I have not worked in the industry before however, I believe I would be best suited for a project-based organizational structure. I think this structure would be best for me because the teams move together from project to project. When you are with a team for a while you learn each others weaknesses and strengths so you can fill each others gaps to get things done on time. You will also have a certain way you like to get things done as a team. I also like that the team is made up of people from different departments so everyone has the same understanding of what is happening with the project and everyone can see other aspects of completing a project. I think things could be more hectic and confusing in a matrix organizational structure since there are multiple people to report to.

I do not work in an industry, however, I currently am taking Capstone which I consider the class to be a Matrix set-up. The reason for this, is I report to both the functional manager i.e.( Dr.Schesser) and the project manager i.e.(Dr. Collins). Capstone is set-up like a matrix management system which I find useful because it allows me to realize how reporting to two individuals can be stressful but beneficial. Stressful because time management becomes important to be able to coordinate with people. Beneficial, because some managers can provide insight on the project technical and functional requirements. Therefore, the type of industry I want to work in a project-based organization. I like coordinating and managing projects but, I want to be part of R&D so I can help in the advancement of health and innovative technologies.

I currently work in the pharmaceutical industry, most of the projects I work on was around building up our current labs to GMP standards. However, I had work of several different project with different department to do so with a single goal. Because of different in department I did have to push some people for deliverables while other department were very cooperative. The departments that was most affected was so busy with their other work that it would sometimes be difficulty get things pushed through. There was also the limitation that each project had. Some of the policies that were incorporated into the labs created a bit of inconvenience to the worker and things like that was detrimental to the time line. In the main project was built incorporating these factors and in the end, we were able to complete it. As an extension keeping all the policies in place required the development of new system and that became a separate project of its own.

From my experience working for Zimmer Biomet, I would say this company is a functional organization. I am currently working as a Quality engineer, but we work with other groups such as manufacturing and R&D. I have only been working here for a few months but I think I would be better suited for a more project-based company. I like to constantly be learning about different things so I feel like if I work for an industry that is more project-based, I would be able to juggle different projects and learn much more.

In my current company it all depends on which department you work for. The department I work for is a functional organization. I know most engineers in other departments are assigned to a project. In other departments they have engineers jump from one department to the next based on the projects assigned. I personally view this as both good and bad. I believe it’s good experience, and make a lot of connections. It also give you a chance to grow within the company because you will learn a lot. On the other hand there can be a lot of miscommunication, and a lot of pressure.

The company that I currently work at would be considered a project-based organization in that we conduct research on cell therapy-based products and processes. For example our projects focus mainly on optimizing the processing and transplantation of stem cells, bone marrow aspirate, and white blood cells (WBCs) to treat patients with debilitating illnesses such as cancer, HIV, hepatitis, etc. As mentioned in lecture, the series of projects makes up the overall cell therapy program established by the company. All these projects fall into the same program for a variety of reasons, such as sharing the same cell-processing equipment, sharing technicians, personnel, the facility, etc. The advantages and disadvantages of a project-based organization are reflected in the product's lifespan throughout it's production process. For example, the initial start of a project can be considered to be the most hectic stage of product development in that team members must become acquainted with their roles and each other as well as adjusting to the environment that they will be operating in. This has lead to disagreements between members and management, most commonly among those who are asked to step outside of their comfort zone and undertake an unfamiliar role after having performed a specific role on a consistent basis.

Some of the main disadvantages of a project-based organization, according to a study (1), is that duplicate resources exist and there is more competition than collaboration between project teams while being highly dependent on the guidance of management. In my company, a lack of communication between management once resulted in the purchase of duplicate cell counting machines each costing tens of thousands of dollars, which could have easily been prevented if management was more vocal during meetings. With comparison to functional and matrix-based organizations, what other advantages and disadvantages does a project-based entity share? How might such shortcomings in other organization types be prevented? What type of organization might involve the carryout of projects but with managers who balance coordination between project teams rather than specializing on a single task?

1) Thiry, M. (2007). Creating project-based organizations to deliver value. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2007

I have not worked in industry before, but I believe a project-based organization would suite me most. For my senior design project, I got to work with a great team with different strengths and ideas of how to tackle obstacles. We worked together to make up for any setbacks (like the Instron being out of service), while sharing ways to reduce the time required to create the components the cortical and trabecular bone scaffolds. Having a goal and strict deadline set kept all of us motivated to improve the design of the HAP columns molds, and come up with the optimal testing time and amount of force to apply on the HAP columns. I was able to learn a lot from my peers while contributing my own ideas in that project based environment.

I am not currently working in the medical device industry, but throughout my career as a Medical Technologist I have experienced what it is like to work in a strictly functional organization. Previously I worked for a company called BioReference where I would run cancer diagnostic FISH (Fluorescence in situ hybridization) assays. Currently I work for a company called Regional Cancer Care Associates where I run a breast cancer prognostic assay called Prosigna. Now in each of these organizations there was a strict hierarchy of president, vice president, finance, customer service, operations, marketing, etc. In BioReference for example there were even departments broken down by what test they ran. I grew to dislike the functional organization structure after a few years because there was too much monotony and repetitive work with no real room for upward movement or performance based promotions. I feel that I am best suited to work for a project based organization because of clear line of communication that there will be between the team members and the project manager, the feeling of accomplishment when key milestones are reached, and the experience that will accumulate rapidly over time from working on different projects. There is always the risk of being laid off after the completion of a project or if the company decides to go in a different direction and your skillset is no longer needed, but I feel the risk is worth the reward whether the reward be promotion based or a new set of skills that you can take to your next project.

I do not currently work in industry, and unfortunately during my undergrad I did not get any internship opportunities. I did however shadow an orthopedic surgeon during my time as an undergrad which provided me some direct insight into how the medical field and the biomedical field symbiotically interact. Due to this experience I believe that a matrix organization would be the best fit for me. The combination between functionality and project based work I believe is something I deal well with. This primarily has to do with the grid organizational structure that characterizes a matrix company. I believe this allows for the highest level of collaboration between employees working in a company, and personally I believe that the more collaboration the better things are done. I also think this is better suited for me because although you have a project manager they will be involved with the project and give more hands on help in a matrix organization, which I believe is ultimately the best way to work together with someone. Lastly, I believe that matrix organization allows for the highest level of personal growth and this is something that appeals to me as well.

I am not currently employed in industry work as I am heavily focused on completing my school work. Though I have yet to fully immerse myself into the industrial world, I believe I would do well beginning in a functional organization. I believe this would be a good start for me because it would provide guidance, and proper experience from members of the company who have been employed longer than myself. Eventually though, I would like to end up in a matrix type organization where there is not so much of a hierarchy, and input from all staff members is appreciated. I strongly believe that I would learn best by working for a company that will assign projects to me. This would serve as a good place to learn the in's and out's of the BME research and development field. However, after a few years of that I would like to switch to an organization that allows me to voice my own ideas, and have equal input of a project.

The experience I have comes from working within a device development group in a big pharma company organized in a project based environment. The organization structure is based on teams with specific goals. Main business goals for big pharm companies is to develop drugs so most of the medical devices I was involved in working on were part of single entity combination products [where the PMOA (primary mode of action) is attributed to the drug) rather than “pure” medical devices. Some teams were tasked to develop the drug product and other the medical device. There were synergies between these teams, of course, as they have to interact to ensure compatibility between the drug and device. Both teams were comprised of functional area experts including project managers. There is hierarchy that these teams report to other higher governing teams that oversee the early and late development of the program. Early development team oversees the early clinical studies of the drug product development (e.g. phase 1-2b) while late development governing team oversees late stages of clinical studies and commercialization of the product. This project based organization works well for my department as we are able to understand the complexities of the drug product in which we have to develop a suitable medical device for and deliver the results on time as most of time development of drugs take longer than medical devices.
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From my experience in Medtronic, My job was totally functional based system. I was a biomedical service engineer. I had to do certain tasks in a particular day. If there's a emergency case in the hospital, I had to rush in hospitals and fix that issue. In future, I want to be in a project based system. I think whatsoever knowledge i gained in the university may be i can apply in the project based system.

I used to work as a Sales and Service engineer at intuvision labs which were an Indian company that manufactures low-cost fundas camera. I used to go on breakdown calls at the client's clinic or hospitals whenever required. I then worked as an Area Manager at Solis HealthTech where I and my team worked together to achieve our overall sales target of Intuvision labs products. I am doing my Master's in Biomedical Engineering and into my second semester and I wish to work in quality of medical device as I have worked on a homegrown product and I understand the importance it holds before the product goes on the market.

I am not currently working in industry, but a variant of matrix organization structure would provide a suitable working environment. Consider an organization that separates their company into different industries to achieve specific corporate objective. Each industry has different divisions, each with the standard departments (R&D, marketing, manufacturing). With specialized division each having cross-functional departments, this organization structure improves lateral communication when working on specific projects. A major disadvantage with this structure is the costs to fund the resources to departmentalize each division, but if the resources are available, the outcome from improved cooperation can far outweigh costs.

A project-centered organization will be too specialized, where a project manager will struggle to balance the project constraints because there is a limited depth of knowledge and technical expertise.

Hi Everyone,

I currently work as a temp/part time quality engineering intern at MTF Biologics which is the biggest tissue bank in the world. I'm not too familiar with the terms Matrix or project based organization but I would say that MTF is a matrix based organization. There are different departments such as quality engineering (QE) and assurance (QA), R&D, processing, marketing, and supply chain. The company has teams assigned to the different products. R&D comes up with the product, the processing departments creates the processes needed and QE works with all the departments to validate the processes per industry standards. QA ensures that all validations are compliant with industry standards and also helps during audits. Each project has their own project managers which typically are in charge of multiple projects. I liked observing the role of project managers at MTF because they create a structure and agenda in order to keep projects moving within the company. Their ability to conduct conversations and solutions is something I really admire and recognize that it takes years of experience at different levels in order to be an effective project manager.

I would like to experience different types of industry organizations to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each first hand.