Project Management: Designing Effective Organisational Structures in Construction

✍ Scribed by David Moore

• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 306
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Organisation structure can make or break the project manager…New forms of organisation are emerging in the construction industry – from partnering to virtual teams. There is a growing need to consider project organisational structures carefully. This book differs from the many other texts on project management by concentrating on the challenges of devising relevant structures for project management.It examines the diverse factors to be considered when determining an initial overall organisation for new construction projects. It also looks at how to vary the organisation in response to the differing environments over the lifetime of a project. In a pragmatic, accessible style, the author has both added to the body of knowledge in this area and provided the project management with a set of effectivemanagement tools to: examine the criteria for designing structures within an organisation identify the factors relevant to the development of an initial project organisation structure assess the significance of an individual factor in the operation of a structure

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS......Page 7
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Preface......Page 15
Part I Structure Past......Page 19
Introduction......Page 21
1.1 Information as a production resource......Page 22
1.2 Identifying the project nature in system terms......Page 31
1.3 Effects on the internal environment......Page 38
1.4 The conversion process......Page 45
1.5 Conclusions......Page 49
Introduction......Page 51
2.1 Energy......Page 52
2.2 Throughput......Page 55
2.3 Output......Page 62
2.4 Event management......Page 65
2.5 Entropy and the issue of noise......Page 67
2.6 Feedback......Page 72
2.7 Steady state......Page 76
2.8 Differentiation – further discussion of Case study 1......Page 79
2.9 Equifinality......Page 82
2.10 Conclusions......Page 85
Part II Structure Present......Page 87
3.1 Gathering information......Page 89
3.2 Application: a hypothetical project scenario......Page 94
3.3 Project objectives and organisation structure......Page 105
3.4 Traditional organisation structures......Page 114
3.5 Variations on the basic themes......Page 122
3.6 Selecting an organisational form......Page 125
3.7 Integrated project teams (IPTs)......Page 127
3.8 Conclusions......Page 129
Introduction......Page 130
4.1 Changes in the external environment......Page 131
4.2 Environments becoming unfavourable......Page 135
4.3 Virtual teams......Page 139
4.4 Transformational organisation structures......Page 145
4.5 Conclusions......Page 152
Introduction......Page 153
5.1 Project boundaries......Page 154
5.2 Control of the human resource......Page 162
5.3 Caveat emptor......Page 169
5.4 Conclusions......Page 183
Part III Structure Future?......Page 185
Introduction......Page 187
6.1 The simplified genome......Page 188
6.2 Expanding the start genome......Page 205
6.3 Conclusions......Page 214
Introduction......Page 215
7.1 Required structure characteristics: discussion of Skunkworks......Page 216
7.2 Achieving the project-specific genome (PSG)......Page 217
7.3 Implementing the structure......Page 219
7.4 The learning organisation......Page 225
7.5 The humorous organisation......Page 229
7.6 Conclusions......Page 230
Introduction......Page 232
8.1 The short term......Page 234
8.2 The medium term......Page 236
8.3 The long term......Page 239
Appendix 1 Glossary of Project Management Terms......Page 243
Appendix 2 Glossary of Structure and Gene Terms......Page 297
References......Page 299
Index......Page 303