The Analysis
This experience is a clear-cut case of the informal structure of an organization being key to its success, and also illustrates the extreme importance of networking within one's own organization in order to achieve managerial success. The only reason this project did not fail was that I ultimately decided to talk to everyone in the development department I could find that was somehow related to the project I was leading; I stumbled on the urban planner as much out of happenstance and desperation as anything else. Had I taken the time to get to know the members of my team early on, actively working to expand my network, months of frantic under-performance could have been avoided.
Part of the problem in this case is also the inadequacy of the company's formal structures, however. While informal structures are doubtless vital to the successful operation of any organization, this does not preclude the use and actual practical existence of formal structures, but these were truly lacking in the development department in this case. The two managers and the director were virtually indistinguishable in their tasks and responsibilities, and meanwhile the urban planner was quietly coordinating everything that came across his desk, yet took no part in attempting to direct the project. The planner was quite successful in performing his role informally, but this resource went untapped for far too long due to his obscurity.
Recommendations
The organization as well as future project leaders would receive a great deal of benefit from making the urban planner's position in the company more formally known and established. A formalization of the leadership of the development department as a whole is required to make the department more efficient and responsive; distinguishing the managers' roles and ensuring that the director is able to coordinate and oversee the multiple projects the department is...
Making the urban planner more officially a coordinator of project elements would also assist in this regard. It is not only in the company's formal structures that changes should be made, however; the under-utilization of the company's informal structures was also a major problem in this case.
Networking and the building of social capital is a major key to managerial success, and this was an area in which I failed to achieve and progress in the desired manner. Rather than actively engaging in networking, I took lunch with the same people every day -- most of them were approximately my same age and they were all relatively new in the company, as well. More extensive networking efforts on my part, including semi-formal visits to individual members of the project I was leading, would have created more effective communications between myself and all departments on the project, and would also have brought my awareness to the personal units of functionality that existed within the company. These personal and individual changes are also much more easily accomplished than changes to an organization's formal structure, and they are ultimately far more useful as an extensive network and large amount of social capital is essential for a variety of reasons regardless of the formal structures and personal titles under which informal structures exist.
Conclusion
It was through a failure of the company's formal structures as well as my own connection and awareness of the company's informal structures that the problem in this case was allowed to grow. Ultimately, the company functions quite well with its informal structures, so it was mostly up to me to network and find the solution. A more active engagement in building my social capital at the firm would have led me to this solution much sooner.
