Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

FS 2 - Developing an organisational structure
Vol 2 - Table of Contents
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T1
The project's organisational structure
Just like a company in the business word, a transport project
needs an organisational structure, indicating the management
hierarchy and the roles and responsibilities. This, however is a
temporary structure, simply created to bring the project to a
successful conclusion. A transport project is also linked to
some functional organisation, which is a permanent body, such
as a city administration or a ministry of transport.
A well-defined organisational structure is essential for efficient
and effective project implementation. A weak or inappropriate
structure can lead to a high risk of delays and failures, due to
understaffing, uncertainty as to whom is responsible for what,
or a lack of timely decision-making.
The project organisational structure should be displayed in an
organigram.
Chose the right type of organisation
There are three common types of organisational structure: (1)
Separate organisation: the project is managed by a fully
independent unit, with its own leadership and staff. The staff
may be seconded from the functional organisation (e.g. city
department). (2) Hybrid organisation: only the project leadership
is an independent unit, while the work is carried out by staff from
the functional organisation (providing part-time or occasional
input to the project). (3) Internal organisation: both the project
leadership and staff remain within the functional organisation.
Consider carefully which type best meets the needs of your
project. A large project is likely to work best with a separate
organisation, while a small local scheme could be managed by
an internal organisation. The hybrid organisation is frequently
adopted for transport projects, where the leadership is
outsourced to a consultant, and the work is carried out, as far as
possible, by the staff of the city administration.
Designing the structure
The project organisational structure is very critical, and should
be customised to the specific needs of the project. The design is
normally determined by the project manager, or specialist
consultant, with feed-back from those included in the team. The
main criteria are:
An appropriate type of organisational structure;
Well defined roles, responsibilities and procedures;
Short communication and decision trees, from top to bottom,
and
A high degree of flexibility, to handle unexpected problems.
The work begins with the selection of an organisational type,
followed by some preparatory steps and the development of an
organigram. Two examples of the latter are provided in this fact
sheet, one for a medium-sized project and the other for a very
large project - though these are unlikely to be directly
transferable.
Organigram for a medium size project
This example is derived from a project in Villach, Austria (60,000
inhabitants), which involves the combination of a strategic and
infrastructure project. It started as a road construction scheme,
but due to public resistance the scope was later broadened to a
multi-modal transport strategy for the whole city. The
organisational structure operates as follows:
The project manager is an assigned external expert, who
takes the centre stage;
The heads of the relevant city departments, the external
experts, and the key decision-makers are directly linked to
the project manager. A great deal of information must be
exchanged among them, so that direct and close
communication is necessary;
The project manager, together with the city officers and the
external experts, constitute the ‘core planning group’ with
regular meetings every other week. The key decisionmakers
become involved just occasionally;
The project manager handles the
‘outward communication’ to the
media and to the general public.
Other stakeholders will, of course,
publicise their own views, but the
project manager should exclusively
act in the role of official speaker; and
The representatives of interest
groups participate through a ‘project
group’. Their task is to give feed
back, to express their point of view,
and to bring in new ideas. There are
regular meetings with the project
manager every second month, and
additional meetings on occasion, as
required.
External experts
Officers of city
departments
Other politicians
of the city council
Key decision-makers
with executive power
Project manager
Project group
(max. 25 persons)
Citizens'
representatives
Media
General public
Representatives of
lobby groups
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