By 1970, Jones and Shephard Accountants, Inc. (J&S) was ranked eighteenth in size by the American Association of Accountants. In order to compete with the larger firms, J&S formed an Information Services Division designed primarily for studies and analyses.
Why have some companies been able to implement this change in a short period of time while other companies require years? The answer is that successful implementation requires good transitional management.
During the past ten years, large companies have restructured into strategic business units (SBUs). An SBU is a grouping of functional units that have the responsibility for profit (or loss) of part of the organization’s core businesses
Small and medium companies generally prefer to have the project manager report fairly high up in the chain of command, even though the project manager may be working on a relatively low-priority project.
Matrix layering can be defined as the creation of one matrix within a second matrix. For example, a company can have a total company matrix, and each division or department (i.e., project engineering) can have its own internalized matrix. In the situation of a matrix within a matrix, all matrices are formal operations.
In project-driven companies, the creation of a project management division is readily accepted as a necessity to conduct business.
The matrix can take many forms, but there are basically three common varieties. Each type represents a different degree of authority attributed to the program manager and indirectly identifies the relative size of the matrix structures company.
The pure product organization, develops as a division within a division. As long as there exists a continuous flow of projects
It soon became obvious that control of a project must be given to personnel whose first loyalty is directed toward the completion of the project. Thus the project management position must not be controlled by…
As companies grew in size, more emphasis was placed on multiple ongoing programs with high-technology requirements