Towards a design for the project-based organization

Abstract

Organization design is an established field of research within organization studies, focusing on different organizational forms, the array of the design strategies available to managers and their external and internal contingencies. However, our understanding of the complementary design choices available to managers of project-based organizations is limited. Building on both organization theory and design and project management literature this study identifies design choices available for the design of the project-based organization. Adopting the contingency perspective, it reviews the literature on project-based organizations to explore key factors that influence the design of the project-based organization in comparison with more traditional organizations. The resulting model offers a starting point for further studies on the design of the project-based organization. The study concludes by suggesting a research agenda in light of the results

Knowledge sharing in a coopetition project team: An institutional logics perspective

“…First, managing a coopetition project involves more radical social and temporal issues than what typically occur in project management. Inside an organization, project teams experience a certain distance from the organizational structure due to the temporary nature of the project and its status as an autonomous business process (Lundin & Söderholm, ; Miterev, Mancini, & Turner, ; Pilbeam, ). In coopetition, this distance is even more important, because one firm's support and control might not be enough to enforce cooperation and knowledge sharing and because the joint project must cope with opposing forces of cooperation and competition.…”

“…First, managing a coopetition project involves more radical social and temporal issues than what typically occur in project management. Inside an organization, project teams experience a certain distance from the organizational structure due to the temporary nature of the project and its status as an autonomous business process (Lundin & Söderholm, 1995;Miterev, Mancini, & Turner, 2017;Pilbeam, 2013).…”

Doing it for themselves? Performance appraisal in project‐based organisations, the role of employees, and challenges to theory

“…In PBOs, projects are the main way work is organised and resources are internally and externally allocated (Bakker, DeFillippi, Schwab, & Sydow, 2016;Miterev, Mancini, & Turner, 2017). Written about for decades in academic fields including operations management, strategic management, and more recently HRM (Bredin & Söderlund, 2011;Keegan, Huemann, & Turner, 2012), PBO's importance increases with the projectification of organisations and societies (Schoper et al, 2018).…”

“…Different terms are used to describe organisations that structure themselves mainly around projects (Miterev et al, 2017) including the PBO (Keegan & Turner, 2002), multiproject firm (Geraldi, 2008), project-based firm (Lindkvist, 2004), multiproject organisation (Canonico & Söderlund, 2010), the project-oriented organisation (Huemann, 2010), and the project-oriented company (Gareis & Huemann, 2006). For all these, projects are core business and shape strategy, structures, and work processes.…”

Handling conflicts over the regulation of project's time-cost risks via a simulation-based decision-making support system module

“…Business activities today are increasingly dominated by projects. Project-based or project-oriented organisation has been recognised in the literature for over 25 years (Miterev, et al, 2017). Companies work to align project portfolio with their strategic business objectives, combining performances of its components in order to maximise the shareholders' value while balancing resource allocation and risks (Costantino, et al, 2015).…”