Working with Organizational Politics and Influences

In nearly all cases, the project exists within a larger organization. Some group or organization creates each project, and the project team must operate within the larger organization’s environment. Several factors impact the extent to which the project is affected.

First, the extent to which the initiating organization derives revenue from projects affects how projects are regarded. In an organization where the primary stream of revenue comes from various projects, the project manager generally enjoys more authority and access to resources. On the other hand, organizations that create projects only due to outside demands will likely make it more difficult for the project manager to acquire resources. If a particular resource is needed to perform both operational and project work, many functional managers will resist requests to assign that resource to a project.