Project based organisations
Introduction
In recent years more and more industries are moving towards project based approaches [1]. The traditional way of organizing development is rigid in its structures leading to problems in execution of new and innovative initiatives. This is because the organizational structures inhibits the flexibility necessary to develop in a dynamic environment, and inhibits the flexible nature of projects [2]. This has lead researchers and practitioners to looking at ways of organizing in a more flexible manner; projects. The film industry is a classic example of an industry that has historically been working more of less purely project based; a Project Based Organization [1] [3]. This way of working has reached increased attention in other industries in the last couple of decades, where Michael Hobday's work on Project based organisations[4] has been a key source of inspiration for many researchers to build on [3] [5] [6][7][8][9]. This article will focus the Project Based Organisation5 comparing it to the traditional functional organization.
This article will give an overview of Project Based Organizations (PBO's), mainly focusing on the engineering industry. The article will first present the big idea; the characteristics of PBO's and how they solve the problems that occur in the traditional organizational structures, including an overview of the PBO and traditional functional organization structures and perspectives on how Project, Program and Portfolio management relates to the PBO. It will present an application of the PBO; what strategies exist for transforming organizations and which steps to take to enhance the specific values that a PBO structure brings. lastly the article will present the limitations of PBO's, both giving an overview of the limitations inherent to the PBO, as well as limitations in application.
Big Idea
What are Project based organizations?
The Project Based Organization is an organizational form that attempts to create a structure that favors the dynamic and flexible environment of projects.[2] To better be able to understand the project based organization an introduction of its opposite; the traditional functional organization, is necessary.
The functional organization
The traditional functional organization, is structured in departments or functional units each specialized within a certain domain. Classical examples of these functional units or departments are; R&D, Finance, Marketing etc.. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
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