Project management and corporate culture

One of the trends in the development of organizations is the improvement of corporate culture. Many authors have described this as moving towards “portfolio organization” or “project management”. This effort can be successful only if the culture of the current organization is taken into account, ie. how the whole organization needs to change to support project initiatives. Although the definitions of organizational culture are different, these definitions have the following common features. Culture consists of adopted value systems and opinions of people who influence the way the organization works. The value and opinion systems that exist within an organization can facilitate change or can be an obstacle to it. This also applies to changes that institutionalize project management.

Why should we think about the innovation of corporate culture so that it includes project management as a corporate value system? Project management is essentially change management. The degree to which an organization faces change in its business determines the degree to which it should embrace a culture focused on successful project management. Organizations that are faced with the need to constantly introduce new products and services to the market, improve business processes and systems, introduce new technology, work with new markets, react to changes in the environment and adapt to changes in new economic conditions, include project management in their organizational behavior as an effective mechanism for successful management changes.

The road is not without traps. Projects within organizations are often a matter of prestige and status. There is an issue of “reputation and fame” here that makes functional managers reluctant to give authority to project managers. What indicators tell us where the organization is currently in relation to the project management culture?

FOLLOW MONEY

How is the budget planned and how are the budgets managed? The course of this process can be one of the primary indicators of the maturity of the organization in the application of project management. If the budgeting process addresses the needs of the functional parts of the organization and if the projects are the result of only those needs, project management will have a secondary role in the organization. People think that an organization spends money on what it considers important. If people believe that the goals of functional units are more important than project ones, they will behave that way.

CAN ALL FINANCIAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROJECT BE MONITORED?

The indicators are: Do project teams monitor their costs? Does the required financial resources planned and allocated to the project or does the approval of the project budget mean adding one item to the table? Projects are a source of new value but also a place of cost.

HEROIC APPROACH

Companies are often known for their heroes. Are almighty heroes part of our culture or are they the ones who effectively use project management methodology, plan, analyze, delegate, manage risks? Until organizations realize that project management is a discipline that requires teamwork, standards, methodologies, and processes that will keep projects under control, they will reward and encourage misbehavior and wrong heroes.

SATISFACTION IN THE WORK OF THE PROJECT TEAM

How comfortable are people in a project environment? The project environment is like a carousel ride: initiating, planning, realizing and gradually stopping a project and then moving on to the next project. Do people feel comfortable in this ever-changing and challenging environment, or do they expect defined jobs within their jobs?
Are they comfortable working in teams or working with always the same functional colleagues. In some organizations, the project is considered a “kiss of death.” These organizations will have a long way to go to introduce a culture of project management.

EVALUATION AND PROGRESS IN THE SERVICE

Do you evaluate your work on the project whether it will be led by a project team or functional managers? Is the evaluation guided by project topics at the same time or more than the evaluation of the functional manager? The human way in which the realization is evaluated and the importance of the project is discussed will not be important to them if their execution on the project “does not count” to the same or greater extent than the functional work.

ARE PROJECT MANAGERS ENCOURAGED TO BE PMI PMP® CERTIFIED?

What does this mean for their careers? Is there a development model for them or is the only way to progress is to leave the organization? This process must be understood and incorporated into the organization’s resource management system and the project culture will progress.

HOW TO CREATE A NEW PROJECT MANAGEMENT CULTURE?

First, managers must agree that the current culture does not provide a competitive advantage and does not effectively support the development of the organization. Once agreement is reached, further efforts should be planned and managed as a project. Each organization will require the finances to be managed by certified accountants, and the legal affairs by certified lawyers. Why, then, are these organizations willing to project projects worth millions or tens of millions of euros, to individuals who are neither trained nor certified professional project managers in a counterproductive cultural environment?
An organization that, for its own business success, develops its culture consciously directs this change towards a culture of project management.