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Journal of Applied Sciences

Year: 2001 | Volume: 1 | Issue: 4 | Page No.: 452-457
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Research Article

Exploring Managerial Fit and Flexibility: Towards a Project Management Approach

Zalealem T. Temtime

ABSTRACT

A plethora of empirical studies have indicated that organizations in many developing countries are structured and managed as closed systems. They are mechanistic in nature, bureaucratic and rigid in their behavioral approach, tall and pyramidal or hierarchical in form and employ highly formalistic and redundant administrative procedures and methods. Today the pressure is increasing from different directions (e.g. global competition) and the many sources (e.g. technological advancement) on organizations in developing countries to abandon such mechanistic structures and bureaucratic behavioral approaches in favour of flexible and innovative managerial practices and organic forms. As large scale structural adjustment has become unaffordable for many developing countries, the required changes must be introduced in a cost effective and least disruptive way. This paper reviews the usefulness of project management approach in promoting organizational and managerial flexibility in traditional organizations in developing countries. Three aspects of project management viz. organizational structure, organizational behavior and planning and control tools that have immense potential to alleviate these problems are reviewed. The need of indigenous managerial approaches in developing countries and addressing some of the problem that hinder organizations from exploiting the potential benefits of the project management approach are discussed.
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