Project Roles and organizational structure

Question 1

What type of organization is typically siloed and what does this mean?

Answer 1

Functional. Siloed means project deliverables are worked on independently in different departments.

Question 2

What is a downside of siloed projects?

How is this assuaged?

Answer 2

While the project manager is held accountable for the success of the project, they have no direct way of holding teams accountable for completing project deliverable.

Functional project managers must form good relationships with functional managers for successful deliverable completion.

Question 3

What are the advantages of a functional organization?

Answer 3

Learning and career path for employees.

Clear chain of command

Question 4

What are the disadvantages of functional organizations?

Answer 4

Project manager has limited or no authority over team members.

Multiple projects compete for the same resources.

Resources are more likely to be part time than full time committed to a project.

Issue resolution must follow the chain of command taking longer to resolve.

Question 5

What is a stakeholder?

Answer 5

Any group, organization, or individual that is affected by the deliverables of the project.

Question 6

What is the difference between matrix and functional besides PM power?

Answer 6

Matrix projects share resources across an organization for project tasks while functional only uses resources within a department for a task.

Question 7

Which organizational structure may create a high level of anxiety in the project team as the project nears completion?

Answer 7

A projectized organization’s project teams may have a level of anxiety as the project finishes because the project team may not know what their next assignments will be, whereas matrix and functional project team members will have day to day tasks to return to.

Question 8

When variances that result in changes to the cost baseline are discovered, those changes should be managed by…

Answer 8

The project change control system

Question 9

If the budget needs updating or funding was just added to the project, what needs to be done to obtain the new cost baseline?

Answer 9

You’ll need approval and sign-off from the sponsor to update the cost baseline.