What Is Organizational Project Management?

Organizational project management refers to the utilization of projects to execute the strategies of an organization. This involves the use of portfolio management to translate an organization's corporate strategy into feasible goal-oriented projects. Organizational project management seeks to offer a solution to the ever-changing nature of business, and bridges the gaps that can occur in the business and its projects as a result of a change resulting from both internal and external factors. In this sense, organizational project management aims at both strategic and economic success by applying all available resources to projects that are designed to achieve the goals of the organization, something that can make a difference in the organization's longevity.

For any business to succeed, it must identify its short-term and long-term goals and develop projects and strategies to help it realize these goals. Even though most businesses strive to follow this business model, not all are successful. This may be due to factors like unrealistic expectations, lack of cohesiveness in the implementation of projects, or a lack of capability by the organization to implement the strategies.

Project based management allows an organization to develop a strategy whereby it treats all of its individual goals as projects to be individually managed but also as units of a larger collective project. The larger project manages the individual projects with the sole aim of supporting the goals of the organization. The ability to effectively translate the vision and goals of an organization into organizational success is vital in a competitive market.

One of the benefits of implementing organizational project management in an organization is the fact that it enables cohesiveness in the way that organization carries out its projects. It achieves this by removing the random application of projects and developing a more organized and better-managed system where such projects are geared toward achieving specific goals. These goals must also align with the long-term and short-term visions of the organization.

Usually, a project management system has an overall project manager who is in charge of the larger goal, which all of the mini-projects are working to achieve. It is the manager's job to ensure that the overall goals of these projects are achieved by identifying the issues, risks, solutions and requirements necessary to achieve the goals. Other smaller projects that make up smaller units within the larger project can also have managers who will collaborate with the project manager to achieve the organization’s goals.