Project Management

Functional, Matrix, and Dedicated Team Approaches to Managing Projects

These team approaches have all different set of advantages and disadvantages to them. The major difference between the three is that functional team approach is “employed” totally from within the parent organization. Functional approaches have absolutely no cost to them and provide more than adequate flexibility in the use of staff. However, its disadvantages include poor integration and a distinct lack of ownership that does not leave employees discouraged to project related activities.

Dedicated team can be very effective since they can be very fast in completing a project and cohesive since it creates a high level of motivation among employees. However this arrangement can be very expensive since extra personnel has to be hired in the infrastructure and post-project transition can be very difficult since this can create the dilemma of where to place the personnel once the project has been completed.

Matrix arrangement seem to be the best of approaches but then again it depends on the typology of environment this will be used for. It is very efficient, in that resources can be shared among multiple projects. Flexibility provide for a very diverse utilization of resources and expertise within the firm. On the other hand this kind of arrangement can bring tensions between the different managers in the form of dysfunctional conflict. It can be very stressful for the employee since every project participant has at least two bosses. It can be slow since agreements have to be forged across multiple functional groups.

- Under what conditions would it be advisable to use a strong matrix instead of a dedicated project team?

In my opinion it would be advisab...

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...r the outcomes of the single individual. I do not think there is much team emphasis as individual emphasis in my school, and I do not think that an open-system focus is much of a factor.

b. Saint Louis University has a very strong Jesuit culture.

c. The culture of this school lays out the foundation for the education that each individual student will receive, and ultimately the education and culture instilled in each student will help them strive in the workforce and in the real world.

d. It would be easy to implement projects such as providing services to better the community as a whole on the other hand it would be difficult to implement a project where the school funds were used to fund, for eg., birth control company.

Community welfare in my school’s culture is very strong and something like a fundraiser for the community would be an easy project to implement.