Project Work Becomes the Standard Way of Working

Projects are not only critical to the survival of companies but also the new key to value creation (Nieto-Rodriguez 2021a, pp. 4–5).  This means that they are not only relevant to business change (exploration) but increasingly represent the normal way of working in the core business (exploitation).  As early as 2016, 79 percent of managers in a large-scale survey said that in the future, the workforce will be structured more around projects, i.e., tasks that are aligned with common goals and performed in teams, than around line functions (Shook & Knickrehm 2017).  Management thought leader Roger Martin (2019) also believes that projects now account for at least 80 percent of employee activity.  In a survey conducted in the summer of 2020, ca. 39 percent of respondents reported that more than half of their company’s revenue came from projects (see Exhibit).

As a result, the importance of project-based organizations (PBOs) has increased significantly (Samimi & Sydow 2021; Nieto-Rodriguez 2022).  In such an organization—as opposed to matrix, functional and other forms of organization—projects are the primary structuring principle of activities (Hobday 2000; Davies & Hobday 2009).  For example, employees at game, software, and hardware developer Valve (2012) work exclusively on their own projects in flat hierarchies.  Tetra Pak, a global provider of processing and packaging solutions for the food industry, has also opted for a project-oriented organizational structure (Söderlund 2015).  The term “projectification” of organizations and society has already been coined to describe this phenomenon (e.g., Nieto-Rodriguez 2021a; Wilkinson n.d.).  Gone are the days when specialists in production, finance, marketing, sales, etc. spent their entire careers in their respective functional areas, because a deep understanding of a particular area led to greater credibility, faster advancement, and correspondingly higher incomes; instead, generalists who move between areas and whose careers develop through a sequence of different projects are on the rise (Nieto-Rodriguez 2021a, p. 23).  This means that more and more project experts are also in demand in the core operational business of companies.

Exhibit

References

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Hobday M (2000) The project-based organization: An ideal form for managing complex products and systems? Research Policy 29(7):871–893.

Martin R (2019) Interview by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez. Transcription, July 09. Accessed October 24, 2022, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/least-80-activities-white-collar-workers-projects-1-nieto-rodriguez/.

Nieto-Rodriguez A (2021a) Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook: How to  Launch, Lead, and Sponsor Successful Projects (Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, MA).

Nieto-Rodriguez A (2021b) State of project management: First global study on the executives views on project management. Presentation. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, Madrid, Spain. Accessed January 09, 2025, https://antonionietorodriguez.com/harvard-business-review-in-spanish/.

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Söderlund J (2015) Project-based organizations: What are they? Chiocchio F, Kelloway EK, Hobbs B, eds. The Psychology and Management of Project Teams (Oxford University Press, New York, NY), 74–100.

Valve (2012) Handbook for new employees: A fearless adventure in knowing what to do when no one’s there telling you what to do (Valve Press, Bellevue, WA). Accessed October 19, 2022, https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployeeHandbook.pdf.

Wilkinson D (n.d.) Projectification – how organisations are dealing with order and chaos. Blog, The OR Briefings, Oxcognita, Charlestown, Nevis. Accessed October 24, 2022, https://oxford-review.com/blog-projectification/#ref.