Project Management

Chapter 2
Manager, Organization, and the Team
 Factors Increasing The Importance
Of Projects
Emphasis on time-to-market
Need for specialized knowledge from a variety of
areas
Explosive rate of technological change
Accountability and control

12/25/2008 2-2
 Appointing the Project Manager

Who should be appointed as the PM?

 A technical expert?
 Whoever is available at the moment?
 Someone with good organizational skills?
A senior manager meets with PM, describes
 the project
 its importance to the parent organization
 its importance to the future career of the PM.
PM selection is announced.
Launch meeting to initiate the project team.
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 Who is the PM responsible to?

PM is responsible to Project Stakeholders

 Customer/Client
 Project sponsors
 Top management (especially project champion)
 Project team
 Subcontractors and vendors
 Functional managers
 Other project managers in the company
 Government agencies and other organizations
 Related communities

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 Functional vs. Project Managers
Functional Manager
 Expert in functional area
 Full authority over
employees
 Competes for resources
with other functional dept.
 Knows subordinates very
well
 Functional environment is
fairly stable & people are
comfortable in their jobs
12/25/2008
Project Manager
 May not be expert in any
area
 May have limited
authority over employees
 Competes for resources
with other projects
 May not have known
subordinates very long
 Project environment is
temporary & people
expect changes
2-5
 Roles of a PM
 Manager: planning, organizing, staffing, budgeting,
directing, and controlling.
 Facilitator : facilitator vs. supervisor.
 System Thinker: 2>1+1.
 Communicator: with senior management, client,
project team, vendors, functional managers.
 Negotiator: with senior mgmt. for more human and
capital resources, with functional manager to get a
particular skills, with vendor for shorter lead time, with
client about project changes (scope creep).
 Politician: knows how to “get things done”, how to
“work the system.”
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 Facilitator vs. Supervisor
 Ensures that all resources and work are available when
needed, problems are resolved, each task is properly
concluded.
 Resolves conflict with functional managers, the client
and others. Manages conflicts by negotiation.
 Assigns the responsibility for the planning and
organization of tasks to team members.
 Avoids Micromanagement which is one of the deadly
managerial sins where s/he closely supervises and
second-guesses (and instructs on) every decision a
project member makes. The same is true for the
relationship between the program manager and PM.
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 Systems Approach

 System:
 What parts
 What goal
 Relationships
 How it affects and is affected by the environment.
 A system approach in defining the tasks and their
relationships, the resources and the way they are allocated,
and the deliverable and they way they are evaluated is
essential for PM.
 A project is a system composed of subsystems such as a
group of activities leading to a milestone, individual activities,
subactivities, ….
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 Facilitator: Systems Approach
 Project's objectives influence the nature of the tasks and
the tasks influence the nature of the subtasks. Similarly,
the program and, above it, the organization influence the
nature of the project –the system.
 Optimization of design and operations of a subsystem -
suboptimization – usually is not in the line (and perhaps
against) optimization of the total system. Ex. two
sequential stations. Ex. marketing, operation, and
purchasing under seasonality.
 Efficiency of subsystems should be evaluated only
based on their impact of efficiency of the total system.

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The elephant was in a dark house; some Hindus had brought it for
exhibition.
In order to see it, many people were going, every one, into that
darkness.
As seeing it with the eye was impossible, each one was feeling it in the
dark with the palm of his hand.

The first approached the elephant, and happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl
"God bless me! but the elephant is very like a wall!"
The second, feeling of the tusk, cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear!"
The third approached the animal, and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and spake
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant Is very like a snake!"
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The fourth reached out an eager hand, and felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree!"
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an elephant , is very like a fan!"
The sixth no sooner had begun , about the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail , that fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant Is very like a rope!“

Similarly, whenever anyone heard [a description of the elephant], he

understood [it only in respect of] the part that he had touched.
On account of the [diverse] place [object] of view, their statements
differed:
If there had been a candle in each one's hand, the difference would
have gone out of their words.
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 Communicator

 Must effectively communicate with senior management,

client, project team, vendors, department managers, ,
and to anyone else who may have a stake in the
Senior
project's performance as needed
Manageme
nt

Client Project Team

PM

Outside
Interested
Party

12/25/2008 12
 Communicator
 Must communicate with senior management, client, project
team, vendors, functional managers, and other
stakeholders.
 Some of these parties may create informal communication
paths that may mislead others, or conflict with other
messages in the system. PM has to introduce order into
destructive communication lines.
 Never let the boss be surprised! Build trust between the PM
and senior managers (the project champion).
 Formal and routine progress reports aside, the PM must
keep senior management up to date on any problem or
potential problem affecting time, budget, and scope of the
project.
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 Communicator

 The relationship between the project team and the PM

may be closer to boss-subordinate.
 The PM facilitates the work of the team, and helps them
succeed. S/he serves as advisor, counselor, confessor,
and interested friend. S/he also takes an active interest
in fostering members' future careers.
 Team members of a “Virtual Project” are in different
divisions or organizations in different locations.
Communication between PM and virtual project team
members must be frequent, open, and more importantly,
two-way real time-- telephone or video conferencing, etc.

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 Managing meetings efficiently and
effectively
PM is responsible for the meeting being effective
and efficient. Meetings can serve a useful purpose.
Meetings can also be a waste of time.
Don’t hold meetings for the purpose of sharing
information that can be provided in a report.
Distribute agenda in advance. Why?
Start and stop on time. Why?
Avoid excessive formality at project meetings
List “informational”, “for discussion”, and “action”
items.
Identify what should be the outputs of the meeting.
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 Structuring Discussion of an Item

 What is the problem?

 What is the background information?
 What might have caused the problem?
 What are some potential solutions?
 Select the best solution.
 The chair should keep discussion focused.

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 Minutes of the Meeting

Chair is responsible for taking minutes.

All attendees and absentees at the meeting
should be listed. Why?
Minutes should list results of each item
discussed. Why?
Items requiring action should be indicated, along
with who is responsible for follow-up
Minutes should be distributed reasonably soon
after the meeting. Why?

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 PM’s Responsibilities

Doing whatever it takes to get the job done

Acquiring human and capital resources
Fighting fires and obstacles
Providing leadership
Making tradeoffs between project goals
Negotiating and persuading
Resolving conflicts

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 Helpful Skills for a PM

Leadership ability Planning skills

Communication skills Organizational skills
Ability to develop Problem-solving skills
people Administrative skills
Team-building skills Conflict resolution
Interpersonal skills skills
Ability to handle Time management
stress skills

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 Desirable Characteristics of a PM

Strong focus on “finishing the job”

Good at flexibility and adaptability
Willing to make decisions
Technical and administrative credibility
Strong sense of ethics
Political and personal sensitivity
Effective leadership skills (can motivate)
Participative style of management
Ability to handle stress

12/25/2008 2-20
 How To Develop Good PM Skills

 Gain experience on the job

 work on project teams, manage small projects, work
in different job areas to get breadth of experience
 Seek out feedback from others; look for a mentor
 Conduct a self-evaluation; learn from mistakes
 Interview senior or star project managers
 Participate in training programs
 Join PMI, Toastmasters, other organizations
 Read journals, magazines, books on Project Mgmt.
 Volunteer with charities to gain some skills

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 Project Manager Challenges

 Dealing with many conflicts of opinions & interests

 Handling job stress
 Making goal tradeoffs when things go poorly
 Staying within the budget
 Meeting the project deadline
 Achieving all desired project outcomes
 Keeping all stakeholders happy
 Time management
 Balancing work time and family time (hrs/week)
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 Project Manager Rewards

Satisfaction of seeing final outcome and

resulting benefits to the company
Satisfaction of making stakeholders happy
Good visibility for successful project manager
Opportunities for advancement, more
responsibilities
Professional growth; enhanced career value
Financial rewards: bonus, salary increase

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 12 Rules for Project Managers

Two researchers conducted many interviews with senior

project managers in which they asked a simple question:
“What information were you never given as a novice project
manager that, in retrospect, could have made your job
easier?”

The results were summarized into 12 rules for new PMs.

Source: J. Pinto and O. Kharbanda, “Lessons for an Accidental Profession,”

Business Horizons, March-April 1995.

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 12 Rules for Project Managers

1. Understand the problems, opportunities, and

expectations of a project manager.
2. Recognize that project teams will have conflicts,
but this is a natural part of group development.
3. Understand who the stakeholders are and their
agendas.
4. Realize that organizations are very political and
use politics to your advantage.
5. Realize that project management is “leader
intensive” but that you must be flexible.

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 12 Rules for Project Managers

6. Understand that project success is defined by four

components: budget, schedule, performance
criteria, and customer satisfaction.
7. Realize that you must build a cohesive team by
being a motivator, coach, cheerleader,
peacemaker, and conflict resolver.
8. Notice that your team will develop attitudes based
on the emotions you exhibit—both positive and
negative.

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 12 Rules for Project Managers

9. Always ask “what-if” questions and avoid

becoming comfortable with the status of the
project.
10. Don’t get bogged down in details and lose sight of
the purpose of the project.
11. Manage your time efficiently.
12. Above all, plan, plan, plan.

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 Project Management Institute (PMI)

Purpose: PMI is a professional organization

dedicated to the development and promotion of
the field of project management.

Founded in 1969
1990 7,500 members
1995 17,000
2000 60,000
2003 100,000 (reached this # in Jan. 2003)
Now >100,000 in more than 135 countries

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 PMI Available Resources

PMP Certification (Project Mgmt. Professional)

LA has a PMI chapter
www.pmi.org
Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK) Guidebook that you can download
Job listings, publications, web links
Code of Ethics for Project Management

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 PMI Code of Ethics

In the pursuit of the project management

profession, it is vital that PMI members conduct
their work in an ethical manner in order to earn
and maintain the confidence of team members,
colleagues, employees, employers,
customers/clients, the public, and the global
community.

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 PMI Code of Ethics

As professionals in the field of project management, PMI

members pledge to uphold and abide by the following:
 I will maintain high standards of integrity and
professional conduct
 I will accept responsibility for my actions
 I will continually seek to enhance my professional
capabilities
 I will practice with fairness and honesty
 I will encourage others in the profession to act in an
ethical and professional manner

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 The Pure Project Organization

President

VP VP
Project Manager VP Marketing
Manufacturing R&D

Marketing
Manufacturing
Manager
R&D
Project A Human Resources

Marketing
Manager Manufacturing
Project B R&D
Human
Resources

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 The Pure Project Organization

 Advantages
 Effective and efficient for large projects
 Resources available as needed
 Broad range of specialists
 Short lines of communication
 Drawbacks
 Expensive for small projects
 May have limited technological depth
 May require high levels of duplication for certain
specialties
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 Functional Project Organization

President

Human
Manufacturing Marketing R&D Resources Finance

Project

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 Functional Project Organization

Advantages
 technological depth
Drawbacks
 slow lines of communication outside
functional departments
 technological breadth
 project rarely given high priority

12/25/2008 2-35
 Matrix Project Organization

President

Program Manufacturing Human

Marketing Finance R&D
Manager Resources

PM1 3 1½ ½ 4 ½

PM2 1 4 ¼ 1½ ¼

PM3 0 1/2 3 1/2 1

Hard and soft matrix organization?

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 Matrix Project Organization

 Advantages
 flexibility in the way it can interface with parent
organization
 strong focus on the project itself
 contact with functional groups minimizes projectitis
 ability to manage fundamental trade-offs across
several projects
Drawbacks
 violation of the unity of command principle
 complexity of managing full set of projects
 conflict between PM and other PMs, PM and FM
12/25/2008 2-37
 Mixed Project Organization

President

Project Project
Finance Engineering Manufacturing
M Z

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 Project Team Members

 Effective project team members

 Technically competent
 Politically sensitive
 Problem oriented
 Goal oriented
 High self-esteem
Causes of Intra-team Conflict
 Life cycle phase
 Name-Only Team (NOT)
 Functional interests
 Interpersonal barriers
12/25/2008 2-39
 Assignments

Review Questions: 1,3,5,6,7,8,9

Discussion Questions: 11,12,13,15,20
Incidents for Discussion: 1
Problems: None
Cases: 1,2

11/19/2018 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri 1-40