PMGT1860 · Project Initiation and Scope
Organising Projects Within the Enterprise
Week 3 explains how projects sit inside the parent organisation and how organisational structure shapes authority, resourcing and a project manager's real power. Reading the structural context — functional, dedicated/projectised or matrix — is what lets you interpret the authority a charter is later written into, and structure-choice trade-offs are a recurring quiz theme and a framing point in the group presentation.
What this chapter covers
- 01Projects cut horizontally across the organisation, drawing on different functions (R&D, Purchasing, Marketing, HR, Accounting, ICT)
- 02Cross-cutting work as a source of inter-departmental and inter-group conflict (Robbers Cave experiment)
- 03Functional organisation — project stays inside one function, reports to the functional manager, often no dedicated PM
- 04Dedicated / projectised team — resources extracted and co-located, strong PM authority, reintegration risk
- 05Matrix organisation — resources shared, PM and functional manager share authority, two-boss tension
- 06Matrix sub-types — weak/functional, balanced, strong/project matrix
- 07Choosing a structure — size, strategic importance, novelty, cross-functional integration, required speed
- 08Organisational culture as an enabler or barrier to how projects are organised and run
Applied: choose an organisational structure and explain the PM's authority
- +1(a) A dedicated / projectised team gives the strongest PM authority: the needed people are extracted from R&D, Purchasing and Marketing, co-located, and work full-time under the project manager, who has clear command over the resources and focus.
- +1This suits a cross-functional new-product project because it removes the coordination friction of pulling contributions from three separate functions.
- +1(b) In a matrix the resources are not extracted — they stay under their functional managers and only serve the project part-time. The project manager and functional manager share authority, so the PM lacks the functional manager's formal power and can face two-boss conflict; that is why the PM 'struggles'.
- +1(c) A drawback of the dedicated team is duplicated resources (each project needs its own people) and difficulty reintegrating team members back into their functions when the project ends.
Key terms
- Functional organisation
- A structure where the project stays inside a single function and reports hierarchically to the functional manager, usually with no dedicated project manager. Strong on technical depth, weak on cross-functional coordination.
- Dedicated / projectised team
- A structure where the resources needed are extracted from their functions, co-located and work full-time on the project under a project manager with strong authority. Risk: duplicated resources and reintegration difficulty at the end.
- Matrix organisation
- A structure where resources stay under their functional managers but also serve the project; the project manager and functional manager share authority, so the PM has weaker formal power — the classic two-boss tension.
- Matrix sub-types
- Weak/functional matrix (functional manager dominant), balanced matrix (shared authority), and strong/project matrix (project manager dominant).
- Organisational culture
- The shared values, norms and 'how we do things here' that shape how projects are organised and run, and that can help or hinder delivery; project managers must read and work within it.
- Projects cut horizontally
- The idea that projects rarely sit inside one department — they draw contributions from multiple functions across the organisation, which is a source of inter-group conflict when groups compete for the same resources.
Organising Projects Within the Enterprise FAQ
Why does organisational structure matter for a project manager?
Because structure decides where the resources sit and how much authority the project manager actually has. In a functional structure the work stays inside one department and there may be no dedicated PM; in a dedicated team the PM has strong command; in a matrix the PM shares authority with functional managers and has to influence rather than direct. The same project can be easy or hard to run depending on which structure it lives in.
Why is the matrix structure so often described as difficult?
Because resources are not pulled out of their functions — they answer to both a functional manager and the project manager, who share authority. The project manager lacks the functional manager's formal power over pay, promotion and priorities, so team members can face two competing bosses. It trades resource efficiency for coordination friction and authority tension.
How do you choose between the three structures?
By weighing the project's size, strategic importance, novelty, need for cross-functional integration and required speed. A large, strategically critical, cross-functional project that must move fast leans toward a dedicated team; a small, technically deep piece of work may sit fine inside a function; a matrix is common when people must be shared across several projects at once.
How does Week 3 feed the assessments?
Structure-choice trade-offs are a recurring quiz theme, and naming the structure your initiation plan assumes — and the authority it gives the PM — strengthens the group presentation. It also sets up the RACI matrix in Week 7, which clarifies responsibility once the structure is chosen. Confirm quiz timing on Canvas.
Assessment move
Learn the three structures as a comparison, not a list: for each, be able to say where the resources sit, who the PM reports to and how strong the PM's authority is. Practise by taking one cross-functional project and describing how it would run under each structure. Note the selection factors (size, importance, novelty, integration need, speed) and remember culture as a background enabler or barrier. Add a journal line comparing a structure you have worked in, and confirm quiz timing on Canvas.
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