ABSTRACT
A good project manager understands the technical aspects of the work, but a successful project manager understands the need to master the nontechnical parts of the job too. This chapter discusses different organizational structures, the importance of seeing organizations as systems, the role and power of the project manager within the system, and the role of human resources (HR) as a partner. Technical organizations strategically structure their internal resources in a variety of ways to achieve the highest level of performance. Their structure defines how functions and tasks will be assigned through the organization. Organizational structures are complex and serve as a simple visual representation of the different boxes in the organization and how they link to each other. The functional hierarchal structure is most common for project or program management in the Aerospace community. The role of HR in a project or program setting is slightly different from its role in a traditional organization.
