Abstract

The problem addressed herein is that of managing interdisciplinary groups of professionals. Recognition of the entrepreneurial instincts of these persons and the tendency in large organizations towards inflexible bureaucracy suggests that a form of organization is necessary which allows the professional freedom to control his own work. The established tendency seems to be to over manage the professional. The challenge to today's manager of professionals is to create within a large organization the type of environment offered by a small company. The positive aspects of the latter are close cooperation among all participants, ease of identification with the production activity, absence of make-work tasks, minimum managerial restriction, little need to sell and resell tasks and projects to upper levels of management. The problem is one of conflict between the functional, vertical structure of the typical manufacturing organization and the interdisciplinary, horizontal structure of product development work. The solution asserted is that a realistic project-oriented form of organization must be fostered.