The Role of a Project Manager

The Role of a Project Manager

Joshua Spivey

ABSTRACT

The responsibilities of a project manager have evolved from managing people or a team by focusing strictly on completing tasks within a time frame to efficiently planning, budgeting, scheduling and supervising a project from beginning to end and to make sure the project is completed within the allocated costs and time frame given with the specified quality as a result. The success of the project and the project manager depends on how the project manager utilizes their own personality traits, as well as leadership skills. The project manager must understand the the dynamics of their team and relate the goals of the organization to the team. In this paper, the evolution of the the project management role as well as skills and traits needed to be a successful project manager.

INTRODUCTION

A project manager is the person who carries the responsibility of overseeing all the aspects of a project. From the start of a project, the project manager is responsible for designing a plan of action for the project as well as executing the plan and monitoring the team to make sure that goals are completed. During the course of the project, a project manager will encounter many challenges, and one of the most significant challenges a project manager will encounter is making sure that all aspects of the project from various teams can be brought together to create a quality finished product on time.

To do this, the project manager must possess a set of skills that can motivate their team, build strategies to guarantee that objectives are obtainable, resolve issues and mitigate risk to ensure quality. A project manager can express these skills by keeping open communication with their team and being able to resolve conflicts. Every decision that a project manager makes directly effects the project, so they should be able to use these skills to control risk and minimize uncertainty. The project manager of any project must focus on the outcome they need to produce and carefully craft the process and select the tools that will produce those outcomes.

ROLES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER

Sharma describes a project manager as one who wears many hats. To successfully deliver a quality product, a project manager performs various roles that require hard and soft skills to make sure objectives are complete. Sharma uses an example in the execution phase of a project that the project manager needs to convey the roles of being a leader, planner, team manager, motivator and “watch dog” (or supervisor).

A project manager can use several types of leadership to steer the project towards its goal, depending on the situation the project manager is facing. Because the team will look to the project manager for leadership and guidance, a project manager must provide the necessary leadership. To describe two potential leadership styles a project manager uses, Sharma gives an example using two different team member compositions, stating that leading a team consisting of members who are “fresh out of college” would require a leadership style different from one where the team is composed of veterans. The team consisting of the “fresh out of college” members would require a more hands on leadership style, whereas the project manager would not need to guide the veterans as much. This is of course variant based on the project, because a team of veterans undertaking a new concept could need just as much leadership and guidance as a team of members “fresh out of college.”

Sharma states that the hard skills of a project manager include costing, planning, scheduling, scoping and managing risk. These skills are used during specific stages over the course of the project, but can also be used on multiple occasions. For example, a project manager will create a budget for the project based on the allocations given, but must constantly keep an eye on the progress of the project to ensure that the cost of the project balances with the time and scope. If the scope and time of the project does not equal the cost, then the project manager must discuss alternative options with organization leaders to ensure that project can reach its goals.

Using the leadership style that best suits the project manager’s team, a project manager may take on some of the same tasks that a trainer, coach or mentor would perform. Since the team members perform the scope of the work on a project, the project manager takes on these task to unsure that the team has the necessary skills to deliver a finished quality product. The team must look up to the project manager and for this reason must utilize the best leadership style for the team. Once a project manager decides what best style to use and the team looks up to them, the project manager must be ready to resolve conflicts. Conflicts among team members are inevitable and thus the project manager must be ready resolve these conflicts using appropriate techniques.

From scheduling, recruiting and conflict resolution this is why one of the most important roles a project manager takes in is being the supervisor (or “watch dog” as Sharma describes it). As the project is underway the project manager keeps an on the plans of the project. Constantly, the project manager must make sure the budget is balancing and the team is completing the assigned tasks. If there is any aspect of the project that is not going as scheduled, the project manager must understand why there is a problem and must inform the organization leaders of the problem and how the issue is going or has been resolved. Being a supervisor is a critical role for the project manager to make sure the project is completed on time with the budget that is given.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE ROLES FOR THE PROJECT MANAGER

A project manager used to be known as the entity that coordinated the execution of tasks. Usually these tasks were easy to understand and were made available in a checklist format given to the project manager at the beginning of a project. Konstantopoulos refers to this type of project manager as the “checklist” project manager. The project would be given an agenda consisting of the tasks needed to be completed within a given time frame and must coordinate their team to get the tasks completed. In most cases the project manager didn’t have any stake in the project to be completed. The project manager did not conduct any project due diligence, provide any input towards project approval or confirm any of the strategic value of the task on the checklist. The purpose of the role was simply to deliver completed tasks and a quality finished product within the time frame given.