Study of R&D project complexity´s influencing mechanism on organization structure

Reasonable organization structure is very important to project success. This paper analyses literatures and facts on project complexity relevant to organization structure with emphasis towards the R&D project in high and new tech enterprises and defines project complexity in five dimensions: technological, environmental, relational, structural and contents. Then, it studies the influencing mechanism that each dimension has on organization structure from five aspects: centralization, standardization, specialization, administrative level and span of control. It finds out that with higher project complexity, the organization structure is prone to be less centralization and more specialization, the impact on standardization, administrative level and span of control is various and depends on the specific situation. This result reveals the tendency of project organization and how it evolves under project complexity.