How can management create the right conditions for an organizations projects

Organization
The management has to organize the project activities in an appropriate way. The projects can either belong to different organizational unities, or be assembled in one single project office. The organizational connection can be of a project, line or matrix organization.

Infrastructure
The management must create an infrastructure to support project activities. Some of the components of such an infrastructure are project models, project management manual, check lists, forms and IT support (for example the project management software my3plive).

Project selection
The management must establish the organization’s aims: the operational objectives. Furthermore, the management must elaborate a strategy or a plan for how to achieve these aims: the scheme of objectives. The scheme of objectives is thereafter to be communicated to all co-workers within the organization, to ensure that the only projects started are the ones that help realize the organization’s strategy.

Co-workers with the appropriate qualifications
One of the management’s tasks is to ensure that people with the appropriate qualifications are available to the projects. This is true to all functions in a project, but is especially important regarding the project manager.
A stable career path for project managers is one mean to attract, develop and keep skilled project managers. If the organization has such a career path the staff members don’t have to become division managers or change organization to be promoted. It is recommended for a career path to be divided into 3-4 stages, where every stage demands a certain experience and knowledge and possibly some participation in the development of project activities and/or some kind of test.
By linking the organization’s project manager career path to an acknowledged certification of project managers it is possible to compare the level of competence to project managers in other organizations. When projects are managed by certified project managers, this can be used as a marketing and selling point.

Working environment
The co-worker’s achievements are decisive for whether a project will succeed or not. Therefore it is one of management’s most important tasks to ensure a positive working environment; encouraging entrepreneurship and co-operation between different organizational entities, paying attention to contributing achievements, allowing mistakes, making decisions based on facts, and leading a clear communication.
The management’s attitudes and values permeate the whole organization, and will automatically be the role model that spreads downwards.

Management with the right competence
The management also has to have the right competence within the area of projecting. They need to have at least a summarised knowledge of the course and decision making of a project, and also some understanding of how project tasks are distributed among clients and project managers, of how to work in a steering group and how to act as the head of a project manager.