Personally I prefer the Project-Based organization. Being able to be transparent with other departments working on the project would be greatly beneficial. Information would flow more easily between each department versus everyone being on their own and you having to beg procurement or manufacturing for info that you need to do your part in the project, trust me I’ve been there. If one team modifies a spec or tweaks a CAD model and doesn't inform the other teams/departments then that can have a massive impact on the project that can result in delays or worse. Another benefit is that once the team goes through a few projects together, then everyone starts to get an understanding of everyone strengths and weaknesses and can learn to work around your teams’ limitations.

For me I prefer Matrix Organizations. In matrix organizations all the departments work closely together and communicate with each other frequently to solve issues. The specialized information exchange allows managers to respond quickly to the needs of clients and the organization. The ability to contribute valuable information before decisions are made leads to employee satisfaction and increased motivation. Faster decisions only in matrix organizations. Teamwork is a good advantage in a matrix organizations structure, as all the departments working together.
However,as Dr.Simon mentioned , you have two bosses in a matrix organization functional manager and chief Executive!.Also, Matrix organization has more complex structure.

I personally think the matrix organization is most effective for running projects. It may seem a bit complicated at first, especially for someone who is currently working in a functional or project based organization, and people may think that the idea of being accountable to 2 people is stressful. However, if it is run correctly, I believe it can be very efficient, and in order to achieve high efficiency, there must be good communication between you, your functional manager, and the project manager, so that everyone's time is being used efficiently. The idea of working in a project based organization where you work with the same project team members for multiple projects in a row may seem more appealing, because you get to know everyone well and can stay in your comfort zone. One downside is if you do not get along well with your team members you are stuck with them for awhile. Also, you may fall into a rut of running projects one way, while there may be a more efficient way. When you are constantly working with different people who have past experience with working in other teams, you get more team members giving input about their past experience and ideas to streamline processes and increase efficiency.

Hello,
Pros and cons of the 3 Organization structure is very well explained in this week lecture. I worked with Functional type organisation for 2 years. What don't like in the functional organization is that it form silo in culture and information. They don't work well with other department. It is always good to know or understand how other department works.The organisation i work with now is Matrix organisation, where there is a combination of functional organization and project organization. I like Matrix organisation. We can work with other department. We can know other people in the organisation. The dis-advantage in matrix organisation is when there is 2 boss that we are accountable too.

For me I would personally choose to go with the Functional based organization structure. In this structure since all the positions are already assigned you do not have to worry about different people overlapping different roles. Also, since roles are already assigned it saves time rather than going through an assigning roles to every member individually. Also, by having only one person in charge it creates a very clear line of command, which will make it easier to manage. I personally like having clear cut roles as everyone is specialized and can focus on what they need too do, without worrying about whether the other team members can get their work done. I would not go with the Project based organization because project teams are not socially active which will lead to multiple copies of the same work getting done. In the matrix organization there too many head roles and having multiple bosses can create conflict between the two bosses. This can put workers in a tuff spot by making them choose which boss to follow and which one to disobey. That overall can create a very unfriendly work environment with constant backlash from someone.

I would prefer to choose Matrix organization with a strong matrix i.e where project manager would have more power since that would mean once the project manager have the functional staff than staff has more responsibility towards project manager than the functional head but here functional head would have the power to select the staff so that he has power to manage his resources wisely and once the staff is assigned all the power transfers to project manager and functional head has little to no power on the staff he assigned. Since this is a matrix based organization there would be exchange of knowledge between different memeber of the functional member. And there would even be healthy competition between the staff to get selected for fancy projects.

I also prefer the functional organization structure. This structure seems like an overall structure of many companies. The employees are managed by a manager with experience in the same specialty who can understand and review the staffs work. If you’re an engineer, for a medical device company your boss would most likely be an engineer. I believe some advantages to functional organization structure is understanding and communication. Let's say there is a issue with a project you are working on. You would want upper management to understand the issues you are having. I think the most difficult part is communication between different background. Explaining science and engineering to a marketing group could be difficult. That is why having a group with like minds makes it easier for communication. I think some disadvantages could be growth. All your coworkers with the great deal of experience have the same opportunity for that manager position. Competition and conflict can arise in a functional organization within a department.

I would talk about project based organization: There the most obvious advantage is that you have a direct control over the team. It has strong team structure and culture with the sense of identity. As whole team focuses on the teams goal so there is less conflict and even scheduling the time for workers becomes easy. In this organization you get an environment to develop management skills and technical skills. But when you see the either side of this organization we see some flaws like- I is expensive for keeping one team associated with single project. After you remove people or even managing transition of the team after the closure of project gets difficult and important too and sometimes it can even lead to loosing our job. And yes many people gets tired working on same project that can effect the output.

I believe project based is ideal for smaller companies because each team can focus without being distracted by details of other projects. however, larger companies or companies with multiple integrated projects would benefit from matrix structure. as some have mentioned previously, matrix enables more access to project details, limiting errors that can turn into major delays.
Matrix structure also encourages greater synergies as no one person makes all the decisions on any one project.

As a kid I was in the Boy Scouts. We had 4 different patrols, each with a Patrol Leader and his assistant, and then there was the Senior Patrol leader with his two assistances. Even though there was no "skill" separation, this reminds me very much of a functional organizational system. I do like this system for organizing the rascals we were, but Im not so sure I would like for a company setting. I think it's important to have communication across different "patrols". Thats why I think I prefer the Projectized organization. I think its more importune to have a clear leader and a team to work with, but I think the goal should be completing the project. Thus giving you the ability to work with multiple teams in helpful ways. I think a strong or balanced matrix system is good, but at times i still think its confusing how it works and who reports to who. Im not the biggest fan of it, but I'm sure once involved it would be less complicated and useful

I would like to work in a matrix based organization. I agree with the points made by smitshah and srg36. I would like to add this type of organization will result in good management of resources, it encourages people from different departments to come together and share ideas. The more ideas are shared, the more is the productivity of the team. As people from different departments interact with each other, it helps them grow and learn the activities of different departments. This also will be a person gain, as it will allow me to network with a number of people.

In my point of view each organization has pros and cons. but personally I feel that I am more comfortable working on a project based organization. Because in such type of organization, a person gets to work in various types of project which will help him/her to expand knowledge on various platforms. This helps the people in the team to share knowledge between each other if someone doesn't know anything about a particular thing. Different project means you get to meet different people. This helps to expand your professional networks.

There are three types of organizations such as functional, project based and matrix organizations.
In functional organizations structure, the organization is grouped into various departments where employees with same skills and knowledge are kept in the same groups such as marketing department, finance department, sales department. It helps the efficiency of each functional group. There is segregation of the organizational responsibilities and allocation of the tasks which ultimately eliminates the similarity of the work. Each department focuses on its own work. There is accountability that is someone takes the responsibility for the group. There is more clarity about the roles by each employee. Functional groups don’t communicate more which decreases the flexibility and innovation since the closed communication leads to lack of focus. Department becomes resistant to change and there is lack of coordination.
In project-based organization the project manager has line management responsibility for the project team members and there is more control over the team. It has a strong sense of identity and the whole team is focused on the team’s goal. The knowledge gets transferred from project to project. Project based organization the employees are always on move reporting to different project managers and performing different tasks.
In matrix organization there is multiple managerial accountability and responsibility. There is transfer of knowledge from one project to another between the departments. The major disadvantage of matrix organization is that there are two working bosses. This structure is more complex as compared to functional or project -based organization which results in difficulty in monitoring and controlling.
I prefer matrix-based organization because it has more clear project objectives that is it is not only visible through the project office but is well balanced the objectives of the functional organization. There is more coordination which can be achieved in this structure. The information flows effectively as there is both vertical and horizontal flow. Team members report to only on manager which reduces the conflicts or contradictions of the reporting to both the project and functional managers.

Some advantages of the Functional Organization is that the departments operate somewhat independently of each other so coordination between members of a department is much easier because they can only rely on each other during a project. All decisions are made by one individual, the Functional Manager, which is efficient because decisions will be made quickly. Because of the fact that the departments are isolated, members of a department cannot coordinate with those of another department and learning between departments doesn't take place. In a Project-based organization, projects are done by project teams, which means that the members of project come from different departments. This can help workers become smarter and open-minded because they are experience working with different people. In a Matrix Organization, projects are done by project teams, which are comprised of people from different departments. This allows for different individuals to share their ideas and build each other by learning different perspectives. This means that departments are not isolated from each other. One major disadvantage is that the project team members have two bosses, who may have to negotiate for resources like members on the team. In my opinion, I favor the Matrix Organization because it's important for individuals to learn different ways of thinking, which is what happens in such an organization because members come from different department. Although having two bosses is inefficient, I feel that this is a problem that can be easily rectified. If the bosses are organized, then negotiation and time conflicts can avoided.