3 Internal Barriers to Organizational Success

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Organizational Project Management   Strategy  

Running a business has never been easy. Whether it’s a sole proprietor or a huge international conglomerate, across all regions and industries, success is hard. In today’s world, it’s getting even tougher with global competition, ever-evolving technologies, and constantly shifting customer expectations. And that doesn’t even consider the economic, geopolitical, and social challenges that add to the complexity businesses face.

However, I also find that many organizations add to their own challenges by the way they operate. The inherent complexities already identified mean that not every decision made will be the right one, but I’m not just talking about that. I’m considering ongoing, recurring issues that organizations have been unable to solve for years, sometimes decades, despite repeated attempts.

There are some obvious examples, like strategic planning approaches that result in projects being approved based on the influence of individuals and the ability to sell a proposal rather than objective analysis. But there is already a lot of content on that type of issue. So here, I want to look at those areas that don’t get quite so much attention, but that continue to limit organizational success.

1. Silos won’t die
Let’s start with the oft-maligned organizational silos. This is an issue that organizations are well …

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