Table 1 description.
The table has two columns. The headings are ‘Strengths’ and ‘Weaknesses’.
Under these headings there are three rows.
The first row is a ‘Functional team’. The strengths of a functional team are: handles routine work well; line management has control of projects; pools technical and professional expertise. The weaknesses of a functional team are: communication and coordination across functional areas in an organisation is more difficult; can be inflexible; tends to push decision making upwards.
The second row is a ‘Matrix team’. The strengths of a matrix team are: acceptable to traditional managers; top management retains control of projects but are relieved of day-to-day decisions; flexibility in the personnel assigned. The weaknesses are: project staff have dual reporting lines, which can cause conflicts of priorities; staff appraisal and performance measurement is difficult; the team leader may not be able to influence who is assigned to the project.
Finally, the third row describes a ‘Contract team’. The strengths of a contract team are: easy to employ technical and professional expertise; reduces training requirements for the client; the team can use its own management structure; can be used to bring a number of organisations together. The weaknesses of a contract team are: difficult for the client to assess the quality of the work and progress of the project; there may be problems on acceptance as the client is the judge of project success; difficult to identify and resolve political or organisational issues; communication between geographically remote team members is difficult.