very difficult
• Building and retaining knowledge
• Relying on existing knowledge
A network of independent firms that
join, often temporarily, to produce a
service or product
Sources: Davidow and Malone (1992) and Naylor (2004)
Activity 2: Recommend
an Organisational
Structure
Which Organisational Structure would
you recommend and why?
1. Syngenta – Swiss (now Chinese) global
provider of agricultural science and technology
2. Airtel – Indian Multinational
Telecommunication Company
3. Aecom – American multinational
engineering company
Source: aecom.com/
Source: syngenta.com/en
Source: airtel.in
Projects and
Organisational Culture
Organisational Culture
Organisational culture is the manner in which each organisation
develops its own outlook, operating policies and procedures, pattern
of thinking, attitude and norms of behaviour.
It represents the DNA signature of an organisation, and not matter
how similar they are, no two organisations have the same culture.
Glue that holds the organisation together and stimulate employees to commit to the
organisation and to perform (Van den Berg and Wilderson, 2004)
“The way we do things around here”(Deal and Kennedy, 1982)
“… the ways of thinking, behaving and believing that members of a social unit have in
common” (Cooke and Rosseau, 1988)
Models of Organisational Culture
Source: Turningwest.com (Accessed 4 January 2021) Source: OCAI WordPress (Accessed 4 January 2021)
Shein’s 3 Level or Org Culture
(Shein, 2010)
Organisational Culture
Assessment Instrument (OCAI)
(Quinn and Cameron, 2011)
How is Organisational Culture Created?
Technology
Environment
Geographical Location
Reward Systems
Rules & Procedures
Source: Kilmann et al. (1985)
How does Organisational Culture
affect Project Management ?
Organisational
Culture
Departmental
Interaction
Employee
commitment to
project goals
Project Planning
Project
Performance
Evaluation
Source: Pinto (2020)
Activity 3: Electronic
Arts and
Organisational Culture
Electronic Arts and the Power of Org Culture
Source: https://www.ea.com/en-gb, Accessed 4 January 2021
Collaboration Activity 3: Electronic Arts and Organisational Culture
This activity is designed for learners to work individually to study Electronic Arts and
how it changed its organisational culture and started to run successful projects.
Instructions
Each student must study the case of Electronic Arts and reply to the following questions:
•Why was EA considered the worst company in the US by Consumerist for 2 years in a row?
•Which Cultural Changes did Andrew Wilson (the CEO) introduced to transform the company?
•What is the winning formula for game design developed by the head of the EA label group, Frank
Gibeau?
You have 20 minutes for reading the case study and reply to the 3 questions
Review of Apply,
Consolidate &
Assessment
Activities
Recap, Q&A, Next
Steps
Key Takeaways
You should be now be able to:
• Be confident with the key concepts of organisational
strategy, structure and culture and why they are important
for project management
• Outline how organisation’s strategic objectives are linked to
project management
• Be familiar with the basic forms of organisational structure
with their strengths and weaknesses
• Understand what organizational culture is and be familiar
with some theoretical models used to define the culture of
an organisation
Source: pixabay.com/ Accessed 4 January 2021
Next Steps
• Review the fundamental concept
• Go through the Module Overview and Introduction (if not
done yet)
• Go through the Preparation and Apply part of this week (if
not done yet)
• Go through the Consolidation part of this week
• Go through the Preparation and Apply part of next week
• See you next week same time!
Source: pixabay.com/ Accessed 4 January 2021