I recently had a discussion with some of my friends about whether we as project managers should take into account corporate strategy while managing our projects.
Many may immediately reply “Yes, of course!”. In fact, more and more business literature nowadays emphasizes the alignment between project management and corporate strategy. Moreover, most project managers are enough enthusiastic to not limit themselves within a particular project, but instead look for opportunities to contribute more to their companies.
So, if you are among people who reply as above, I completely agree. However, in my opinion, the more important question is HOW should we consider corporate strategy. And, in this case, the answer is not unique. It really depends, on your corporate culture, on your authority level. And, last but not least, it depends on the corporate strategy itself.
In functional and big organizations in which hierarchy and strict report line is supported, project managers would focus strongly on the project charter and take corporate strategy mostly as reference. On the other hand, in projectized organizations where project managers possess great authority, influence and where communication with top management is flat, project managers should always think about corporate strategy during projects. The main reason is that in those organizations, corporate strategy may be made up by project managers themselves, or at least, they contribute many ideas and perspectives to the strategy formation process.
The existence of the corporate strategy and the its explicitness also have a role here. How can project managers take into account corporate strategy if there is not any? Or if it is formulated in vague manner? In this case it is just dangerous for project managers to think about corporate strategy. Project charter, instead, is an ultimate resource to consider.
