Functional Organizations versus Projectised

Organizations
Your approach to project management may vary based on the type of organization that you are
working within. Organizations may be structured in a traditional or functional manner or a Projectised
structure.

Depending on the organizational structure, your project management authority and availability of
resources will vary.

Functional Organizations
A functional organization is a traditional structure where the organization is divided based on the
functions performed by that particular group of people, such as Human Resources, Information
Technology, Marketing, Service, etc.

The resource assigned as the “project manager” is usually a team member within a functional area
and does not have the title of project manager. The functional manager will control the budget and the
“project manager” will act more as a coordinator or expediter of project activities rather than having
true project management responsibilities.

Resources for the project will need to be negotiated for with the functional managers and the
accessibility of those resources will be based on business conditions. Any type of escalations of
issues would need to be made to the functional manager.

Because the “project manager” has little to no authority, the project can take longer to complete than
in other organizational structures and there is generally no recognized project management
methodology or best practices. However, the depth of subject matter knowledge is much greater
because the resources that will contribute to the project reside within the functional areas.

Projectised Organization
In Projectised organizations, the majority of the organization’s resources are involved in project work
and the project work is generally completed for the benefit of an external customer. The project
manager has increased independence and authority and is a full-time member of a project
organization and has project resources available to them, such as project coordinators, project
schedulers, business analysts, and plan administrators.
The project manager has authority and control of the budget and any escalation of issues would be
made to the sponsor and potentially the PMO leadership. Given that the project resources report into
the project manager versus the functional area, there may be a decrease in the subject matter
expertise of the team members.
Summary
The organizational structure will dictate the level of power, authority, and resources available to a
project manager. A traditional functional organization gives the project manager very little, if any,
authority, whereas a Projectised organization will provide the project manager with significant
authority.

WEAK BALANCED STRONG

  FUNCTIONAL MATRIX MATRIX MATRIX PROJECTIZED

PM's Authority None Limited Low to Moderate High to

Moderate to High Complete

Availability of Very Low Limited Low to Moderate High to Almost

Resources Moderate to High Total

Project Budget Functional Functional Mixed Project Project

Control Manager Manager Manager Manager

PM's Role Part-Time Part-Time Full-Time Full-Time Full-Time

PM None Part-Time Part-Time Full-Time Full-Time

Administrative
Staff