In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

CE-301
Construction Engineering
and Management
Lecture - 2

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 Basic Terminology
Many definitions for
• Project these words have been
proposed.

• Subprojects Sample definitions are

contained in the
• Project Management following slides.

• Construction Management

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 Project Characteristics

A Project…

 Has specific objectives

 Has a start and end date
 Has a budget
 Has an ‘owner’/’sponsor’
 Produces specific deliverables
 Can vary vastly in size, complexity and duration

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 What is a Project? (Definition #1)

A project is a temporary
endeavour undertaken
to create a unique product,
service, or result
(Guide to the Project Management – Body of Knowledge,
the Project Management Institute, 3rd. Ed., 2004, p. 5)
 What is a Project? (Definition #2)

A project is a sequence of unique,

complex and connected activities
having one goal or purpose that must
be completed by a specific time,
within budget and according to
specification .

(Robert Wysocki / Robert Beck Jr. / Daniel B. Crane: Effective Project

Management, John Wiley & Sons, 2002, p.65)

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 What are Subprojects?

Subprojects are smaller, more manageable components of larger, more

complex projects

Subprojects have their own goals and outputs or deliverables which

together constitute the final deliverable. Subprojects have, analogous
to the main project, their own scope, schedules, costs, human
resources, risks etc.

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 Subprojects
Example: The Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Human Resources Test Games and

Events
and Volunteers Trial Events

Venues, Facilities Sponsorship

Cultural Olympiad
Accommodation Management

Transport Pre-Games Training The Beijing Olympic

Games 2008 was a highly
Media Facilities complex project which
IT-Projects comprised several
and Coordination
distinct work areas, each
Opening and Closing of which could be con-
Telecommunications sidered as subprojects,
Ceremonies
in their own right, and
Security which all had to be in-
Public Relations tegrated and coordinated
Arrangements
within the framework of
the overall Olympic
Medical Care Financing project.
 What is Project Management?

Project management is the planning, organizing,

directing, and con-trolling of company
resources for a relatively short-term objective
that has been established to complete specific
goals and objectives.

(Harold Kerzner, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planing,

Scheduling and Controlling, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York et. al., 7. ed,
2001, p. 4)
The Triple Constraint of Project
Management
Advantages of Using Formal Project
Management
• Better control of financial, physical, and human
resources
• Improved customer relations
• Shorter development times
• Lower costs
• Higher quality and increased reliability
• Higher profit margins
• Improved productivity
• Better internal coordination
• Higher worker morale
Selection of the Project Manager

Experience has shown that the selection

of the project manager is a key
appointment which can influence the
success or failure of the project. As the
single point of responsibility, it is the
project manager who integrates and co-
ordinates all the contributions, and guides
them to successfully complete the project.

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 Selection of the Project Manager

The following lists some desirable project

manager attributes:
leadership ability
ability to anticipate problems
operational flexibility
ability to get things going
ability to negotiate and persuade

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 Selection of the Project Manager

understand the environment within which

the project is being managed
ability to review, monitor and control
ability to manage within an environmental
of constant change
ability to keep the client and consultant
happy

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Types of Organizational Structures
 Types of Organizational Structures
1. Functional organizations
The most prevalent organizational structure in
the world today is the basic hierarchical
structure (Figure 1). This is the standard pyramid
with top management at the top of the chart and
middle and lower management spreading out
down the pyramid. The organization is usually
broken down into different functional units, such
as engineering, research, accounting, and
administration.
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Figure 1: Functional Organization

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 Functional Organization

The strength of the functional organization

is in its centralization of similar resources.
For example, the engineering department
provides a secure and comfortable
organizational arrangement with well-
defined career paths for a young engineer.

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 Functional Organization
The functional organization also has a number
of weaknesses. When it is involved in multiple
projects, conflicts invariably arise over the
relative priorities of these projects in the
competition for resources. Also, the functional
department based on a technical specialty often
places more emphasis on its own specialty than
on the goals of the project. Lack of motivation
and inertia are other problems.
However, many companies use the functional
organization for their project work as well as
their standard operations. 18
 Project Organizations
The opposite of the hierarchical, functional
organization is the single-purpose project or vertical
organization. In a projectized organization, all the
resources necessary to attain a specific objective
are separated from the regular functional structure
and set up as a self-contained unit headed by a
project manager. The project manager is given
considerable authority over the project and may
acquire resources from either inside or outside the
overall organization. All personnel on the project are
under the direct authority of the project manager for
the duration of the project.

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Figure 2: Project Organization

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 Project Organizations
The advantages of the project organization
come from the singleness of purpose and the
unity of command. Motivation is developed in the
working personals through this type of
organizational structure.

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 Project Organizations
The project organization, however, is not a
perfect solution to all project management
problems, as some have suggested. Setting up
a new, highly visible temporary structure upsets
the regular organization. Facilities are duplicated
and resources are used inefficiently. Another
serious problem is the question of job security
upon termination of the temporary project.
Personnel often lose their “home” in the
functional structure while they are off working on
a project.
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 Matrix organizations
The matrix organization is a
multidimensional structure that tries to
maximize the strengths and minimize the
weaknesses of both the project and the
functional structures.

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Figure 3: Matrix organization

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 Matrix organizations

The major benefits of the matrix organization are

the balancing of objectives, the coordination
across functional department lines, and the
visibility of the project objectives through the
project coordinator’s office. The major
disadvantage is that the person in the middle is
working for two bosses. Vertically, he or she
reports to his functional department head.
Horizontally, he or she reports to the project
coordinator or project manager. In a conflict
situation he or she can be caught in the middle.
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 Matrix organizations
The project manager often feels that he has little
authority with regard to the functional departments.
On the other hand, the functional department head
often feels that the project coordinator is interfering
in his territory.
The solution to this problem is to define the roles,
responsibility, and authority of each of the actors
clearly in a project charter. The project coordinator
specifies what is to be done and the functional
department is responsible for how it is done (Figure
4).

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