… an example of organizational support at Bayer Pharmaceutical: (continued)
This division of Bayer has incorporated one of the most extensive array of project support groups of any company organized in a matrix environment, and it works beautifully for them. They have many multidisciplinary projects running concurrently. Most of the project managers have extensive experience and handle multiple projects. Consequently, they have a Vice President of Project Management who coordinates all project manager’s activities and who runs the Project Management Office (PMO). This position provides consistency of policy and procedures for the project managers. The Project Committee is chaired by the VP of PM, and is staffed by 4-6 of his peers from the other functional departments. It is a very friendly group that quickly solves project problems and resolves conflicts while they are small. The Business Management Committee is chaired by the CFO. This group reviews financial and other key performance indicators to determine if the projects should maintain their strategic position in the portfolio pipeline flow through stage gates, or if priorities should be changed. The Business Committee is a very high level group chaired by the CEO that reviews projects on a less frequent basis. It provides exposure for the most strategically important projects and their project teams.

The Bayer structure incorporates one of the most extensive set of review groups. Now let’s review a large company that incorporates minimum review groups.