Organizational Structure and Culture

On July 30, 2006 I learned about different between explicit and tacit knowledge, which explicit knowledge come from text book, theory, model,…..,but tacit knowledge come from your knowledge, idea, brain, after you read many text books or learning or experience, then  conclude or analyze your knowledge from your brain or mind, and write your idea or try to pull your knowledge out. Tacit knowledge like your own knowledge.We learn about important criteria to do project success, there is strong connection between project management structure, organizational culture and project success.We will start projects with mission, goal and objective, strategies, and implement. How to select projects? What criteria? What are multi-weighted scoring model? project proposal, project portfolio, not only these information, you should have to understand about people act, think, feel, behavior, attitude,…… these are their culture, lead to organizational culture and need to know organizational structure. Project manager need to balance between the project and parent organization in term of authority, allocation of resources, and eventual integration of project outcomes into mainstream operation. Project manager has to understand the organizational structure, culture, and project, try to balance all of these to make the project success. Organizing project   has 4 types:-         Organizing projects within the functional organization-         Organizing projects as dedicated teams-         Organizing projects within a matrix arrangement-         Organizing projects within network organizationsWhich one of organizing project you will select, up to size of project, strategic importance, novelty and need for innovation, need for integration, environment complexity, budget and time constrains, and stability of resource requirements.Culture influence to members, to organizational structure. What is organizational culture? “Organizational culture refers to a system of shared norms, beliefs, values, and assumption which binds people together, thereby shared meanings.” This system is manifested by customers, norms, and habit that exemplify the values and beliefs of the organization. The basis for understand that the members have about the organization, how things are done, and the way members are supposed to have. An organization’s culture provides a sense of identity for its members. Culture reflects the personality of the organization and, similar to an individual members. We have seen matrix structure break down because the culture of the organization did not support the division of authority between project managers and functional managers.10 primary characteristic of the essence of an organization’s culture: 1. Member identity2. Team emphasis3. Management focus4. Unit integration5. Control6. Risk tolerance7. Reward criteria8. Conflict tolerance9. Means versus end orientation10. Open-systems focus The way, help you to identifying culture characteristics:1.      Study the physical characteristics of an organization2.      Read about the organization3.      Observe how people interact within organization4.      Interpret stories and folklores surrounding the organization Implications of organizational culture for organizing projects: First, we have to interact with the culture of parent organization as well as the subcultures of various departments. Second, they have to interact with the project’s client or customer organizations. Finally, they have to interact in varying degrees with a host of other organizations connected to the project: include suppliers and vendors, subordinators, consulting, firms, government and regulatory agencies, and, in many cases, community groups. Project manager need to understand and organize different culture, structure, can work and balance to reach the goal of project.From the Chapter 3: Organization: structure and culture. It makes me to understand how to do the project? Many factors influence to the project, strong related between project and parent organization. The project managers need to read and speak and understand the culture. How members act, think, behavior, attitude,     . How to select an appropriate project organization? How to balance project and parent organization? These are very useful for help me to do projects success.