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TEAMFLY20 ORGANIZING FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

nization, the Manager of Projects is the chief honcho. In the Matrix Organization,
the Manager of Projects shares overall leadership with the functional managers.

Tip You can’t leave project management to chance. If you’re
going to be serious about managing projects, then project
management must become a way of life in the organization.
Furthermore, support for project management cannot be vol-
untary. It must be a condition of employment. Top manage-
ment must see to this by providing substantive, visible support,
via directives, staffing, and recognition.

Teams

The Matrix Organization configuration provides the built-in flexibility to deal with
most project situations. However, long before the Matrix Organization configura-
tion was documented, firms had found ways to address the needs of special situa-
tions. We used to call this solution task forces. This term seems to have fallen out of
favor lately, having been replaced by cross-functional teams. The team approach,
regardless of what term you choose to use, calls for pulling strategic resources out
from affected functional groups, for the purpose of meeting a critical challenge,
usually under difficult schedule conditions. Teams have been used for numerous
applications, but the project application is a natural for the team approach.

Team members may be assigned either part or full time to the project. The
team may pick its own leader, or the leader may be appointed by senior manage-
ment. Teams can be very effective for both short- and long-term projects.

There are several potential problems in implementing the team approach.
One is the potential for conflicts. Because this is a less structured mode of opera-
tion, there can be maneuvering for power and influence. Because the team mem-
bers do not report to the team leader, there can be resistance to accepting the
direction of the leader or the will of the team.

Of major concern is the possibility of a lack of project leadership skills. If the
firm is a traditional functional organization, and there are no people with developed
project management skills, the team will be missing a vital resource for success.

An excellent text on teams has been written by Cleland (David I. Cleland.
Strategic Management of Teams, John Wiley & Sons, 1996). Here, Cleland states:
Teams are the common denominator of organizational change—a medium for
cross-functional and cross-organizational integration of resources to accomplish a
specific purpose.