Project Team Culture and the Impact of Organizational Structure

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Mixed project teams often develop subculture with different rituals and routines from those of the functional organization, while the stories of the organization have impact in our attitude and perception of the organization. Public sector organizations are centralized with high vertical and horizontal differentiation and highly formalized. This type of structure shapes a “firm” culture and often the project subculture with the organizational culture conflicts as on one side we have person culture (project team) and the characteristics of the role culture (functional organization).

There are several definitions for the organizational culture, with most of them referring to the common values, beliefs, norms that the employees of an organization share, have learned and can teach others. However, studies on organizational culture and the relevant literature suggest approaching culture as a dynamic and multi-dimensional concept due to the number and complexity of the elements that is comprised of, shaped and influenced by, through an ever-changing process (Brooks, 2009).

In the early 80s it was suggested that strong cultures are related with increased performance. In organizational environments with strong cultures there were evidence of well-defined set of behavioural rituals, numerous systems of shared values within an articulate cultural network (Brooks, 2009).

To date in an organizational setting, several daily processes performed to complete work-related tasks - but not limited, are daily routines and rituals and become part of the culture, providing guidance and motivation to the employees (Greenman, 2008). For example, the members of a project team go at the office 30 minutes earlier every morning; at 6:30 am the pantry is the meeting point and people start queueing in front the coffee machine, chatting and making jokes before work starts. Every now and then the machine breaks or there is no milk; it is a complete disaster, people look at each other like they are facing the end of the world, complaining and somehow the day cannot start. In these cases the routine gets interrupted and this creates frustration and disorganizes the entire team.

Another important element of the organizational culture is the storytelling that expresses and shapes the organizational culture, while it has been found to define the employees' attitude towards the organization (Boyce, 1996). Stories told about the organization are very important especially for new employees, as these stories will define the perception the employees have about the organization. 

Organizational structure can be defined as the configuration of an organization along with the reporting lines that establish the authority relationships. The structure of an organization has as main function to meet the organizational strategic goals and in times the structure changes in order to meet the market's requirements.

Studies show that organizational structure and culture are closely related: national cultures and their attitudes towards uncertainty, masculinity/femininity, power distance and individualism will determine organisational structures in that area/country (Hofstede et al, 2010 cited in Ramthun and Matkin, 2012). The organizational culture though develops around the organisational structure therefore the type of structure will determine the organizational culture.

Structure is approached and evaluated based on the dimensions of i) specialization, ii) standardization, iii) formalization and iv) centralization. There is a great number of organizational structures designed to meet specific set of business requirements, scoring from low to high on these dimensions. Subsequently we will have a respective number of different cultures developed around these structures (Brooks, 2009).

For example, in structures that individualism is high, we will find a competitive culture, high diversity and individuals focusing on personal goals. Decision making here will be centralized and will not have sharing character. Bredin (2008) in his framework for effective people's management system in project based organizations, suggests a flexible adhocratic structure with a focus on developing people's capabilities. In such structure decentralization is usually high and there is a strong professional culture (Brooks, 2009).

References

Boyce M, (1996)"Organizational story and storytelling: a critical review", Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9 (5), pp. 5 - 26

Bredin, K. (2008) ‘People capability of project-based organisations: a conceptual framework’, International Journal of Project Management, 26 (5), July, pp.566-576.

Brooks, I. (ed.) (2009) Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson.

Greenman, J. (2008) "growing organizational culture:the power of stories" Exchange Press, May-June 2008.

Ramthun, A. J., & Matkin, G. S. (2012) ‘Multicultural shared leadership - a conceptual model of shared leadership in culturally diverse teams’, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 19 (3), pp.303–314.