Chapter 2

The Manager, the Organization,

and the Team

MEM 612 Project Management

THE PM’S ROLES

MEM 612 Project Management

Facilitator
• Manager-as-supervisor versus manager-
as-facilitator
• Systems approach versus analytical
approach
– Suboptimization
• Must ensure project team members have
appropriate knowledge and resources
• Micromanagement

MEM 612 Project Management

Communicator
Figure 2-1 Communication Paths Between a
Project’s Parties-At-Interest

MEM 612 Project Management

Virtual Project Manager
• Geographically dispersed projects
• Communication via
– Email
– Web
– Telephone
– Video conferencing
• “Never let the boss be surprised!”

MEM 612 Project Management

THE PM’S RESPONSIBILITIES
TO THE PROJECT

MEM 612 Project Management

Three Overriding Responsibilities
• Acquiring resources
– Getting necessary quantity and quality can be
key challenge
– “Irrational optimism”
• Fighting fires and obstacles
• Leadership and making trade-offs

MEM 612 Project Management

Negotiation, Conflict Resolution,
and Persuasion
• Necessary to meet three overriding
responsibilities

MEM 612 Project Management

SELECTION OF A PROJECT
MANAGER

MEM 612 Project Management

Key Criteria
• Credibility - The PM is believable
– technical credibility
– administrative credibility
• Sensitivity - Politically astute and aware of
interpersonal conflict
• Leadership, Style, Ethics - Ability to
direct project in ethical manner

MEM 612 Project Management

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A
PROFESSION

MEM 612 Project Management

Project Management as a
Profession
• Project Management Institute
– More than 64,000 members
• Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK)
• Project-oriented organization

MEM 612 Project Management

FITTING PROJECTS IN THE
PARENT ORGANIZATION

MEM 612 Project Management

More on “Why Projects?”
• Emphasis on time-to-market
• Need for specialized knowledge from a
variety of areas
• Explosive rate of technological change
• Accountability and control

MEM 612 Project Management

Figure 2-2 The Pure Project
Organization

MEM 612 Project Management

The Pure Project Organization
• Advantages
– Effective and efficient for large projects
– Resources available as needed
– Broad range of specialists
– short lines of communication
• Drawbacks
– Expensive for small projects
– Specialists may have limited technological depth
– May require high levels of duplication for certain
specialties

MEM 612 Project Management

Figure 2-3 Functional Project
Organization

MEM 612 Project Management

Functional Project Organization
• Advantages
– technological depth
• Drawbacks
– lines of communication outside functional
department slow
– technological breadth
– project rarely given high priority

MEM 612 Project Management

Figure 2-4 Matrix Project
Organization

MEM 612 Project Management

Matrix Project Organization
• Advantages
– flexibility in way it can interface with parent
organization
– strong focus on the project itself
– contact with functional groups minimizes projectitis
– ability to manage fundamental trade-offs across
several projects
• Drawbacks
– violation of the unity of command principle
– complexity of managing full set of projects
– conflict
MEM 612 Project Management
Figure 2-5 Mixed Project
Organization

MEM 612 Project Management

THE PROJECT TEAM

MEM 612 Project Management

Characteristics of Effective
Project Team Members
• Technically competent
• Politically sensitive
• Problem orientation
• Goal orientation
• High self-esteem

MEM 612 Project Management

Matrix Team Problems
• Weak (functional) matrix
– PM has no direct reports
– Ability to communicate directly with team
members important
• Matrix projects
– Important to maintain good morale
– Project office

MEM 612 Project Management

Intrateam Conflict
• Life cycle phase and source of conflict
• Name-only team
• Interpersonal conflict

MEM 612 Project Management

Copyright
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MEM 612 Project Management