Project Management Organizational Structures (Part 1)

This will be a two part post to discuss organizational structures for companies that have changed many times over the years.  The structure is usually chosen based on the goals of the company or ideas on how the company should be run.  However, for me, I can see the basis of these organizational structures in the military.

For example, after World War II (WWII), America had been focused on manufacturing.  They had been building weapons for most of the world and making a ton of money doing it.  As such, the companies were organized the same as the military was.  They were constructed of large vertical organizations, most likely because the senior managers had military experience.  You had groups like Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, and Finance just like the military had been constructed of the Infantry, Artillery, Navy, and Air Force.

Furthermore, Quality was a major focus because names like Deming and Juran had become prominent and all this manufacturing had lifted America out of the Great Depression.  It was a time of prosperity that would continue for many years essentially unchanged.  However, it was also the beginning of the Cold War, so we couldn’t relax too much. 

However, not forgetting Korea, it wasn’t long before there was another war that began to change organizational structures and this one was in Vietnam.  Then, in the early 60’s, Kennedy envisioned the future of warfare as small, elite, empowered, highly skilled teams.  This concept had already been tested to some extent during Korea by organizations like the Marines, but now it was about to become mainstream with new organizations like the Navy SEALs.  Not surprisingly, in the business world, organizations were beginning to adjust to a new paradigm and the Project Management Institute was founded in 1969.

While it wouldn’t be fully adopted for many years, the concept of project teams had taken root in the corporate world.  These were small, elite, empowered, highly skilled teams assemble for one mission at a time.  They were and are the special forces of business.

All of these changes created new roles in the military and corporate cultures and new respect for those roles.  No longer was it just about rank, it was also about your duties.  When the mission intensive boys came into the room, everybody knew about it and knew the game had just changed.

In the military, this was generally signified by the berets that were worn, but in the corporate world it was simply by title.  The project managers, these corporate operational Generals, can walk right into the CEO’s office and not feel inferior in any way.  They carry rank and respect and it is a nice thing to have.

In the second part of this series, we will talk about the different corporate structures that go along with these new titles and roles.  Some of them are known, however, some of them have unfortunately been forgotten.  Here at Project Victories though, we will discuss them all because that is why we are here.

Your path to business success.