Project Organizational Structure Roles and Responsibility: A case study of Marriott Five-Star Hotel

Organizations are often complex with internal and external relationship intertwine with each other and difficult to apprehend. In the construction industry, the situation may worsen as a real estate development project may employ hundreds or thousands of people. It is crucial to understand the key concepts of organizational management and appreciate how to organize, lead and motivate people to make projects successful. Good organization management structure will safeguard the firm’s long-term survival. These reasons lead to Mr. Tran Duc Quang to study in depth the subject of organization management. His research main objective was to study the application of Project Organizational Structure Roles and Responsibility in a construction project from Appraisal, Feasibility Decision to completing -handing over phase.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the report has attempted to explore and study in depth the key concepts of organizational management and appreciate the various organizational structures that are relevant to the real estate and construction industry.

Given the very complicated nature of construction whereby each constructions project is unique and may involve many stakeholders, the real estate developer needs to consider both vertical and horizontal ways of structuring its organization and project. That is why matrix structure is proven very useful. Furthermore, in different stages of the project life cycle, the tasks required are different and hence need for different structure during different phases of the project. Knowing when to employ which structure is important, as organization structure is a tool for managers to carry out the strategies set forth.

Having the appropriate organizational structure is essential for the real estate developer, as having an appropriate framework and good organization management structure, the organization will enjoy many benefits such as appropriate use of resources and prevention of many possible risks. The tool will also help to close up the gap in project governance, as good structure will allow constant interaction in between different levels. A well-run project will generate both financial benefits and high satisfaction to the stakeholders involved. It will help the firm stand strong in terms of crises and thus safeguard firm’s long-term survival.

Recommendations

The rational of organizational management is to facilitate the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements in terms of Scope, Cost, Time, Quality, Participant satisfaction. In organizational management, the important steps include:
1. Choosing the right people
2. Setting up the right organization
3. Using the right system

The concept of how to choose the right people for the task and how to set up the right organization was also discussed in this study. There are many organizational structures and each one of them has its own application, advantages and drawbacks. Selecting the appropriate structure for an organization will therefore be dependent on the task, the size of the firm, the subordinates, the managers and the environment. Managers, in choosing the right organizing structure, need to study its vision, mission and its strategic intent and then strive to pick strategies and structures that are congruent. In choosing the right people for the team, managers need to define what kinds of skills are required, what kinds of individuals required in what time frames and then select the right people.

The Case Study of Marriott Hotel based revealed that implementing the best organization management system involves a few stages, starting from finding out the right strategies, to matching the project life cycle stages to the correct type of structure. The case study of Marriott Hotel is a very good example that other real estate developers can study and replicate.

Organizational management aspect of project management includes Human Resource Planning, Acquire Project Team, Develop Project Team and Manage Project Team. Therefore, choosing the right people and organization structure alone is not enough. Managers need to be aware of many other factors that can be crucial success factors in running the organization such as managing culture issues and facilitating good communication channel. Organizational management also includes active management of the employees in the organization. Making sure that employees are well motivated is crucial for organizational management. Below are some examples of how to manage the employees that other firm can adopt:

Providing Constant feedback to employees
1. Progress Reports: Reports providing feedback to the project team about performance against the project plan.

2. External Feedback: The project team must periodically measure itself against the performance expectations of those outside the project.

3. Project Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal objectives include re-clarification of roles and responsibilities, development of team member’s training plans and establishment of specific goals for future periods.

4. Performance Reviews: Meetings will help to access project status or progress.

Provide various trainings to employees

Other things that a project management team can do are to send employees for courses to increase his skills. The courses that a company can consider are:
1. Conflict Management: Successful conflict management results in greater productivity and positive working relationships.

2. Cultural Management: With cultural management skills, employees will be more confident in dealing with people from various backgrounds, especially for the large-scale joint venture project.

3. Trend Analysis: Forecasting project results over time to determine if performance is improving or deteriorating.

Finally, managing an organization is an ongoing process, and managers need to be actively engaged in running their own company. Once the situation changes, managers need to be nimble in adapting to the changing environment by changing the organization structure.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted below.

Abstract

This report focuses on various aspects of the main theme - Organization Management, which is a crucial factor for the success for real estate project.

Year 2007 was a booming year for real estate in Vietnam. Many housing development projects were successful built. However, as the financial turmoil started since 2008, the real estate industry globally has encountered one of the worst hit in the recent history. Competition for developing new housing projects with high quality yet low cost in order to win customer base is intense. In order to survive in this tough environment and emerge as winner, there is an urge for real estate developers to re-look in to building up their organizational structure in order to carry out smoothly the projects in accordance with customer’s expectation and international standards. In general, the success or failure of the real estate development project is dependent upon the quality of the employees, the clarity of the operation, the availability of the resources and most importantly, the appropriateness of the structure and the management system adopted.

This study, which refers to different theories and standards, has studied in depth the concept of organization management. The project indentifies the key concepts of various types of organization and its relation with the construction phases. It spells out the core governance tasks in the area of strategy, structure and organizational culture and suggests the best strategy that a real estate developer should adopt in order to cope with the increasing pressure of the internal and external environment. It further elaborates how to exercise authority and allocate power within an organization.

Finally, the real life case study of building the Five Star Marriott Hotel in Nha Trang City, a complex project that involves various team and parties, will demonstrate the key concepts and application of these concepts.