Project Management needs Special Skills and Manager

Question: Discuss about the term that the project management needs special skills and manager? Answer: Introduction The art of managing projects is a tedious task similarly; picking up a project manager is not an easy job. Attributes like- conviction, entrepreneurial, agile, decisiveness helps to be a good project manager. Theories by Daniel Roman and Michael Badaway are discussed. Project Managers face the problem of starting the execution task before proper definition is complete. They also have to perform on a shoestring budget. It is up to the manger to inter wove the problems of the project and the individual skills of the manager. Discussion According to Schwalbe, (2015), project Management is the task of planning, procuring and executing the project in the broad field of engineering. Project Manager looks after the daily activities of the project and handles the basic execution before matter moves up to higher management. They are responsible for reducing failure, lowering costs and maximizing profits. Figure1: Project Management Process (Source: Marchewka, 2014) Skills required: Figure 2: Skills requirement of Project manager (Source: Leach, 2014) The basic plan of the project is to be first communicated to the subordinates and then execution will start. Interaction is a vital point in execution of project. Manager need to have a good listening and persuasive skills. Experience in the field of work and project knowledge helps in the smooth execution of work. Small confrontations, which may become a serious issue in the future, can be smoothed out. Building and managing an efficient team is a positive quality. Project is a team work and more efficiently a team is managed, better is the execution. For this, manager needs to have good problem solving ability and be able to take quick decisions. Stress is an inevitable part of every job and project management is no exception. Keeping a cool head is required. Subordinates will make mistake, Deadlines will be missed but these are to be handled in an effective manner (Ppmprofessionals.org, 2016). Problems: Inadequate resources are a big problem. Managers do not get required resources as per their demand. Optimal use of resources is to be done by the manager keeping in mind the qualitative aspect of the work and the demands of the clients. In reality, the plans seem to be unrealistic in the practical field. Plans do not match with reality and the business plan seems to be unrealistic. Prudent decisions are to be taken by the managers and the deviation from the main plan to keep very low. Planning is done at the office and execution happens at site therefore, planning misses out few nuances that are implemented at site. Manager will intimidate the leader of the team members about the plan. There may be a miscommunication between the leader and the workers. In this type of case, the original plan will go haywire. In the middle of the work, if the plan changes or the demand of the client changes then implementing the changes will be a hectic task. In other cases, the resource allocation may decrease. Change of resource allocation changes the plan of project (Kerzner, 2013). Skills and Problems: The skills of the managers and problem of the project are somehow fundamentally interrelated. Selected skills are required to detect, analyze and solve problem. They both are complementary to each other. Skills Problems Interactive Break down of plan. Solving Inter-team problems. Building Team Motivating team members Guiding towards goal Technological Working in an unstructured plan Leadership Abiding by strict deadlines. Organizational Bad planning Inadequate resources It is noticed that the skills required to deal with such lacunas is very much human and not technical. More the skills a manger possess, better is the possibility of successful execution of the plan. Problems are to be handled in a cool and calm disposition. Even if, the manager does not possess such skill, they should try to build that interpersonal skill. Michael Badaway theory Diagram showing Michael Badaway theory (Source: Kerzner, 2013). The primary problems of Engineering and Research and Development is human not technical. He has discussed about why management fails, pragmatic approach to strengthen technological managerial skills, evaluation and decision making of Engineering and Research and Development efforts and planning skills and strategic thinking. Igor Ansoff is called the Father of Strategic Management and coined the term Analysis Paralysis. Diagram showing Igor Ansoff Matrix (Source: Schwalbe 2015). Conclusion After analyzing the above writing, it can be said that project management needs special skills and manager has to deal with a special set of problems. On one side there is parent company and on the other side there is client. Manager has to work keeping in mind the needs of both sides. Problems like inadequate resources, lack of motivated employees, improper plan, technical problems etc. Project Manager holds a great responsibility in executing the ground level tasks and is sometimes called Mini Ceo. References Kerzner, H. R. (2013).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons.Leach, L. P. (2014). Critical chain project management. Artech House.Marchewka, J. T. (2014).Information technology project management. John Wiley Sons.Pmi.org, (2016). What is Project Management? | Project Management Institute. [online] Available at: https://www.pmi.org/About-Us/About-Us-What-is-Project-Management.aspx [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].Ppmprofessionals.org, (2016).7 Common Problems Project Managers Face. [online] Available at: https://www.ppmprofessionals.org/7-common-problems-project-managers-face [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016]. Schwalbe, K. (2015).Information technology project management. Cengage Learning