“Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.” Case Study

Case study, Pages 3 (593 words)

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The case study, “Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.” in the Custom Book, (2011), examines the project management structure of the Beijing EAPS Consulting (BEC) company. This case study also addresses about project plan itself and how the co-workers are struggling with this communication between both managers. This project plan has demonstrated many strengths and weakness. The one thing that the project plan needs put into action is safeguards to insure that the project is completed on time.BEC has taken on the matrix organizational structure.

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This type of structure combines functional anddivisional organization structure styles. There are advantages and disadvantages in utilizing this type of organizational structure. Advantages include resource utilization, specialization, cross functional areas, communication and flexibility. Resource utilization allows for the project departmental managers to focus on their strengths.

Company's Project Management Structure

Also, it allows for the managers to all the workers to specialize in an area of important for that project. In turn, it uses people across the company who specialize in a field thatrelates to the project at hand.

This matrix structure permits cross departmental communication andflexibility to work on different projects across the company structure.( Guzman, 2012)However, with advantages come disadvantage with this type of matrix organizational structure. Thisstructure increases complexity within the organization by leading to confusion among both workers andmanagers. The managers may not know what a certain employee has on their plate. In reverse, theemployee will obtain an overload of work because they are receiving work from two different types of managers. Another disadvantage is an increase in overhead cost for the company due to the need fordouble management.

This double management can lead to confusion between managers as to who hasthe higher priority of work creating a power struggle. (Johnson, 2012) The case study, “Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.” in the Custom Book, (2011), reveals many advantages anddisadvantages to this matrix organizational structure. For instance, the project manager, Ms. Song, andthe departmental manager, Mr. Yang, are having a problem deciding who makes the final decisions onwork to be completed because they are the same level in the management structure. Ms. Song feels like she does not have the authority to give direction to Mr. Yang’s employees. She is also wary about asking Mr. Yang to give his employees work from her because of his temperament. The loud and abrasiveattitude of Mr. Yang represents the rational personality type. A rational trait is more forceful and can get angry quickly. (Lewis, 2003)

Mr. Yang knows he has this type of personality; however, he does not do anything to curve this problem when he notices that Ms. Song is not communicating with him. Also, theemployees do not know which manager to listen to or how to prioritize their work at hand. This causesmore conflict between the employees, the project manager and departmental managers. In addition,these employees are not sure if the project manager or the department manager is their directsupervisor. This in turn causes conflict between both managers.There are some strengths and weaknesses that have been made clear about the project plan in the case study, “Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.” in the Custom Book, (2011). These weaknesses include an overload of individual and team projects. The employees need to work extra hours to keep up with tightdeadlines. They are also working across department lines meaning they have to meet the demands of more than one manager at a time. When urgent matters arise they are required to add the new work tomeet a new deadline on top of the current work load which now causes more stress on the employees.