Page 79 - DMGT521_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Project Management

Notes 5.5.2 Example of Pure Project Organisational Structure

In organisational theory, nothing is “pure.” The pure types of organisation exist for the sake of
analytical clarity, not as a description of how things work. A “pure project organisational
structure” is one such “pure” form that does not really exist. However, many aspects of social
and economic life come close to it. The pure organisation is applicable in both business and
political life, though actual examples can be found mostly in the political arena.

Pure Organisation

A “pure project organisation” is a model of a business where project managers have total
control over the project they oversee. Central control at the managerial level must be weak for
this to occur. Put simply, a “pure project organisation” might also be termed a “task force.” In
the case of a “pure project,” the leader of this task force would have to be given total authority
for a limited period to solve a particular problem. In business, it is a great challenge to find an
example of such purity.

The Task Force

In politics, the concept of a “task force” that approximates the total control over a specific project
under a “manager” of sorts is not hard to find. In Latin America, poor and divided governments
have struggled to control the drug lords who can outshoot and outspend the state. From the
1960s to 2011, Latin American states have dealt both with leftist terrorism and drug violence —
occasionally the same thing, as in Peru — by either declaring a state of emergency or installing
a military government.

Guatemala

On December 19, 2010, the president of the impoverished state of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom,
declared a state of emergency in the northern state of Alta Verapaz. This area is heavily wooded
and difficult to police and has become a major staging ground for Mexican drug gangs to gather
their forces and ship cocaine to the United States. On the January 21, 2011, Colom extended the
state of emergency in that state, placing all military and police control under Interior Minister
Carlos Menocal. To some extent, Menocal is leading a multi-jurisdictional task force to wipe out
the drug gangs from this state bordering Mexico. This comes very close to acting as a “pure
project organisation.”

Menocal and Colom

This example, like most examples of a pure project structure, is political and is a response to an
extreme emergency. Since 2000, the murder rates in northern Guatemala have doubled, reaching
higher than the death rate during that country’s civil war. Menocal is, as of early 2011, declaring
an early success, holding that drug flights bound for the U.S. have been almost totally halted. In
January 2011, soldiers under the Interior Ministry had seized more than $1 million worth of
military equipment and drugs from criminal groups in that area. While it is true that Menocal
does not have total, dictatorial power over the army as the “pure” form demands, he does have
a large degree of temporary control over the deployment of troops for the time being. Hence,
his is a good example of a “pure project structure” in the political arena.

74 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY