THE PROJECT MANAGER, HIS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

THE PROJECT MANAGER

 The project manager serves as a single responsibility center to achieve project objective within
the constraints of time cost and quality.
 His actions “make or break” the project.
 He occupies a focal position in project management.
 He assumes total responsibility and accountability for the project from inception to completion.
 A project manager must manage key project stakeholders-customers, contractors, consultants,
suppliers, government, labor unions, competitors and financers.

SKILLS REQUIREMENTS OF PROJECT MANAGER:

1. Technical skills:
• Understanding of the technology involved
• Evaluation of technical concepts and solutions
• Communication in technical terms
• Assessment of technical risks, trends and innovations
2. Managerial Skills
• Planning and control skills
• Organization skills
• Decision making skills
• Human Resource Management skills
• Leadership skills
3. Human Relations skills
• Communication skills
• Motivation skills
• Negotiation and bargaining skills
• Conflict management skills
4. Conceptual Skills
They are ability to relate the project to environmental forces. The project manager should have vision,
foresight, judgment and intuition.
5. Team Building skills
They are ability to integrate people from many disciplines and departments into an effective team.

ROLES OF PROJECT MANAGER:

1.Diplomat:
• Maintain better relationship between project and environment
• Ensure political support
• Tackle new threats, if any
• Have high level of sensitivity
• Good negotiating skill
2.Chief Executive:
• Responsible for all action of project personnel
• Make things happen by active intervention
• Make changes if necessary
• Coordinate the team
• Controlling and allocating resources
3. Leader
• Authority and influence
• Define ethics, norms and values of the team
• Motivating capacity
• Drive- be a leader
• Team spirit- team work

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PROJECT MANAGER:

The basic responsibilities of a project manager can be grouped under twelve heads :
1 Defining and maintaining the integrity of a project;
2 Development of project execution plan;
3 Organization for execution of the plan;
4 Setting of targets and development of systems and procedures for accomplishment of project objectives
and targets;
5 Negotiation for commitments;
6 Direction, coordination and control of project activities;
7 Contract management;
8 Non-human resource management including fiscal matters;
9 Problem-solving;
10 Man management;
11 Satisfaction of customer, Government and the public; and
12 Achievement of project objectives, cash surplus and higher productivity.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROJECT MANAGER:

 Flexible and adaptable
 Preference for significant initiative and leadership
 Aggressiveness, confidence, persuasiveness, verbal fluency;
 Ambition, activity, forcefulness;
 Effectiveness as communicator and integrator;
 Broad scope of personal interests;
 Poised with enthusiasm, in agitation, spontaneity;
 Able or willing to devote most of his time to planning and controlling,
 Able to identify problems;
 Willing to make decisions that are acceptable;
 Able to maintain a proper balance in the use of time,

Few Important Tips for Project Managers:

• Money makes things possible, people make things happen
• We are not looking for fire-fighting managers, we need managers to prevent fire
• If you want every thing, you may get nothing
• If you don’t know where you have to go, any road will lead you there.
• Those who have no place and work in the project should not be in the project.
• Being a construction manager, don’t be overly defensive, keep yourself cool, conceal
your frustrations, when you slip off- say so.

PROJECT TEAM PITFALLS

High-performance project teams can produce dramatic results. However, like any good thing, there is a
dark side to project teams that managers need to be aware of. Here we examine in detail some of the
pathologies that high-performance project teams can succumb to and highlight what project managers can
do to reduce the likelihood of these problems occurring.
Groupthink
Groupthink is a factor which term refers to the tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose
their critical evaluative capabilities. This malady appears when pressures for conformity are combined
with an illusion of invincibility to suspend critical discussion of decisions. As a result decisions are made
quickly with little consideration of alternatives; often the practice leads to fiascoes that, after the fact,
appear totally improbable. Some of the symptoms of groupthink include the following:
• Illusion of invulnerability;. The team feels invincible. It is marked by a high degree of esprit de corps,
an implicit faith in its own wisdom, and an inordinate optimism that allows group members to feel
complacent about the quality of their decisions.
• Whitewash of critical thinking: The group members discuss only a few solutions, ignoring alternatives;
they fail to examine the adverse consequences that could follow their preferred course of action; and they
too quickly dismiss any alternatives that, on the surface, appear to be unsatisfactory.
• Negative stereotypes of outsiders: “Good guy/bad guy” stereotypes emerge in which the group
considers any outsiders who oppose their decisions as the bad guys, who are perceived as incompetent
and malicious and whose points are unworthy of serious consideration.
• Direct pressure: When a team member does speak out or question the direction in which the team is
headed, direct pressure is applied to the dissenter. He or she is reminded that speed is important and that
the aim is agreement, not argument.
Bureaucratic Bypass Syndrome
 Project teams are often licensed to get things done without having to go through normal protocols
of the parent organization.
 Bypassing bureaucratic channels is appealing and revitalizing.
 However, if bypassing becomes a way of life, it results in the rejection of bureaucratic policies
and procedures, which provide the glue for the overall organization.
 A team that operates outside the organization may alienate other workers who are constrained by
the norms and procedures of the organization; eventually, these outside bureaucrats will find ways
to put up roadblocks and thwart the project team.
Team Spirit Becomes Team Infatuation
 High-performance project teams can be a tremendous source of personal satisfaction.
 The excitement, chaos, and joy generated by working on a challenging project can be an
invigorating experience.
 The team members behave like people in love.
 They become infatuated with the challenge of the project and the talent around them.
 This total preoccupation with the project and the project team, while contributing greatly to the
remarkable success of the project, can leave in its wake a string of broken professional and
personal relationships that contribute to burnout and dis-orientation upon completion of the
project.
Going Native
 Going native is a phrase first used by the British Foreign Service during colonial times to
describe agents who assumed the customs, values, and prerogatives of their foreign country
assignment.
 They did so to the point that they were no longer representing the best interests of the British
government but rather those of the natives.
 This same phenomenon can occur within project teams working abroad or in those who become
closely identified with their customers.
 In essence, the customer’s interests take precedence over the parent organization’s interests.
 This change in viewpoint can lead to excessive scope creep and open defiance of corporate policy
and interests.
 Dealing with these maladies is problematic because, in most cases, they are a distortion of a good
thing, rather than a simple evil.
 Awareness is the first step for prevention.
 The next step is to take preemptive action to reduce the likelihood of these pitfalls occurring.
 For example, managers can reduce the isolation of the project team by creating work-related
connections outside the project team.
 These interactions naturally occur in a matrix environment where members work on multiple
projects and maintain ties to their home department.
 Likewise, the isolation of dedicated project teams can be reduced by the timely involvement of
external specialists.
 In either case, the active involvement of relevant members of the parent organization at project
status meetings can help maintain the link between the project and the rest of the organization.
MANAGING PROJECT TEAMS
The magic and power of teams is captured in the term “synergy,” which is derived from the Greek word
sunergos: “working together.” There is positive and negative synergy. The essence of positive synergy
can be found in the phrase “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” Conversely, negative synergy
occurs when the whole is less than the sum of the parts.
The following is a set of characteristics commonly associated with high-performing teams that exhibit
positive synergy:
1. The team shares a sense of common purpose, and each member is willing to work toward achieving
project objectives.
2. The team identifies individual talents and expertise and uses them, depending on the project’s needs at
any given time. At these times, the team willingly accepts the influence and leadership of the members
whose skills are relevant to the immediate task.
3. Roles are balanced and shared to facilitate both the accomplishment of tasks and feelings of group
cohesion and morale.
4. The team exerts energy toward problem solving rather than allowing itself to be drained by
interpersonal issues or competitive struggles.
5. Differences of opinion are encouraged and freely expressed.
6. To encourage risk taking and creativity, mistakes are treated as opportunities for learning rather than
reasons for punishment.
7. Members set high personal standards of performance and encourage each other to realize the objectives
of the project.
8. Members identify with the team and consider it an important source of both professional and personal
growth.
High-performing teams become champions, create breakthrough products, exceed customer expectations,
and get projects done ahead of schedule and under budget. They are bonded together by mutual
interdependency and a common goal or vision. They trust each other and exhibit a high level of
collaboration.
THE FIVE-STAGE TEAM DEVELOPMENT MODEL:
Just as infants develop in certain ways during their first months of life, many experts argue that groups
develop in a predictable manner. One of the most popular models identifies five stages (see Figure below)
through which groups develop into effective teams:
1. Forming. During this initial stage the members get acquainted with each other and understand the
scope of the project. They begin to establish ground rules by trying to find out what behaviors are
acceptable with respect to both the project (what role they will play, what performance expectations are)
and interpersonal relations (who’s really in charge). This stage is completed once members begin to think
of themselves as part of a group.
2. Storming. As the name suggests, this stage is marked by a high degree of internal conflict. Members
accept that they are part of a project group but resist the constraints that the project and group put on their
individuality. There is conflict over who will control the group and how decisions will be made. As these
conflicts are resolved, the project manager’s leadership becomes accepted, and the group moves to the
next stage.
3. Norming. The third stage is one in which close relationships develop and the group demonstrates
cohesiveness. Feelings of companionship and shared responsibility for the project are heightened. The
norming phase is complete when the group structure solidifies and the group establishes a common set of
expectations about how members should work together.
4. Performing. The team operating structure at this point is fully functional and accepted. Group energy
has moved from getting to know each other and how the group will work together to accomplishing the
project goals.
5. Adjourning. For project teams, there is a completion phase. During this stage, the team prepares for its
own disbandment. High performance is no longer a top priority. Instead attention is devoted to wrapping
up the project. Responses of members vary in this stage. Some members are upbeat, basking in the project
team’s accomplishments. Others may be depressed over loss of companionship and friendships gained
during the project’s life.
This model has several implications for those working on project teams:
 It provides a framework for the group to understand its own development.
 Project managers have found it useful to share the model with their teams.
 It helps members accept the tensions of the storming phase, and it directs their focus to moving
toward the more productive phases.
 It stresses the importance of the norming phase, which contributes significantly to the level of
productivity experienced during the performing phase.
 Project managers, as we shall see, have to take an active role in shaping group norms that will
contribute to ultimate project success.
SITUATIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING TEAM DEVELOPMENT:
Experience and research indicate that high-performance project teams are much more likely to develop
under the following conditions:
• There are 10 or fewer members per team.
• Members volunteer to serve on the project team.
• Members serve on the project from beginning to end.
• Members are assigned to the project full time.
• Members are part of an organization culture that fosters cooperation and trust.
• Members report solely to the project manager.
• All relevant functional areas are represented on the team.
• The project involves a compelling objective.
• Members are located within conversational distance of each other.
BUILDING HIGH-PERFORMANCE PROJECT TEAMS:
Project managers play a key role in developing high-performance project teams. They recruit members,
conduct meetings, establish a team identity, create a common sense of purpose or a shared vision, manage
a reward system that encourages teamwork, orchestrate decision making, resolve conflicts that emerge
within the team, and rejuvenate the team when energy wanes (see Figure below).
Project managers take advantage of situational factors that naturally contribute to team development
while improvising around those factors that inhibit team development. In doing so they exhibit a highly
interactive management style that exemplifies teamwork and manage the interface between the team and
the rest of the organization.
RECRUITING PROJECT MEMBERS:
The process of selecting and recruiting project members will vary across organizations. Two important
factors affecting recruitment are given below.
 For high-priority projects that are critical to the future of the organization, the project manager
will be given full authority to select whomever he or she deems necessary.
 For less significant projects, the project manager will have to persuade personnel from other areas
within the organization to join the team.
When selecting and recruiting team members, project managers naturally look for individuals with
the following qualities.
• Problem-solving ability: If the project is complex and fuzzy, then a manager wants people who are
good at working under uncertainty and have strong problem identification and solving skills. These same
people are likely to be bored and less productive working on straightforward projects that go by the book.
• Availability: if members recruited are already overcommitted, they may not be able to offer much.
• Technological expertise: Managers should be wary of people who know too much about a specific
technology. They may be technology buffs who like to study but have a hard time settling down and doing
the work.
• Credibility: The credibility of the project is enhanced by the reputation of the people involved in the
project. Recruiting a sufficient number of “winners” lends confidence to the project.
• Political connections: Managers are wise to recruit individuals who already have good working
relationship with key stakeholders. This is particularly true for projects operating in a matrix environment
in which a significant portion of the work will be under the domain of a specific functional department
and not the core project team.
• Ambition, initiative, and energy. These qualities can make up for a lot of shortcomings in other areas
and should not be underestimated

CONDUCTING PROJECT MEETINGS:

The First Project Team Meeting:
 Research on team development confirms that the first project kick-off meeting is critical to the
early functioning of the project team.
 The first team meeting sets the tone for how the team will work together.
 If it is disorganized or becomes bogged down with little sense of closure, then this can often
become evident that the team needs group work.
 On the other hand, if it is focusing on real issues and concerns in an honest and straightforward
manner, members come away excited about being part of the project team.
There are typically three objectives project managers try to achieve during the first meeting of the
project team.
 The first is to provide an overview of the project, including the scope and objectives, the general
schedule, method, and procedures.
 The second is to begin to address some of the interpersonal concerns captured in the team
development model:
 Who are the other team members?
 How will I fit in?
  Will I be able to work with these people?
 The third and most important objective is to begin to model how the team is going to work
together to complete the project.
The project manager must recognize that first impressions are important; her behavior will be carefully
monitored and interpreted by team members. This meeting should serve as an exemplary role model for
subsequent meetings and reflect the leader’s style.
ESTABLISHING GROUND RULES:
The project manager must quickly begin to establish operational ground rules for how the team will work
together. These ground rules involve not only organizational and procedural issues but also normative
issues on how the team will interact with each other. Although specific procedures will vary across
organizations and projects, some of the major issues that need to be addressed include the following:
Planning Decisions
• How will the project plan be developed?
• What tools will be used to support the project?
• Will a specific project management software package be used? If so, which one?
• Who will enter the planning information?
• What are the specific roles and responsibilities of all the participants?
• Who needs to be informed of decisions? How will they be kept informed?
• What are the relative importance of cost, time, and performance?
• What are the deliverables of the project planning process?
• What format is appropriate for each deliverable?
• Who will approve and sign off at the completion of each deliverable?
• Who receives each deliverable?
Tracking Decisions
• How will progress be assessed?
• At what level of detail will the project be tracked?
• How will team members get data from each other?
• How often will they get this data?
• Who will generate and distribute reports?
• Who needs to be kept informed about project progress, and how will they be informed?
• What content/format is appropriate for each audience?
• Meetings
– Where will meetings be located?
– What kind of meetings will be held?
– Who will “run” these meetings?
– How will agendas be produced?
– How will information be recorded?
Managing Change Decisions
• How will changes be instituted?
• Who will have change approval authority?
• How will plan changes be documented and evaluated?
Relationship Decisions
• What department or organizations will the team need to interact with during the project?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of each organization (reviewer, approver, creator, user)?
• How will all involved parties be kept informed of deliverables, schedule dates, expectations, etc.?
• How will the team members communicate among themselves?
• What information will and won’t be exchanged?

MANAGING SUBSEQUENT PROJECT MEETINGS:

The project kick-off meeting is one of several kinds of meetings required to complete a project. Other
meetings include status report meetings, problem-solving meetings, and audit meetings. Issues unique to
these meetings will be discussed in subsequent chapters. Here are some general guidelines for running
effective meetings.
• Start meetings on time regardless of whether everyone is present.
• Prepare and distribute an agenda prior to the meeting.
• Identify an adjournment time.
• Periodically take time to review how effective previous meetings have been.
• Solicit recommendations and implement changes.
• Assign good recordkeeping.
• Review the agenda before beginning, and tentatively allocate time for each item.
• Prioritize issues so that adjustments can be made given time constraints.
• Encourage active participation of all members by asking questions instead of making statements.
• Summarize decisions, and review assignments for the next meeting.
• Prepare and distribute a summary of the meeting to appropriate people.
• Recognize accomplishments and positive behavior.

ESTABLISHING A TEAM IDENTITY:

Project managers need to try to make the project team as tangible as possible to the participants by
developing a unique team identity to which participants can become emotionally attached. Team
meetings, co-location of team members, team names, and team rituals are common vehicles for doing so.
• Effective use of meetings. Periodic project team meetings provide an important forum for
communicating project information. During project meetings, members see that they are not working
alone. They are part of a larger project team, and project success depends on the collective efforts of all
the team members. Timely gatherings of all the project participants help define team membership and
reinforce a collective identity.
• Co-location of team members. The most obvious way to make the project team tangible is to have
members work together in a common space. This is not always possible in matrix environments where
involvement is part time and members are working on other projects and activities. A worthwhile
substitute for co-location is the creation of a project office, sometimes referred to as the project war room
or clubhouse. Such rooms are the common meeting place and
contain the most significant project documentation.
• Creation of project team name. The development of a team name is a common device for making a
team more tangible. Frequently an associated team logo is also created. Such symbols then can be affixed
to stationery, T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc., to help signify team membership.
• Get the team to build or do something together early on. Nothing reinforces a sense of a team more
than working on something together. In the case of one international project, the manager simply hosted a
potluck dinner where each member brought a dish his or her country was famous for.
• Team rituals. Corporate rituals help to establish the unique identity of a firm. For example, on one
project members were given ties with stripes that corresponded to the number of milestones on the
project. After reaching each milestone, members would gather and cut the next stripe off their ties to
signify progress.
CREATING A SHARED VISION:
A vision refers to an image a project team holds in common about how the project will look upon
completion, how they will work together, and/or how customers will accept the project. Visions come in a
variety of shapes and forms; they can be captured in a slogan or a symbol or can be written as a formal
vision statement. A vision inspires members to give their best effort. Moreover, a shared vision unites
professionals with different backgrounds and agendas to a common aspiration. It helps motivate members
to subordinate their individual agendas and do what is best for the project.
MANAGING PROJECT REWARD SYSTEMS:
Project managers are responsible for managing the reward system that encourages team performance and
extra effort. One advantage they have is that give a sense of accomplishment. Another inherent reward is
the project success typically gives team members an option to play another exciting game.
While project managers tend to focus on group rewards, there are times when they need to reward
individual performance. This is done not only to compensate extraordinary effort but also to signal to the
others what exemplary behavior is. More specifically, among the rewards they use to motivate and
recognize individual contributions are the following:
• Letters of commendation. While project managers may not have responsibility for their team
members’ performance appraisals, they can write letters commending their project performance. These
letters can be sent to the workers’ supervisors to be placed in their personnel files.
• Public recognition for outstanding work. Superlative workers should be publicly recognized for their
efforts. Some project managers begin each status review meeting with a brief mention of project workers
who have exceeded their project goals.
• Job assignments. Good project managers recognize that, while they may not have much budgetary
authority, they do have substantial control over who does what, with whom, when, and where. Good work
should be rewarded with desirable job assignments. Managers should be aware of member preferences
and, when appropriate, accommodate them.
• Flexibility. Being willing to make exceptions to rules, if done judiciously, can be a powerful reward.
Allowing members to work at home when a child is sick or xcusing a minor discretion can engender long-
lasting loyalty.

ORCHESTRATING THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS:

Most decisions on a project do not require a formal meeting to discuss alternatives and determine
solutions. Instead decisions are made in real time as part of the daily interaction patterns between project
managers, stakeholders, and team members.
Still, projects encounter problems and decisions that require the collective wisdom of team members as
well as relevant stakeholders. Group decision making should be used when it will improve the quality of
important decisions. This is often the case with complex problems that require the input of a variety of
different specialists. Group decision making should also be used when strong commitment to the decision
is needed and there is a low probability of acceptance if only one person makes the decision. Participation
is used to reduce resistance and secure support
for the decision.
Guidelines for managing group decision making are provided below:
Facilitating Group Decision Making
Facilitating group decision making essentially involves four major steps. Each step is briefly described
next with suggestions for how to manage the process.
1. Problem identification. The project manager needs to be careful not to state the problem in terms of
choices (e.g., should we do X or Y?). Rather the project manager should identify the underlying problem
to which these alternatives and probably others are potential solutions. This allows group members to
generate alternatives, not just choose among them.
2. Generating alternatives. Once there is general agreement as to the nature of the problem(s), then the
next step is to generate alternative solutions. If the problem requires creativity, then brainstorming is
commonly recommended. Here the team generates a list of possible solutions on a flipchart or
blackboard. During that time the project manager establishes a pause on criticizing or evaluating ideas.
Members are encouraged to “piggyback” on other’s ideas by extending them or combining ideas into a
new idea. The object is to create s many alternatives as possible no matter how outlandish they may
appear to be.
3. Reaching a decision. The next step is to evaluate and assess the merits of alternative solutions. During
this phase it is useful to have a set of criteria for evaluating the merits of different solutions. In many
cases the project manager can draw upon the priorities for the project and have the group assess each
alternative in terms of its impact on cost, schedule, and performance as well as reducing the problem gap.
4. Follow-up. Once the decision has been made and implemented, it is important for the team to find the
time to evaluate the effectiveness of the decision. If the decision failed to provide the anticipated solution,
then the reasons should be explored and the lessons learned added to the collective memory bank of the
project team.
REJUVENATING THE PROJECT TEAM:
Over the course of a long project, a team sometimes drifts off course and loses momentum. The project
manager needs to swing into action to realign the team with the project objectives and step on the pedal.
There are both formal and informal ways of doing this. Informally, the project manager showed her team
the movie The Shawshank Redemption to rekindle hope and commitment to success. Another option is to
have the project sponsor give a pep talk to the “troops.”
Sometimes more formal action needs to be taken. The project manager may recognize the need for a
team-building session devoted to improving the work processes of the team. This meeting is particularly
appropriate if she senses that the team is approaching a transition point in its development. The goal of
such a session is to improve the project team’s effectiveness through better management of project
demands and group processes.
MANAGING VIRTUAL PROJECT TEAMS:
Virtual project team is one in which the team members are geographically situated so that they may
seldom, if ever, meet face-to-face as a team.
When team members are spread across different time zones and continents, the opportunity for direct
communication is severely limited. Electronic communication such as the Internet, e-mail, and
teleconferencing takes on much more importance in virtual projects because this is the primary means of
communication.
Here are some guidelines developed by 3M for use on their distributed projects:
• When to e-mail. To distribute important information and news in a one-to-one or one-to-many frame of
reference.
• When to use electronic bulletin boards. To encourage discussion and flush out diversity of opinion on
issues.
• When to videoconference. Videoconference when you need to see each other’s face and expressions.
This is important during the early phases of a project, when you are building relationships and developing
a common understanding of what needs to be done. Use, again, when working on critical decisions and/
or contentious issues.
• When to use conference calls. When people in different locations are working with common documents,
presentations, sketches, and models. Use for status report meetings and to sustain social camaraderie.
• When to fly. Fly to build or repair trust. Use travel budget to get all key players together early on to
instill commitment to the goals of the project and engage in team-building activities.
Even with the best communication system, managers have to overcome the problem of time zone
differences, cultural nuances, and finding a convenient time for people to conference.
Below are some additional tips for alleviating communication problems and enhancing the
performance of virtual teams:
1. Keep team members informed on how the overall project is going. Use shareware or develop a
central access point such as either a Web site or LAN account to provide members with updated project
schedules. Team members need to know where they fit in the big picture.
2. Don’t let team members vanish. Virtual teams often experience problems getting in touch with each
other. Use an Internet scheduling software to store members’ calendars.
3. Establish a code of conduct to avoid delays. Team members need to agree not only on what, when,
and how information will be shared but also on how and Carl A. Singer, a senior program managerwhen
they will respond to it. Develop a priority system to distinguish messages that require immediate response
from those with longer time frames.
4. Establish clear norms and protocols for surfacing assumptions and conflicts. Because
most communication is nonvisual, project managers cannot watch body language and facial expressions
to develop a sense of what is going on. They need to probe deeper when communicating to force
members to explain their viewpoints, actions, and concerns more clearly; they must double-check
comprehension.
5. Share the pain. Do not require everyone to conform to your time zone and preferences. Rotate meeting
times so that all team members have a turn working according to their clock. To some extent managing a
virtual project team is no different from managing a regular project team. The key is working within the
constraints of the situation to develop effective ways for team members to interact and combine their
talents to complete the project.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
Organizational research and direct experience tell us that organizations and project teams cannot operate
in ways that ignore the external effects of their decisions.
One way to understand the relationship of project managers and their projects to the rest of the
organization is through employing stakeholder analysis.
Stakeholder analysis is a useful tool for demonstrating some of the seemingly irresolvable conflicts that
occur through the planned creation and introduction of any new project.
Project stakeholders are defined as all individuals or groups who have an active stake in the project and
can potentially impact, either positively or negatively, its development.
Project stakeholder analysis, then, consists of formulating strategies to identify and, if necessary, manage
for positive results the impact of stakeholders on the project.
Stakeholder analysis is helpful to the degree that it compels firms to acknowledge the potentially wide
ranging effect that their actions can have, both intended and unintended, on various stakeholder groups.
IDENTIFYING PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS:
Internal stakeholders are a vital component in any stakeholder analysis, and their impact is usually felt in
relatively positive ways; that is, while serving as limiting and controlling influences (in the case of the
company accountant), for example, most internal stakeholders want to see the project developed
successfully.
Internal Stake holders:
• Top management
• Accountant
• Other functional managers
• Project team members

On the other hand, some external stakeholder groups operate in manners that are quite challenging or
even hostile to project development. The set of project stakeholders that project managers must consider
are:
External Stake holders:
• Clients
• Competitors
• Suppliers
• Environmental, political, consumer, and other intervenor groups

CLIENTS
 In most cases, for both external and internal clients, the project deals with an investment.
 Clients are concerned with receiving the project as quickly as they can possibly get it from the
team, because the longer the project implementation, the longer the money invested sits without
generating any returns.
 As long as costs are not passed on to them, clients seldom are overly interested in how much
expense is involved in a project’s development.
 The opposite is usually the case, however. Costs typically must be passed on, and customers are
avidly interested in getting what they pay for.
 Also, many projects start before client needs are fully defined. Product concept screening and
clarification are often made part of the project scope of work.
 These are two strong reasons why many customers seek the right to make suggestions and request
alterations in the project’s features and operating characteristics well into the schedule.
 The customer feels with justification that a project is only as good as it is acceptable and useful.
This sets a certain flexibility requirement and requires willingness from the project team to be
amenable to specification changes.
 Also the term client does not in every case refer to the entire customer organization.
 A client firm consists of a number of internal interest groups, and in many cases they have
different agendas. For example, a company can probably readily identify a number of distinct
clients within the customer organization, including the top management team, engineering
groups, sales teams, on-site teams, manufacturing or assembly groups, and so on.
 Under these normal circumstances it becomes clear that the process of formulating a stakeholder
analysis of a customer organization can be a complex undertaking.
 The challenge is further complicated by the need to communicate, perhaps using different
business language, with the various customer stakeholder groups.
 Preparing a presentation to deal with the customer’s engineering staff requires mastery of
technical information and solid specification details.
 On the other hand, the finance and contractual people are looking for tightly presented numbers.

COMPETITORS
 Competitors can be an important stakeholder element because they are affected by the successful
implementation of a project.
 When a rival company bring a new product to market, the project team’s parent organization
could be forced to alter, delay, or even abandon its project.
 In assessing competitors as a project stakeholder group, project managers should try to uncover
any information available about the status of a competitor’s projects.
 Any apparent lessons a competitor may have learned can be a source of useful information for a
project manager who is initiating a similar project.
 If a number of severe implementation problems occurred within the competitor’s project, that
information could offer valuable lessons in terms of what to avoid.
SUPPLIERS
 Suppliers are any group that provides the raw materials or other resources the project team needs
in order to complete the project.
 When projects require a significant supply of externally purchased components, the project
manager needs to take every step possible to ensure steady deliveries.
 First, the project manager has to ensure that each supplier receives the input information
necessary to implement its part of the project in a timely way.
 Second, he or she must monitor the deliveries so they are met according to plan.
 In the ideal case, the supply chain becomes a well-greased machine that automatically both draws
the input information from the project team and delivers the products without excessive
involvement of the project manager.
 For example, in large-scale construction projects, project teams daily must face and satisfy an
enormous number of supplier demands.
 The entire discipline of supply-chain management is predicated on the ability to streamline
logistics processes by effectively managing the project’s supply chain.
INTERVENOR GROUPS
 Any environmental, political, social, community-activist, or consumer groups that can have a
positive or negative effect on the project’s development and successful launch are referred to as
intervenor groups.
 That is, they have the capacity to intervene in the project development and force their concerns to
be included in the equation for project implementation.
 Prudent project managers need to make a realistic assessment of the nature of their projects and
the likelihood that one intervenor group or another may make an effort to impose its will on the
development process.
TOP MANAGEMENT
 In most organizations, top management holds a great deal of control over project managers and is
in the position to regulate their freedom of action.
 Top management is the body that authorizes the development of the project through giving the
initial “go” decision, sanctions additional resource transfers as they are needed by the project
team, and supports and protects project managers and their teams from other organizational
pressures.
 Top management requires that the project be timely (they want it out the door quickly), cost
efficient (they do not want to pay more for it than they have to), and minimally disruptive to the
rest of the functional organization.
ACCOUNTING
 Accountants support and actively monitor project budgets
 To be able to manage the project, to make the necessary decisions, and to communicate with the
customer, the project manager has to stay on top of the cost of the project at all times.
 An efficient cost control and reporting mechanism is vital.
 Accountants perform an important administrative service for the project manager.

FUNCTIONAL MANAGERS
 Most projects are staffed by individuals who are essentially on loan from their functional
departments.
 In fact, in many cases, project team members may only have part-time appointments to the team;
their functional managers may still expect a significant amount of work out of them per week in
performing their functional responsibilities.
 This situation can create a good deal of confusion, conflict, and the need for negotiation between
project managers and functional supervisors and lead to seriously divided loyalties among team
 members, particularly when performance evaluations are conducted by functional managers
rather than the project manager.
 In terms of simple self-survival, team members often maintain closer allegiance to their
functional group than to the project team.
 Project managers need to appreciate the power of the organization’s functional managers as a
stakeholder group.

PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS

 The project team obviously has a tremendous stake in the project’s outcome.
 Although some may have a divided sense of loyalty between the project and their functional
group, in many companies the team members volunteered to serve on the project are receiving the
kind of challenging work assignments and opportunities for growth that motivate them to perform
effectively.
 Project managers must understand that their projects’ success depends upon the commitment and
productivity of each member of the project team.
 Thus, their impact on the project is, in many ways, more profound than any other stakeholder
group.
MANAGING STAKEHOLDERS:
Project managers and their companies need to recognize the importance of stakeholder groups and
proactively manage with their concerns in mind.
Block offers a useful framework of the political process that has fine application to stakeholder
management.
In his framework, Block suggests six steps:
1. Assess the environment.
2. Identify the goals of the principal actors.
3. Assess your own capabilities.
4. Define the problem.
5. Develop solutions.
6. Test and refine the solutions.
1. ASSESS THE ENVIRONMENT
 Is the project relatively low-key or is it potentially so significant that it will likely excite a great
deal of attention?
 Recognizing environmentally conscious consumers and their needs caused many automobile
manufacturing companies are into R&D to develop a car/ SUV with a gasoline/electric hybrid
engine.
2. IDENTIFY THE GOALS OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS
 As a first step in designing a strategy to defuse negative reaction, a project manager should
attempt to paint an accurate portrait of stakeholder concerns.
 Fisher and Ury have noted that the positions various parties adopt are almost invariably based on
need.
 What are the needs of each significant stakeholder group regarding the project?
A recent example will illustrate this point.
 A small IT firm specializing in network solutions and software development recently contracted
with a larger publishing house to develop a simulation for college classroom use.
 The software firm was willing to negotiate a lower-than-normal price for the job because the
publisher suggested that excellent performance on this project would lead to future business.
 The software organization, interested in follow-up business, accepted the lower fee because its
more immediate needs were to gain entry into publishing and develop long-term customer
contacts.
 The publisher needed a low price; the software developer needed new market opportunities.
 Project teams must look for hidden agendas in goal assessment. It is common for departments and
stakeholder groups to exert a set of overt goals that are relevant, but often illusionary.
 In haste to satisfy these unconcealed goals, a common mistake is to accept these goals on face
value, without looking into the needs that may drive them or create more compelling goals.
3. ASSESS YOUR OWN CAPABILITIES
 Organizations must consider what they do well.
 Likewise, what are their weaknesses?
 Do the project manager and her team have the political savvy and a sufficiently strong bargaining
position to gain support from each of the stakeholder groups?
 If not, do they have connections to someone who can?
 Each of these questions is an example of the importance of the project team understanding its
own capacities and capabilities.
 For example, not everyone has the contacts to upper management that may be necessary for
ensuring a steady flow of support and resources.
 If you realistically determine that political acumen is not your strong suit, then the solution may
be to find someone who has these skills to help you.
4. DEFINE THE PROBLEM
 We must seek to define problems both in terms of our perspectives, as well as considering the
valid concerns of the other party.
 The key to developing and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships lies in recognizing that
different parties can have very different but equally legitimate perspectives on a problem.
 When we define problems, not just from our viewpoint but also trying to understand how this
same issue may to perceived by our stakeholders, we start operating in a “win-win” mode.
 The more accurately and honestly we can define the problem, the better able we will be to create
meaningful solution options.
5. DEVELOP SOLUTIONS
 There are two important points to note about this step.
 First, developing solutions means precisely that: creating an action-plan to address, as much as
possible, the needs of the various stakeholder groups in relation to the other stakeholder groups.
 Second it is necessary that we do our political homework prior to developing solutions.
6. TEST AND REFINE THE SOLUTIONS
 Implementing the solutions implies acknowledging that the project manager and team are
operating under imperfect information.
 In testing and refining solutions, the project manager and team should realize that solution
implementation is an iterative process.
 You make your best guesses, test for stakeholder reactions, and reshape your strategies
accordingly.
 Along the way, many of your preconceived notions about the needs and biases of various
stakeholder groups must be refined as well.
SOCIAL NETWORK BUILDING:
MAPPING DEPENDENCIES:
The first step to building a social network is identifying those on whom on project depends for success.
The project manger and his or her key assistants need to ask the following questions:
 Whose cooperation will we need?
 Whose agreement or approval will we need?
 Whose oppositions would keep us from accomplishing the project?
It is always better to overestimate rather than under estimate dependencies. Project mangers should find
the dependencies first. After identifying whom you will depend on, you must analyze the project from
their perspective. The project manager should analyze the followings:
 What differences exist between myself and the people whom I depend
 How do these different people view the project?
 What is the current status of the relationship I have with the people I depend on?
  What sources of influence do I have relative to those on whom I depend?
Once you start this analysis you can begin to appreciate what others value and what currencies you might
have to offer as a basis on which to build a working relationship. You begin to realize where potential
problems lie. Further more, diagnosing another’s point of view as well as the basis for their positions will
helpful and anticipate their reactions and feelings about your decisions and actions. This information is
vital for selecting the appropriate influence strategy and tactics and conducting positive negotiations.

MANAGEMENT BY WANDERING AROUND :( MBWA)

Hewlett- Packard refer to as ‘Management by Wandering around” (MBWA) to reflect that managers
spend their majority of their time outside their offices. MBWA is somewhat of a misnomer that there is a
purpose behind the wandering. Through face to face interactions project managers are able to stay in
touch with what is really going on in the project and build cooperative relationships essential to project
success.
Effective project managers initiate contact with key players to keep abreast of developments,
anticipate potential problems, provide encouragement and reinforce the objectives and vision of the
project. They are able to intervene to resolve conflicts. By staying in touch in with various aspects of the
project they become the focal point for information on the project. Participants turn to them to obtain the
most current and comprehensive information about the project which reinforces their central role as
project manager.
While a significant amount of their time is devoted to the project team, effective project manager find
the time to regularly interact with more distal stakeholders. They keep in touch with suppliers, vendors,
top management and other functional mangers. In doing so they maintain familiarity with different
parties, sustain friendships, discover opportunities to do favors and understand the motives and needs of
others. Through frequent communications they alleviate peoples concerns about the project, dispel
rumors, warn people of potential problems and lay the groundwork for dealing with setbacks in a more
effective manner.
Experienced project managers recognize the need to build relationships before they need them. They
initiate contact with the key stakeholders at times when there are no outstanding issues or problems and
therefore no anxieties and suspicious. On these social occasions, they engage in small talk and responsive
banter. Project mangers also seek to make deposits in their relationships with potentially important
stakeholders. They respond to others requests for aid, provide supportive counsel and exchange
information. In doing so they establish credit in that relationship which allow them to deal with more
serious problems.
MANAGING UPWARD RELATIONS:
Project success is strongly affected by the degree to which a project has the support from top
management. Such support is reflected in appropriate budget responsiveness to unexpected needs and
clear signal to others in the organization of the importance of cooperation. Visible top management
support is not only critical for securing the support of other managers within an organization, but it also is
a key factor in the project mangers ability to motivate the project team. Nothing establishes a manager’s
right to lead more than his ability to defend. To win the loyalty of team members, project mangers have to
be effective advocates for their projects. They have to be able to get top management to rescind
unreasonable demands, provide additional resources and recognize the accomplishments of team
members.
Perhaps because of this connection, working relationships with upper management is a common
source of consternation. Many of the tensions that arise between upper management and project mangers
are a result of differences in perspective. Project mangers become naturally absorbed with what is best for
their project. To them the most important thing in the world is their project. Top management should have
a different set of priorities. They are concerned with what is best for the entire organization. It is only
natural for these two interests to conflict at times.
Once project mangers accept that disagreement with superiors is more a question of perspective than
substance, they can focus more of their energy on the art of persuading upper management. But before
they can persuade superiors, they must first prove loyalty. Loyalty in this context simply means that most
of the time project mangers have to know that they consistently follow through on request and adhere to
the parameters established by top management without a great deal of grumbling. Closed linked to loyalty
is having creditability which comes from an established track record of success. Once mangers have
proven loyalty to upper management, senior management is much receptive to their challenges and
request.
Project managers have to cultivate strong ties with upper managers who are sponsoring the project.
They are high ranking officials who championed approval and funding of the project. As such, their
reputations are aligned are with the project. Sponsors are also the ones who defend the project when it is
under attack in the upper circles of management. Project mangers should always keep such people
informed of any problems that may cause embarrassment or disappointment.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE:
A highly visible interactive management style is not only essential to building and sustaining
relationship. It allows project mangers to utilize their most powerful leadership tool own behavior. Often
when faced with uncertainty, people look to others for cues as to how to respond and demonstrate a
propensity to mimic the behaviors of superiors. Project mangers behavior symbolizes how other people
should work on the project. Through his behavior a project manger can influence how others act and
respond to a variety of issues related to project.
There are six aspects of leading by example. They are follows
 Priorities
 Ethics
 Standards of performances
 Co operation
  Problem solving
 Urgency
Priorities:
Actions speak louder than words. Subordinates and other discern project mangers priorities by how
they spend their time. If a project manger claims that this project is critical and then is perceived as
devoting more time to other project, then all his verbal reassurances are likely to fall on deaf ears.
Conversely, a project manger who takes the time to observe a critical test instead of simply waiting for a
report affirms the importance of the testers and their work. Likewise the types of questions project
mangers pose communicate the priorities. By repeatedly asking who specific issues relate to satisfying the
customer, a project manger and reinforce the importance of customer satisfaction.
Urgency:
Through their actions project mangers can convey a sense of urgency, which can permeate project
activities. This urgency in part can be conveyed through stringent deadlines, frequent status report
meeting, and aggressive solutions for expediting the project. If they want others to work faster and solve
problems quicker, then they need to work faster. They need to hasten the pace of their own behavior.
Problem Solving:
How project managers respond to problems sets the tone for how others tackle problems. If project
manager is more concerned with finding out who is to blame instead of how to prevent problems from
happening again, then others will tend to cover their tracks and cast the blame elsewhere. If, on the other
hand, project managers focus more on how they can turn a problem into an opportunity or what can be
learned from a mistake, then others are more likely to adopt a more proactive approach to problem
solving.
Co operation:
How project managers act toward outsiders influences how team member interact with outside. If
project managers set the norm of treating outsiders with respect and being responsive to their needs, then
others will more likely follow suit.
Standard of performance:
Project managers recognize that if they want participants to exceed project expectations then they have
exceed others expectations of a good project manager. They establish a high standard for project
performance through the quality of their daily interactions.
Ethics:
How others respond to ethical dilemmas that arise in the course of a project will be influenced by how
the project manager has responded to similar dilemmas. In many cases team members base their actions
on how they think the project manger would respond. If project mangers deliberately distort or with hold
vital information’s from customers or top management, then they are signaling to others that this kind of
behavior is acceptable.