ABSTRACT
The success of a project is greatly influenced by the organizational environment surrounding it. Some organizational factors enhance a project's chance of success, while other threaten it. The six major organizational factors are structure staffing, client relations, attitude toward risk, communications, and expectations. Project managers can enhance their overall chance of success by understanding how organizations affect projects and by characterizing their own organizations. General managers can enhance the total success of all projects by recognizing the different ways that organization affects projects and project managers. They need to give adequate attention to each new project as it starts up and to monitor interactions among projects, so that small problems are addressed before they become big problems. Projects operate in environments that can seriously affect performance, cost, and schedule. Indeed, how the project manager works within the project environment can make the difference between success and failure.
