Jan. 2011, Volume 5, No.1 (Serial No. 38), pp. 22-38 Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, ISSN 1934-7359, USA Rethinking Project Organization and Management Dimitris N. Antoniadis 1 , Francis T. Edum-Fotwe 2 and Anthony Thorpe 2 1. Carillion Plc, London, UK 2. Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Abstract: How projects should be organized and managed are two important aspects of the role that Project Managers perform and the processes involved can be linked to the measurement of the project management outcome. Recent studies indicate that these processes are not implemented and concerns have been raised. The authors present an investigation into the current practices of the three soft project management subject matters of selecting project team members, structuring the teams and the management style followed in the construction industry in UK and their reflection upon the project management outcome. The results confirm the concerns raised and indicate that the current levels of implementation by practitioners delivers only acceptable as opposed to successful level of project management outcome. The findings call for a reconsideration of the approach taken when deciding how to organize and manage project teams and a redress towards improving project management outcome. Key words: Construction project organization, management style, project management outcome. 1. Introduction In the transient and dynamic environment of construction projects two basic processes that need to be considered from the very early stages and for the duration of the project are how projects are organizedselecting team members and structuring the teams, as well as how the teams are managed [1]. Various techniques have been developed for selecting project team members and the benefits of the process have been described extensively [2-7]. Similarly structuring of project teams has been one of the first project management processes to be researched [1, 8, 9] and the management style adopted, as part of management of teams, has also lately become an important topic within project management [1, 10-12]. The importance of these processes and the requirement for the implementation of a behavioral approach was recognized in the early 80s by Applebaum [13] and the criticality and level of implementation is also highlighted by been part of the Corresponding author: Dimitris N. Antoniadis, PhD, research fields: complexity, project organization and management, risk management, project control. E-mail: dnanton00@googlemail.com. measurement of the success of the project management outcome [14]. However, in terms of implementation a number of studies [5, 9, 15-17] indicate that a subjective approach is taken. When project management is defined as: The management of transient, dynamic and complex adaptive systems/agents, so as to deliver the expected change within certain parameters that are established by seemingly ordered and stable environments [18]; it is important to identify from the very early stages what steps are required in terms of organizing and managing the project teams in order to deliver a successful project management outcome [14]. The authors explore the findings from an investigation on the current practices of selecting project team members, structuring the project team, the management style followed and their effect on the project management outcome. The sample studied included both client and contractor construction project management practitioners and from different organizational levels-site managers to project directors. The results confirm earlier findings that current implementation techniques are neither considered nor implemented. Also practitioners indicate that the level of achievement in terms of the project management