Chapter 3

THE ROLE OF THE

PROJECT MANAGER

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.1 OVERVIEW
The project manager
 plays a critical role in the leadership of a project team in order to achieve
the project’s objectives.
 Plays a role is clearly visible throughout the project.
 may be involved role in a project from its initiation through closing.
 may be involved in evaluation and analysis activities prior to project initiation
 may also be called to manage or assist in
 business analysis,
 business case development, and
 aspects of portfolio management for a project.
 may also be involved in follow-on activities related to realizing business
benefits from the project.
A simple analogy may help in understanding the roles of a project manager for
a large project by comparing them to the roles of a conductor for a large
orchestra:
 Membership and roles.

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.1 OVERVIEW Contd.
 Responsibility for team.
 Knowledge and skills:
• The conductor is not expected to be able to play every instrument in the
orchestra,
• The project manager is not expected to perform every role on the project,
but should possess
 project management knowledge,
 technical knowledge,
 understanding, and experience.
3.2 DEFINITION OF A PROJECT MANAGER
 Functional manager focuses on providing management oversight for a
functional or business unit.
 Operations managers are responsible for ensuring that business operations
are efficient.
 Project manager is the person assigned by the performing organization to
lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.3 THE PROJECT MANAGER’S SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
3.3.1 OVERVIEW

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.3.2 THE PROJECT
• The project manager leads the project team to meet the project’s
objectives and stakeholders’ expectations.
• The project manager works to balance the competing constraints on the
project with the resources available.
• The project manager also performs communication roles between the
project sponsor, team members, and other stakeholders.
• The project manager uses soft skills (e.g., interpersonal skills and the
ability to manage people) to balance the conflicting and competing goals
of the project stakeholders in order to achieve consensus.

 Consensus means that the relevant

stakeholders support the project decisions and actions even when there is
not 100% agreement.
Top 2% of project manager’s distinguish themselves by demonstrating
superior relationship and communication skills while displaying a positive
attitude
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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.3.3 THE ORGANIZATION
The project manager proactively interacts with other project managers.
The project manager seeks ways to develop relationships that assist the
team in achieving the goals and objectives of the project.
3.3.4 THE INDUSTRY
3.3.5 PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINE
Continuing knowledge transfer and integration is very important for the
project manager.
3.4 PROJECT MANAGER COMPETENCES
3.4.1 OVERVIEW
 Technical project management. The knowledge, skills, and behaviors
related to specific domains of project, program, and portfolio management.
The technical aspects of performing one’s role.
 Leadership. The knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to guide, motivate,
and direct a team, to help an organization achieve its business goals.
 Strategic and business management. The knowledge of and expertise in
the industry and organization that enhanced performance and better delivers
business outcomes.
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 THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
Strategic and business skills
help the project manager to
determine which business factors
should be considered for their
project.
These factors include but are not
limited to:
 Risks and issues,
 Financial implications,
 Cost versus benefits analysis
(e.g., net present value, return
on investment), including the
various options considered,
 Business value,
 Benefits realization
expectations and strategies,
and
 Scope, budget, schedule, and
quality.

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.4.4 LEADERSHIP SKILLS
3.4.4.1 DEALING WITH PEOPLE
 A large part of the project manager’s role involves dealing with people.
 The project manager should study people’s behaviors and motivations.
 The project manager should strive to be a good leader, because leadership is
crucial to the success of projects in organizations.
 A project manager applies leadership skills and qualities when working with
all project stakeholders, including the project team, the steering team, and
project sponsors.
3.4.4.2 QUALITIES AND SKILLS OF A LEADER

 Being a visionary
(e.g., help to describe the products, goals, and objectives of the project; able to dream
and translate those dreams for others);

 Being optimistic and positive;

 Being collaborative;
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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.4.4 LEADERSHIP SKILLS Contd.
3.4.4.2 QUALITIES AND SKILLS OF A LEADER Contd.
 Managing relationships and conflict by:
 Building trust;

 Satisfying concerns;

 Seeking consensus;

 Balancing competing and opposing goals;

 Applying persuasion, negotiation, compromise, and conflict

resolution skills;

 Developing and nurturing personal and professional networks;

 Taking a long-term view that relationships are just as important as

the project; Continuously developing and applying political acumen.
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3.4.4 LEADERSHIP SKILLS Contd.
3.4.4.2 QUALITIES AND SKILLS OF A LEADER Contd.

 Communicating by:

 Spending sufficient time communicating

(research shows that top project managers spend about 90% of their
time on a project in communicating);

 Managing expectations;

 Accepting feedback graciously;

 Giving feedback constructively;

 Asking and listening.

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3.4.4 LEADERSHIP SKILLS Contd.
3.4.4.3 POLITICS, POWER, AND GETTING THINGS DONE
 Leadership and management are ultimately about being able to get things
done.
 Politics involves influence, negotiation, autonomy, and power.
 The project manager’s action is a result of selecting the right kind of
power to influence and negotiate with others.
 Positional (sometimes called formal, authoritative, legitimate) (e.g.,
formal position granted in the organization or team);

 Informational (e.g., control of gathering or distribution);

 Referent (e.g., respect or admiration others hold for the individual,

credibility gained);

 Situational (e.g., gained due to unique situation such as a specific crisis);

 Personal or charismatic (e.g., charm, attraction);

 Relational (e.g., participates in networking, connections, and alliances);11
THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.4.4 LEADERSHIP SKILLS Contd.
3.4.4.3 POLITICS, POWER, AND GETTING THINGS DONE Contd.
 Expert (e.g., skill, information possessed; experience, training, education,
certification);

 Reward-oriented (e.g., ability to give praise, monetary or other desired items);

 Punitive or coercive (e.g., ability to invoke discipline or negative consequences);

 Ingratiating (e.g., application of flattery or other common ground to win favor or

cooperation);

 Pressure-based (e.g., limit freedom of choice or movement for the purpose of

gaining compliance to desired action);

 Guilt-based (e.g., imposition of obligation or sense of duty);

 Persuasive (e.g., ability to provide arguments that move people to a desired course
of action);

 Avoiding (e.g., refusing to participate).

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3.4.5 COMPARISON OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
 Management is more closely associated with directing another person to
get from one point to another using a known set of expected behaviors.

 Leadership involves working with others through discussion or debate in

order to guide them from one point to another.

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3.4.5.1 LEADERSHIP STYLES
The style a project manager uses may change over time based on the factors in
play.
Major factors to consider include but are not limited to:
 Leader characteristics (e.g., attitudes, moods, needs, values, ethics);
 Team member characteristics (e.g., attitudes, moods, needs, values, ethics);
 Organizational characteristics (e.g., its purpose, structure, and type of work
performed);
 Environmental characteristics (e.g., social situation, economic state, and
political elements).

Leadership Styles:
 Laissez-faire
(e.g., allowing the team to make their own decisions and establish their own
goals, also referred to as taking a hands-off style);

 Transactional
(e.g., focus on goals, feedback, and accomplishment to determine rewards;
management by exception);

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3.4.5.1 LEADERSHIP STYLES
 Servant leader
(e.g., demonstrates commitment to serve and put other people first; focuses on other
people’s growth, learning, development, autonomy, and well-being; concentrates on
relationships, community and collaboration; leadership is secondary and emerges after
service);

 Transformational
(e.g., empowering followers through idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational
motivation, encouragement for innovation and creativity, and individual consideration);

 Charismatic
(e.g., able to inspire; is high-energy, enthusiastic, self-confident; holds strong
convictions);

 Interactional
(e.g., a combination of transactional, transformational, and charismatic).

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3.4.5.2 PERSONALITY
Personality refers to the individual differences in characteristic patterns of
thinking, feeling, and behaving
 Authentic (e.g., accepts others for what and who they are, show open concern);
 Courteous (e.g., ability to apply appropriate behavior and etiquette);
 Creative (e.g., ability to think abstractly, to see things differently, to innovate);
 Cultural (e.g., measure of sensitivity to other cultures including values, norms, and
beliefs);
 Emotional (e.g., ability to perceive emotions and the information they present and to
manage them; measure of interpersonal skills);
 Intellectual (e.g., measure of human intelligence over multiple aptitudes);
 Managerial (e.g., measure of management practice and potential);
 Political (e.g., measure of political intelligence and making things happen);
 Service-oriented (e.g., evidence of willingness to serve other people);
 Social (e.g., ability to understand and manage people); and
 Systemic (e.g., drive to understand and build systems).

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.5 PERFORMING INTEGRATION
The role of the project manager is twofold when performing integration on the
project:
 Project managers play a key role in working with the project sponsor to
understand the strategic objectives and ensure the alignment of the project
objectives and results with those of the portfolio, program, and business
areas.

 Project managers are responsible for guiding the team to work together to
focus on what is really essential at the project level.

This is achieved through the integration of processes, knowledge, and people.

Integration is a critical skill for project managers.

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.5 PERFORMING INTEGRATION Contd.
3.5.1 PERFORMING INTEGRATION AT THE PROCESS LEVEL
Project management may be seen as a set of processes (may occur one or
many times) and activities that are undertaken to achieve the project
objectives.

e.g., process overlap and multiple occurrences is a change in a requirement

that impacts scope, schedule, or budget and requires a change request

Processes such as Control Scope process and the Perform Integrated

Change Control process may involve a change request.

The Perform Integrated Change Control process occurs throughout the

project for integrating change requests.

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THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
3.5 PERFORMING INTEGRATION Contd.
3.5.2 INTEGRATION AT THE COGNITIVE LEVEL
There are many different ways to manage a project, and the method selected
typically depends on the specific characteristics of the project including its
 size,
 how complicated the project or organization may be, and the
 culture of the performing organization.

It is clear that the personal skills and abilities of the project manager are closely
related to the way in which the project is managed.
3.5.3 INTEGRATION AT THE CONTEXT LEVEL
Social networks, multicultural aspects, virtual teams, and new values are part of
the new reality of projects.

The project manager considers the implications of this context in communications

planning and knowledge management for guiding the project team.

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3.5 PERFORMING INTEGRATION Contd.
3.5.4 INTEGRATION AND COMPLEXITY
Complexity within projects is a result of the organization’s system, three
dimensions of complexity are defined as:
 System behavior.
The interdependencies of components and systems.
 Human behavior.
The interplay between diverse individuals and groups.
 Ambiguity.
Uncertainty of emerging issues and lack of understanding or confusion.

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End of Chapter 3

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