Page 44 - Global Project Management Handbook

2-6 STATE OF THE ART OF GLOBAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Roland Gareis’ Project and Program Management
Influences of Organization Theory. The perception of projects as temporary organi-
zations promotes the awareness that every project requires a specific organizational
design that goes beyond the definition of the formal authority of the project manager.
In addition to project planning, a situational design of the project organization should
contribute to the success of the project.
The organizational design of projects includes the definition of project-specific roles,
the development of project organizational charts, the definition of project-specific commu-
nication structures, and the agreement on project-specific rules. Through the temporary
character of projects, the design of the project start and the project close-down obtains a
special importance.
Relatively new management approaches, such as customer orientation, empowerment,
flat organizational structures, team work, organizational learning, process orientation, and
networking, can be implemented in projects to contribute to project success. The manage-
ment approaches “learning organization,” “lean management,” “process management,”
and “total quality management” therefore are to be seen as an additional, new theoretical
basis for project management.
The perception of projects as temporary organizations also promotes the development
of a project-specific culture. Such project management methods are, for example, the
choice of the project name and the formulation of the project mission statement and
project-specific slogans.
Influences of Social Systems Theory. The perception of projects as social systems
enables the use of views and models of social systems theory for project management. A
“systemic” project management builds not on traditional project management but rather
puts its methods into a new framework, interprets them, and promotes the development of
new project management methods.
Because of the need to manage the boundaries and the context as well as the complex-
ity and the dynamics of projects, new potential avenues and challenges arise for project
management. A new understanding of the project management tasks to be fulfilled is
enabled. Instead of planning, controlling, and organizing the project, the tasks of con-
structing the project boundaries and the project context, building up and reducing the
project complexity, and managing the dynamics of the project become relevant.

Construction of the Project Boundaries and the Project Context. Construction of the
project boundaries and the project context ensures a holistic view of the project (Fig. 2.3).
Definition of the project boundaries should enable an integrated consideration of techni-
cal, organizational, personnel, and marketing objectives in the project.
For detailed management of the project boundaries, the following project management
methods are available: project objectives plan, objects of consideration plan and work
breakdown structure, project schedule and project resource plan, project costs and project
income plan, project organization, and so on. For an analysis of the project context and

Preproject Project Postproject
phase phase
t
FIGURE 2.3 Project boundaries and project context (time dimension).