Chapter 3

The Project
Manager

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Project Manager

 The project manager can be chosen and

installed as soon as the project is selected for
funding
– This simplifies several start up activities
 The project manager can be chosen later
– This makes things difficult
 Senior management briefs the project manager
 Project manager begins with a budget and
schedule
– As people are added these are refined

3-2
Functional Management Continued

 Department heads are usually functional

specialists
 They have the required technical skills to
evaluate all members of their organization
 Functional managers:
– Decide who performs each task
– Decide how the task is performed
– Exercise a great deal of control over every
aspect of the work that gets performed within
their area

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Project Management

3-4
Project Management Continued

 Project managers are usually generalists

 It would be very unusual for a project manager
to have all the technical skills that are used on
their projects
 Project managers:
– Rarely decide who performs each task
– Lack the technical skills to evaluate much of the
work performed on a particular project
– Exercise control very little over most aspects of the
work that gets performed on the project

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Comparing Functional & Project Managers

 Functional managers need technical skills; project

managers need negotiation skills
 Functional managers should be more skilled at
analysis; project managers should be more skilled at
synthesis
 Functional managers use the analytic approach;
project managers use systems approach
 Functional managers are responsible for a small
area; project managers are responsible for the big
picture
 Functional managers act as managers; project
managers act as facilitators
3-6
Comparing Functional & Project Managers
Continued

 Functional managers are responsible for a small

area; project managers are responsible for the big
picture
 Functional managers act as direct, technical
supervisors; project managers act as facilitators and
generalists

3-7
Three Major Questions facing Project
Managers

 What needs to be done?

 When must it be done?
 How are the resources required to do
the job to be obtained?

3-8
Project Manager Responsibilities

 The parent company

 The project and the client
 The project team

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The Parent Company

 Proper usage of resources

 Timely and accurate reports
– Covered in detail later
 Keep project sponsor informed

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The Project and the Client

 Preserve the integrity of the project

– This may be difficult with all sides wanting
changes
 Keep the client informed of major
changes

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The Project Team

 Very few people will work for the project

manager
 The “team” will disband at the end of the
project
 The project manager must look out for
everyone’s future
– This is in the best interest of the project,
otherwise as the project winds down,
everyone will be looking after themselves

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Project Management Career Paths

 Might work on several projects

simultaneously
 Small short-term projects train new
project managers
 Start on small projects and work up to
large projects
 Experience as a project manager is often
seen as a desirable step on the corporate
ladder
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Sample Career Path
 Trainee:
– a six-month position to learn about project management
 Cost Analysis/Schedule Engineer:
– a 6–18 month team position reporting to a project manager
 Site Manager:
– a 6–12 month position responsible for a large site and reporting
to a program manager
 Small Project Manager:
– sole responsibility for a $1M to $3M revenue project
 Project Manager:
– responsible for $3M to $25M projects
 Program Manager:
– responsible for multiyear projects and programs over $25M 3-14
Special Demands on Project Manager

 Acquiring adequate resources

 Acquiring and motivating personnel
 Dealing with obstacles
 Making project goal trade-offs
 Maintaining a balanced outlook
 Breadth of communication
 Negotiation

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Acquiring Adequate Resources

 Project budgets are usually inadequate

 Resource trade-offs must be considered
 Crises occur that require special
resources
 Availability of resources is seen as a “win-
lose” proposition

3-16
Acquiring and Motivating Personnel

 Most project workers are borrowed from

functional managers
 The project manager negotiates for the
desired worker but
– The project manager wants the best qualified
individual
– The functional manager decides who to
assign

3-17
Acquiring and Motivating Personnel
Continued

 The functional manager also decides:

– The skill level to assign
– The pay and promotion of the worker
 Worker will most likely return to the functional
manager once the project is finished
 Once workers are assigned to a project, the
project manager must motivate them
– The project manager has little or no control over pay
and promotion

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Most Important Characterizes for Team
Members

 High-quality technical skills

 Political, and general, sensitivity
 Strong problem orientation
 Strong goal orientation
 High self-esteem

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Tuckman Ladder

 Teams progress through four

development phases:
1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing

5. Adjourning has been suggested also

3-20
Dealing with Obstacles

 Every project is unique

 The project manager should be ready to
face a series of crises
 A big problem is “scope creep”
 Good project managers are fire
preventers hopefully, but also fire fighters

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Dealing with Obstacles Continued

 Early problems are associated with

resources
 Later problems are associated with:
– Last-minute schedule and technical
changes
– The happenings to a team when the project
is completed

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Making Project Goal Trade-Offs

 Project managers must make trade-offs

between the project goals of:
– Cost
– Time
– Scope
– Ancillary goals
 Multiple projects
 Project goals and organizational goals
 Project, firm, career 3-23
Relative Importance of Project
Objectives

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Maintaining a Balanced Outlook

 Hard to tell where a project is headed

 Outlook can change over the life of a
project
 Technical problems cause waves of
pessimism and optimism
 Mood swings can hurt performance
 Maintaining a positive outlook is a
delicate job
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Breadth of Communication

 Why projects exist

 Some projects fail
 Support of the top management is
needed
 A strong information network is needed
 Must be flexible

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Negotiations

 Acquiring adequate resources

 Motivating personnel
 Dealing with obstacles
 Making project goal trade-offs
 Handing failure
 Maintaining communication

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Attributes of Effective Project Managers

 Credibility
 Sensitivity
 Leadership, ethics, and management
style
 Ability to handle stress

 They must also have the drive to

complete the task!
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Credibility

 Technical credibility
 Administrative credibility

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Sensitivity

 Political sensitivity
 Interpersonal sensitivity
 Technically sensitivity

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Leadership, Ethics, and Management Style

 Leadership
– “a process of social influence, which
maximizes the efforts of others, towards the
achievement of a goal”
 Strong sense of ethics
 A management style that fits the project

3-31
Leadership Research

 Conducted by PMI
 Six skills identified for a project manager
to become a leader:
– 29% - communication
– 26% - people
– 16% - strategic
– 12% - requirements gathering
– 12% - leadership
– 5% - time management
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Leadership Competencies

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Ability to Handle Stress

 Signs of excessive stress in workplace

– inability to switch-off work issues
– disturbed sleep
– lack of pleasure in non-work related leisure
activities
– difficulty concentrating or making decisions
– tendency to anger quickly
– lack of energy

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Ability to Handle Stress

 No consistent procedures
 Too much to do
 High need to achieve
 Organizations in change

3-35
Problems of Cultural Differences

 Project managers must adapt to the

social and cultural environment in which
they are working
 This is especially true when the project is
in another country
 Problems can arise in international
projects, when a culture’s opinion of some
group is different from that of the firm

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Aspects of Culture

 Technology
 Institutions
 Language
 Art

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Culture and the Project

 Time
 Staffing projects
 Knowledge of people

3-38
Corporate Culture

 Microcultures
 Vary within industries and firms
 Impacted by diversity
– Interindustry
– Interfirm
– Intrafirm

3-39