Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti

Results
organizations offered further to their customers. The program was
supposed to involve practically all of Center’s ten units and seven
subsidiaries and it aimed to impact many stakeholders, including but not
limited to the member organizations, legislation, regional and national
government, local subcontractors, and other partners. The program also
aimed to contribute to Center’s internal development by providing
mechanisms for coordinating cross-functional activities, as the initial goals
of the change program also included the adoption of the program
management approach and the development of program management
practices in Center.
After the launch decision had been made by the management group, the
search for a competent program manager begun. From early on, there were
different views about the position and it seemed hard to find a suitable
person. When the unit manager of R&D refused the position due to the lack
of time to devote to the program, some top managers suggested that the
program manager could be found outside Center, among the top managers
of Center’s member organizations. Still, after a lengthy search, a senior
expert from Center’s R&D unit was appointed as the program manager,
although he was not very willing to accept the position. The actual program
work was to be implemented largely in the line organization and by various
service development projects, and the program manager’s role was
supposed to be rather coordinative, lacking significant authority. Reflecting
this, the program manager was not admitted the title for a program
manager commonly in use in other Finnish organizations [Ohjelmajohtaja
in Finnish] but was instead appointed as “the manager of the program”
[Ohjelman johtaja in Finnish] that would not indicate a high-ranking
managerial position in the line organization.
One of Center’s vice presidents was appointed as the program owner to
oversee the program. A coordination group consisting mainly of Center’s
unit managers was established to oversee the development of the program,
and a part-time program coordinator was also appointed. During the
program initiation, three focus areas, or sub-programs, were chosen and
more detailed goals, plans, resources and expected outputs for each of these
sub-programs were being planned separately. For each sub-program, a
manager was nominated to guide the planning. The core program team
included the program manager, the managers of the sub-programs, the
program coordinator, and the manager of the R&D unit. Everyone worked
in the program in addition to their normal duties in Center’s functional
units. Figure 8 illustrates the initial structure of Center’s program.
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