CASE

The case study, “Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.” in the Custom Book, (2011), examines the project management structure of the Beijing EAPS Consulting (BEC) company. This case study also addressesabout project plan itself and how the co-workers are struggling with this communication between bothmangers. This project plan has demonstrated many strengths and weakness. The one thing that theproject plan needs put into action is safeguards to insure that the project is completed on time.BEC has taken on the matrix organizational structure. This type of structure combines functional anddivisional organization structure styles. There are advantages and disadvantages in utilizing this type of organizational structure. Advantages include resource utilization, specialization, cross functional areas,communication and flexibility. Resource utilization allows for the project departmental managers tofocus on their strengths. Also, it allows for the managers to all the workers to specialize in an area of important for that project. In turn, it uses people across the company who specialize in a field thatrelates to the project at hand. This matrix structure permits cross departmental communication andflexibility to work on different projects across the company structure.( Guzman, 2012)However, with advantages come disadvantage with this type of matrix organizational structure. Thisstructure increases complexity within the organization by leading to confusion among both workers andmanagers. The managers may not know what a certain employee has on their plate. In reverse, theemployee will obtain an overload of work because they are receiving work from two different types of managers. Another disadvantage is an increase in overhead cost for the company due to the need fordouble management. This double management can lead to confusion between managers as to who hasthe higher priority of work creating a power struggle. (Johnson, 2012)
The case study, “Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.”