Project/Product/Programme Organisation

It could be seen from the "programme organisation chart" given in Figure that the grouping or structuring is done on the basis of end project/product/programme. Whatever may be the end product/project, all personnel associated with that entity are grouped together and work full-time for a single project/programme manager. 

Programme Organisation

Example 

All personnel working in the design and construction of a nuclear power plant. 

Benefits 

• The integration/coordination with the effective since all the personnel associated with the programme work for the programme manager. For example, all the engineering, manufacturing, quality control, marketing, and cost personnel working on project A work for the project manager A; they do not work for the respective functional managers. 
• As in the functional organisation, legitimate authority, reward power, and coercive power are all concentrated in one supervisor - the programme managers. 
• The programme manager serves as a contact person to clarify any doubts pertaining to his project. He possesses necessary and relevant information in this regard or atleast he knows where to get the information. This facilitates the successful operation of the project in terms of cost, schedule and performance. 
• Since all personnel working in a particular project work on only one set of problems and all of them are concerned with one end product, there will be a sense of involvement and commitment on their part. On the contrary, in a functional organisation, the engineer may be working on three programmes at once and thus may not feel very much involved and identified with any one. 

Drawbacks 

• Each function is duplicated for each programme. So, there are several engineering sections, several manufacturing sections, several quality control sections, etc. Within the same organisation. This shows that the costs of duplicating the several "companies within the companies" could be prohibitive. 
• For instance, Research and Development, and Engineering professionals will be working on one set of design, test, engineering, and manufacturing problems for a long period of time. This sheltered existence for reveal can contribute to their professional obsolescence. 
• When a programme gets completed, project personnel may have no "functional home offices" to return. The anxiety and uncertainty created by this situation may retard the efficiency and productivity of the projectionist.