Architectural Firm - Organization

Organization

Small firms with less than 5 people usually have no formal organizational structure, depending on the personal relationships of the principals and employees to organize the work. Medium-sized firms with 5 to 50 employees are often organized departmentally in departments such as design, production, business development, and construction administration. Large firms of over 50 people may be organized departmentally, regionally, or in studios specializing in project types. Other permutations also exist.

Advances in information technology have made it possible for some firms to open offices or establish alliances with other firms in different parts of the world. This makes it possible for some portions of the work to be performed in the US or UK and other portions in locations such as India or Mexico, for example. In addition to utilizing lower-cost, high skill professionals in Asian countries, it also enables some firms to work, in effect, two or three shifts due to time differences.

It is important to note that increasingly developers in India and China are hiring US and European firms to work on local developments. This is often coordinated or sub-contracted by architecture firms in these countries - in effect outsourcing work to the US and European firms. The recent market situation has led to an acceleration in this trend and a growing number of architecture firms in India and China are now outsourcing work to architects in the west.

The long-term and widespread effects of these practices on architectural firms (in all parts of the world) remain to be seen.