Luca Costa

Influence of Corporate Culture on the Creation of Project Management Structures

Project management requests are growing with the market's demand for efficiency and the existing high level of competition among players in all ndustries and segments of the market.
The maturity of companies concerning project management is a key factor in the success of their business initiatives. The existing corporate culture influences the choices of people, structures, and the subsequent tailoring of processes.
According to Professor Edgar Schein’s schema, beliefs are cultural artifacts whose understanding allows the synthesis of proper strategies for the success of initiatives. The environment's beliefs strongly influence the creation and the subsequent effectiveness of the project manager's role and the project's organization.
In the article are proposed two case studies showing an organizational
transformation focused on the creation of a project management structure.
Any choice is a consequence of contingent conditions, external factors, and the effect of culture. To characterize the impact of culture, we focus on beliefs, whose identification and classification, with the support of influence maps and a cultural depth schema, allow understanding of decisional behaviors and the justifications of choices, and the establishment of implementation strategies.
The cases and the solution schema are not exhaustive and are proposed as templates that the readers tailor and use in their environments.