Leadership Skills

Discuss about the Skills And Role Of The Project Manager.

The role of the project manager can be considered very much vital in the sphere of operation of a project. It can be stated here that the project manager has the overall power, which is related to the execution of the project and delivering of the project with the desired standard. It most of the cases it is seen that the project manager has the role of managing the overall team and lead them to the factor of success (Meng & Boyd, 2017). The different factors, which are taken into consideration by the project manager mainly, include planning, execution and directly managing the resources, people and the scope of the project. The project manager must have the discipline to create clear and objective, which is attainable, and to see them through the successful completion of the project, which is assigned. The project manager should always have the experience involved into their working so that they can easily take control of the different factors of risk, which can be included into the working of the organisation or the project (Rezvani et al., 2016).

The main aim of the report is to take into consideration different aspects, which are related to the role of the project manager. The main consideration, which would be taken into consideration, is the leadership skills, which a project manager should have. Relation building, management of conflict and team building are also some of the major points which are imparted limelight.

The characteristics of the project manager can directly affect the performance of the team as well as the outcome of the project. In most of the time, the project manager should be able to manage the overall team (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). They are entitled to building an environment of work, which would be helping the employee to excel in the internal working within the organisation. One of the main characteristics of the project manager should be to motivate the team so that they can impart their maximum to a project. It can be majorly seen that the hard work which is put forward by the employee result in the successful completion of the project (Martinelli & Milosevic, 2016). Project managers undergo different types of risk-oriented circumstances, but the focus point is the mitigation strategy, which should be implemented to reduce the overall risk factors. The project manager takes the main strategy of the implementation into consideration, and the role of each of the strategy is directed towards the mitigation of the risk factor. The employee sometimes has to be given an expert opinion about the role and the strategy, which has to be implemented so that the risk factors are not involved into the working of the organisation (Aga, Noorderhaven & Vallejo, 2016).

Team Building and Management

The project manager should have the interpersonal skills attached to their working with a focus on decision-making aspect (Savolainen & Ahonen, 2015). As a project manager, there should always be the involvement of a core team of a member who would be involved in the working of the organisation. In some of the cases, the project manager is entitled to decide on their own; this is where the project manager’s skills are put to the test. In a project, a project manager can directly use his or her intellect to make the decision, which is based on the schedule constraint, acceptance criteria and quality (Saadé, Dong & Wan, 2015). The aspect of decision making can be considered to very much vital taking into consideration success of a project; this is due to the factor that a single wrong decision can directly alter the overall sequence of the project. Negotiation can be considered as other interpersonal skills that a project manager must have no order to fulfil the need of the project (Gacasan et al., 2016). The sector of negotiation plays a very important role because they form a crucial part of the project.

The project manager must have the leadership skills due to the factor that they run a whole team which work effectively towards a common factor or goal. If a project manager does not have the leadership skills, then the overall team would be at a position, which would not be beneficial from the project (Bibbes, Rollins & Johnston, 2017). The project manager must look into the overall working of the team and guide the team towards the factor of success. One of the important sectors, which can be related to the topic of leadership, is to get the main requirement of the project from the client. This is very much important due to the factor that the main working of the project is dependent on the requirement gathering. Developing a project usually starts from the aspect of requirement gathering which is majorly done by the project manager (Harrison & Lock, 2017).

The communication aspect can be considered one of the most important skills of the project manager. It can be stated that 90% of the project managers time is spent on the aspect of communication (Davis, 2014). The project manager should have the behaviour, which would be focused on convincing the owner of the project and other stakeholders. In the sector of other skills of the project manager the extra curriculum, activity relating to the organisation are focused on the aspect of creating an environment in the team in which everybody is in a simple mind frame, which directly helps in the productivity of the team. The project manager should be able to communicate easily with the team member so that the team member can easily approach the project manager when there is any type of problem in their working, which can disrupt the normal execution of the project. Sometimes it can be stated that open house sessions can be very much beneficial in a way that the team can put forward their idea and views in the sector of improvement of the project. It can be stated as a place where ideas that imparted which aim at delivering a better standard of work (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017).

Communication Skills

The project manager is entitled to form a team, which would be working, towards a specific goal of the project. They form a team of experts who would be having a specific role to play in the respective team. In most of the cases, a project is broken down into the different team so that there is effective working of each of the team. The team has to report to the project manager directly, and the project manager is responsible for looking into the team whether they are working properly or not. A team should be able to work together and focus on a predefined goal of the organisation. The team should be able to get together, coordinate with the different members, and work effectively towards a common project-oriented gaol. The project manager can arrange different types of workshops, which would be able to enhance the productivity of the work and include skills into the working, which would be directly affecting the overall performance, which is involved into the working of the organisation. The creation of the focus of the employee can be considered another important role of the project manager. When there is focus prevailing into the team, it can directly help in increasing the standard of the project.

The conflict factor in any project can be inevitable. Some of the steps, which should be taken, into consideration by the project manager are stated below:

• Identification of the domain of conflict
• Generation of the cases of conflict
• The exercise of the judgement
• Analysis of the result
• Communication of the difference of the judgement (Adams, B. M & Tran, 2017).

The cognitive analysis approach can be considered to be more resulted in more agreement among the different parties, which conflict. The cognitive feedback can directly provide information on the reason why the disagreement occurred among the different parties in the areas that directly need to address to reach to the agreement (Meng & Boyd, 2017). This approach can directly allow the project manager to get involved in the conflict which is related to the concentration on the real differences that may be provoked the disagreement rather than only discussing the effects of the conflicting situation. It should always be taken into consideration that conflict management can be stated as powerful tools, which helps in the sector of managing the different problems, which are encountered within the internal as well as the external working of the organisation. In most of the cases, the conflict between team members can directly affect the project, which finally ends up in the closure of the project and disrupts the normal functionality of the project. The project manager has a defiant role to play in such type of situation.

Conflict Management

In most of the cases, it is seen that the relation which prevails in the team play a very vital role in the sector of increasing the productivity. The increase in the productivity can be considered one of the most important factors, which help any organisation to improve in the competitive market. The project manager should be able to interact with the team so that the team can easily communicate the different problems, which are faced within the internal working (Bibbes, Rollins & Johnston, 2017). If at any circumstances, it is seen that project manager are not so much involved into the team and the team cannot approach the project manager when they need to do so, it can result in a decrease in the performance of the team. The team should be approachable by the project manager so that they can get the necessary help and form a working environment in the organisation. Sometimes there are different types of risk factors, which are involved into the working, and at these times the team member should be able to discuss with the project manager so they a mitigation strategy can be easily be implemented (Muller, 2017).

In most of the organisation, it can be stated that the project manager has a very vital role to play. Taking into consideration an organisation, for example, Ibiza, in the organisation, the overall working of the organisation was dependent on the project manager. The company usually broke a project into different parts or team, which had a predefined gaol to reach. The focus point was to deliver a standard of working towards the project. This highly reduces pressure, which is embarked upon different teams so that they can involve in the different working of the project (Bibbes, Rollins & Johnston, 2017). On the other hand, it can be stated that the breakdown of the task usually takes place when the task is complicated and needs precision in the aspect of delivering the desired standard. In these type of project, the main aspect is getting the project to the desired standard (Meng & Boyd, 2017).

Conclusion

The report can be concluded on a note that project managers are one of the most vital members in the working of a project. He can be stated as the captain or the leader of the overall working of the project. The working of the overall project is dependent on the activity of the project manager, and he is directly responsible for the working of the team who is under him. The project management experience is not gained in a short period of span, but it is gathered from working experience and involvement in the project. The team member should have trust in the project manager so that they can easily comply with the decision, which is taken by him. At the end, it can be stated that the selection of the project manager can be considered as a deciding factor, which can be involved into the successful completion of the project.

References

Adams, B. M., & Tran, T. B. V. (2017). Project Manager Competencies in managing International Development Projects: The Project Managers’ Perspective.

Aga, D. A., Noorderhaven, N., & Vallejo, B. (2016). Transformational leadership and project success: The mediating role of team-building. International Journal of Project Management, 34(5), 806-818.

Bibbes, T., Rollins, M., & Johnston, W. (2017). Exploring the Role of the Project Manager in Organizational Knowledge Creation. International Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM), 13(3), 38-54.

Davis, K. (2014). Different stakeholder groups and their perceptions of project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), 189-201.

Gacasan, E. M. P., Wiggins, M. W., & Searle, B. J. (2016). The role of cues in expert project manager sensemaking. Construction Management and Economics, 34(7-8), 492-507.

Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.

Hosein, I. (2018). The role of the project manager in the development of a shopping plaza (Doctoral dissertation).

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Martinelli, R. J., & Milosevic, D. Z. (2016). Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.

Meng, X., & Boyd, P. (2017). The role of the project manager in relationship management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(5), 717-728.

Muller, R. (2017). Project governance. Routledge.

Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Routledge.

Rezvani, A., Chang, A., Wiewiora, A., Ashkanasy, N. M., Jordan, P. J., & Zolin, R. (2016). Manager emotional intelligence and project success: The mediating role of job satisfaction and trust. International Journal of Project Management, 34(7), 1112-1122.

Saadé, R. G., Dong, H., & Wan, J. (2015). Factors of project manager success. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 10, 63-80.

Savolainen, P., & Ahonen, J. J. (2015). Knowledge lost: Challenges in changing project manager between sales and implementation in software projects. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), 92-102.

Sunindijo, R. Y. (2015). Project manager skills for improving project performance. International Journal of Business Performance Management, 16(1), 67-83.