Therole of a project manager is to ensure a successful completion of a project.
Project management is defined as “ the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements” (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013). There areresponsibilities and roles that is a requirement in order to be a good projectmanager. Some responsibilities includes but are not limited to “ managing theproduction of the requires deliverables, managing project risks, including thedevelopment of contingency plans, monitoring overall progress and use orresources, managing project administration, and adopting plus applyingappropriate technical and quality strategies and standards” (An Roinn Airgeadais, 2018). Identifying thetype of project will determine the project manager’s involvement. Projectmanagers can work part-time or full time, being the head manager or submanager.
There are different types oforganizational structures that can be identified in a project. Anorganizational structure “ is an enterprise environmental factor, which canaffect the availability of resources and influence how projects are conducted (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013). There are threemain organizational structures: Functional, Matrix, and Projectized. Functional organization “ is ahierarchy where each employee has one clear superior” (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013). With this structure, project authorityrest with a functional manager. A functional organization structure is suitablefor organizations which has ongoing operations such as manufacturing andproduction.
The organization is divided into specific departments like humanresource, marketing, finance, and operations. All departments works for oneleader with a clear chain of command. This structure in particular is a stablestructure and employees have a career growth path with separation of functions. The project manager has little to no formal authority and the resources are lowbecause multiple projects require them are the main disadvantages.
Projectized organizational structureis opposite from functional. In a projectized organization “ most of theorganization’s resources are involved in project work and project managers havea great deal of independence and authority” (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013). The focus in thisorganization is the project only.
All resources reports to the project manageror will provide project services to the various projects. Majority of the time theproject manager has direct authority and only report to the chief officer. The communicationis strong because there is a single reporting system. There is fast decisionmaking because the line of communication of clear. Matrix organizational structure is amix of both functional and projectized organizations. With any matrixorganization,” the project manager share responsibility with the functionalmanagers for assigning priorities and for directing the work of personsassigned to the project” (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2013). Employees report toa functional manager and at least one project manager.
There are threedifferent types of matrix organizations, weak, balanced, and strong. In a weakmatrix the functional manager is still lead and the project manager is parttime and limited authority. The resources are available part time and stillother projects to work on. Balances matrix give the project manager a full timerole with only part time administrative staff under him/her and support staffis only part time. Most authority lies with the project manager in a strongmatrix. The project manager is full time and the staff is also full time butmay also have dual reporting with the functional manager. It is more complex tomonitor and control the project in this organization because both functionaland project manager requires reports.
The Southern Care Hospital (SCH) casestudy is interesting because there is vast information involved. “ SCH severalyears ago it contracted with the healthcare division of a major equipmentsupplier to provide Six Sigma training to a group of it hospital employees” (Mantel & Sutton, 2014). SCH main challenge isto please the medical staff by reducing the lead time to half. In thisimprovement it is required to come up with a team of four plus a projectmanager. The project manager should use different standards to help decide withresources will be most valuable to the project such as the education of thestaff member, the cost to have them work for the project, the level of experiencein working in similar projects, and the availability the staff has to work onthe project.
The project manager should make sure there will not be clashes dueto arrogance of the members who has further training in the program. From the available resource pool theproject manager should select Howard Payne, Ken Inman, Peggy Moss, and PeterFoltz. This is the ideal team because it’s suggested that there should only beone black belt member to avoid conflicts. The other three candidates are greenbelts. The average amount of Six Sigma projects worked on is 3, meaning theredifferent ideas will be shared to help find a probable solution. All but onestaff is available to work 50% of the time, meaning the project will be focusedgreatly and efficiently. The cost to employ majority of staff is $30 or less.
Thecandidates that are selected all scored high on the proficiency chart, whichimplies they all have a good understanding of the information put out in frontof them. Compared to other candidates, the ones selected all have a higheramount of average project savings. The more money saved on a project, thebetter. The balanced matrix organizational structure is recommended to usebecause Southern Care Hospital is under contract with Six Sigma meaning thereis still an upper management to report to.
The project manager will have hearsaybut so will the functional manager. Resources will be available part time.
