Chapter 2

The Project
Manager

Copyright 2012 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

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 Functional Management

Figure 3-1 3-3

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

Figure 3-2 3-5

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
3-7
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

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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?

3-9
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

3-11
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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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

3-19
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”

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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 3-22
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

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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
 Strong sense of ethics
 A management style that fits the project

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Ability to Handle Stress

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

3-30
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

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 CHAPTER - 2

PROJECT
ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3-34
FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE

 Functional organizational structure is to be managed in

the current organization hierarchical structure.
 Once the project begins operation, the various
components of the project are taken by the functional
units.
 Each unit is responsible for its charged component.
 If the project established, a functional area play a
dominant role.
 Functional areas on completion of the project, senior
managers will be responsible for project coordination.

3-35
 FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
Board of Directors

Chief Executive

Vice President of Vice President of Vice President of Vice President of

Marketing Production Finance Research

New Product
Market Research Development
Logistics Accounting
Services
Sales Testing
Outsourcing Contracting
After Market Research Labs
Support
Distribution
Investments
Quality
Advertising
Warehousing Employee
Benefits
Manufacturing

3-36
FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE - ADVANTAGES

 The use of personnel with greater flexibility.

 the department will be able to provide
professional and technical personnel required
by the project.
 when the project team members leave or leave
the company, the functions can be used as the
basis for maintaining the continuity of the
project.
 functional department can provide a normal
career path for professionals.
3-37
FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE – DISADVANTAGES

 Projects often lack of focus.

 organization has certain difficulties in the inter-
departmental cooperation and exchanges.
 Motivation is not strong enough for project participants,
they think the project is an additional burden, and not
directly related to their career development and
upgrading.
 no one should assume full responsibility for the project
others are responsible for the other parts of the project,
which leads to difficulties in coordination situation.

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A PROJECT ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE

 Project organizational structure refers to the

creation of an independent project team.
 The team’s management is separated from the
parent organization’s other units.
 They have their own technical staff and
management staffs.
 Enterprise assigns certain resources to project
team, and grant project manager of the largest
free implementation of the project .

3-39
A PROJECT ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE

3-40
A PROJECT ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE - ADVANTAGES

 focus on this project team, project manager is solely

responsible for the project, the only task for project
members is to complete the project, and they only
report to the project manager, avoiding the multiple
leadership;
 Second, the project team’s decision is developed within
the project, the reaction time is short;
 Third, in this project, members work with strong power,
high cohesion, participants shared the common goal of
the project, and individual has clear responsibilities.

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A PROJECT ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE - DISADVANTAGES

 when a company has several projects, each project has

its own separate team, which will lead to duplication of
efforts and the loss of scalable economies;
 Second, the project team itself is an independent entity,
prone to a condition known as “Project inflammatory”
disease, that is, there is a clear dividing line between the
project team and the parent organization, weakening the
effective integration between project team and the parent
organization;
 Third, the project team members lack of a business
continuity and security, once the project ended, return to
their original functions may be more difficult.
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A MATRIX ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE

 Matrix organizational structure is a hybrid

form.
 It loads a level of project management
structure on the functional hierarchical
structure.
 According to the relative power of project
managers and functional managers, in
practice there are different types of matrix
systems, respectively,
3-43
A MATRIX ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE

 Functional Matrix: in this matrix,

functional managers have greater powers
than project managers.
 Project Matrix: in this matrix, project
managers have greater powers than
functional managers.
 Balance Matrix: in this matrix, functional
managers and project managers have the
equal powers.
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A MATRIX ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE
Board of Directors

Chief Executive

Vice President of Vice President of Vice President of Vice President of Vice President of
Projects Marketing Production Finance Research

Project
Alpha 2 resources 1.5 resources 1 resource 3 resources

Project
Beta 1 resource 2 resources 2 resources 2.5 resources

3-45
 A MATRIX ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE - ADVANTAGES

 First, it is the same as functional structure that

resources can be shared in multiple projects,
which can significantly reduces the problem of
redundant staff;
 Second, project is the focus of work, with a
formal designated project manager will make
him give more attention to the project, and
responsible for the coordination and integration
work between different units;
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 A MATRIX ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE - ADVANTAGES

 Third, when there are multiple projects

simultaneously, the company can balance the
resources to ensure that all the projects can
progress to complete their respective costs and
quality requirements;
 Fourth, the anxiety of project members is
reduced greatly after the end of the project,
while they are strongly associated with the
project, on the other hand, they have a “home”
feeling about their functions.
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 A MATRIX ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE - DISADVANTAGES
 First, the matrix structure has exacerbated the tensions
between functional manager and project manager;
 Second, under any circumstances, sharing equipment,
resources and personnel among different projects will lead to
conflict and competition for scarce resources;
 Third, in the process of project implementation, the project
manager must negotiate and consult with the department
managers on various issues, which leads to the delay in
decision making;
 Fourth, matrix management is not according to the principles
of unified management, project members have two bosses,
the project manager and functional managers, when their
commands are divided, it will make members at a loss.
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REFERANCE

 http://www.mypmhome.com/three-types-
of-project-management-organizations/

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