Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Advantages and Disadvantages of Functional Organization

Organizations have their own styles and cultures that influence how project work is performed. The functional organizations is probably the oldest style of organization and is therefore known as the traditional approach to organizing business.

Functional organizations are centered on specialties and grouped by function. As an example, the organization might have a human resource department, finance department, marketing department, information technology department, and so on. The work in these department is specialized and requires people who have the skill sets and experiences in these specialized functions to perform specific duties for the department.

Advantages
  • There is an enduring organizational structure.
  • There is a clear career path with separation of functions, allowing specialty skills to flourish.
  • Employee have one supervisor with a clear chain of command.

Disadvantages
  • Project managers have little to no formal authority.
  • Multiple projects compete for limited resources and priority.
  • Project team members are loyal to the functional manager.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Though the project managers have no formal authority, they do control the progress and results of their projects. In terms of the IT project management, there should be a working itil change management software to forecast solutions to possible problems.

Theodore

Ryan Donovan III said...

I don't think there such thing as a perfect organization. Its natural in an organization that you will encounter bumps and bruises. For example, you ventured into a website design business in Calgary. You will encounter problems but that is good for you because you have to devise solutions. It makes you better in handling situations.

Ryan Donovan III

Richard Jones said...

As you have given example regarding to hr department and other is what makes a complete organisation. It really plays a major role. Here you will get free consultancy about project management software and other category software.