Aspects of People Management in a Projectised Organization

Much of the project management literature is concerned with projects undertaken in matrix organisations. There is relatively little material on projectised organisations, particularly those providing project management services to external clients, and very little indeed on people management in such organisations. My forty years of practice in project management were primarily in projectised organizations, including over a quarter of a century with the leading Australian project management company of its time, Civil & Civic Pty Limited. Many people management practices in that organisation were substantially different from conventional wisdoms of people management, but the company was universally recognized as the best employer in its business.

This paper is an account of how several aspects of people management worked in that organisation. Some brief notes on projectised organisations are followed by discussions of people management in Civil & Civic, including implementing broader people-related initiatives by projects, rather than having people-related service departments to do this work. A section on people selection and development focuses on finding and building on individual strengths, followed by several aspects of people management on projects, including self-organisation, motivation, teamwork commitment and performance assessment.

INTRODUCTION

The organisation in which I worked for some twenty six years, Civil & Civic Pty Limited, operated primarily in the building and construction sector, providing project management services to external clients. In spite of the fact that many of our practices in people management in this organisation were substantially different from conventional wisdoms of people management, the company was universally recognized as the best employer in its business, and the leader in its field in most other aspects as well.


To read entire paper (click here)

About the Author Alan Stretton, PhD Author Alan Stretton is currently a member of the Faculty Corps of the University of Management and Technology, Arlington, Virginia, USA. In 2006 he retired from a position as Adjunct Professor of Project Management in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, which he joined in 1988 to develop and deliver a Master of Project Management program. Prior to joining UTS, Mr. Stretton worked in the building and construction industries in Australia, New Zealand and the USA for some 38 years, which included the project management of construction, R&D, introduction of information and control systems, internal management education programs and organizational change projects. He has degrees in Civil Engineering (BE, Tasmania) and Mathematics (MA, Oxford), and an honorary PhD in strategy, programme and project management (ESC, Lille, France). Alan was Chairman of the Standards (PMBOK) Committee of the Project Management Institute from late 1989 to early 1992. He held a similar position with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and was elected a Life Fellow of AIPM in 1996. He was a member of the Core Working Group in the development of the Australian National Competency Standards for Project Management. He has published over seventy professional articles. Alan can be contacted at alanailene@bigpond.com.au.