Circular organizational structure for project teams

Abstract

A project team, working on a short contract research assignment and with a large number of professionals, is led by a project manager, who is on a peer level with many coworkers but hierarchically below others. This combination of conditions results in the evolution of a circular organizational structure, which reflects a high degree of informal interaction and gives a central role to the project manager, as opposed to an apical position to the project director. This structure can be considered to be a hybrid of two small‐group organizational structures, incorporating both the ideas of leadership and interaction. The project manager's key managerial role is that of facilitator, especially regarding the flow of information and the optimization of team members' time inputs. In addition, since he is responsible for two of the final tasks in the project, he occupies a natural position of coordination and control.