Chapter 3: The Project Manager Presented by: Jasim Alnahas

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INEN 261: Week 3

Chapter 3: The Project Manager

Presented by:Jasim Alnahas

Chapter Learning OutcomesIf you complete the given assignments for this chapter you will:

Understand more on Functional and Project Organization.

Understand the role and importance of Project Managers.

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The Project Manager

The project manager can be chosen and installed as soon as the project is selected for funding This simplifies several start up activities

The project manager can be chosen later This makes things difficult

Senior management briefs the project manager Project manager begins with a budget and

schedule As people are added these are refined

Source: Meridith, J.R., and Mantel, S.K. Jr., Project Management, A Managerial Approach, Eight Edition, Wiley & Sons Inc., 2012 6-3

Both Functional and Project Organization requires Management

The enterprise is organized around functions or disciplines such as:

Engineering Finance Legal

Organization

ProjectFunctional People are

extracted from the functional organization to work on projectsPeople

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Functional Management

Figure 3-1


Functional Management Continued

Department heads are usually functional specialists

They have the required technical skills to evaluate all members of their organization

Functional managers: Decide who performs each task Decide how the task is performed Exercise a great deal of control over every aspect

of the work that gets performed within their area


Functional vs. Project Organizational Charts

Functional Organization

VP Engineering

Structural EngineeringDepartment

Manager

Electrical EngineeringDepartment

Manager

Mechanical EngineeringDepartment

Manager---- Sr. Mechanical Engrs ---- Sr. Electrical Engrs ---- Sr. Structural Engrs---- Mechanical Engrs---- Asst. Mechanical Engrs

---- Electrical Engrs---- Asst. Electrical Engrs

---- Structural Engrs---- Asst. Structural Engrs

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Project Management

Figure 3-2


Project Management Continued

Project managers are usually generalists It would be very unusual for a project manager

to have all the technical skills that are used on their projects

Project managers: Rarely decide who performs each task Lack the technical skills to evaluate much of the work

performed on a particular project Exercise control very little over most aspects of the

work that gets performed on the project


Functional vs. Project Organizational Charts

Project Organization

---- Architects ---- Architects ---- Traffic Engrs---- Mechanical Engrs---- Structural Engrs

---- Electrical Engrs---- Mechanical Engrs

---- Structural Engrs---- Highway Engrs

ProjectManager

Access SystemDesign

Manager

LandsideDesign

Manager

AirsideDesign

Manager

---- Electrical Engrs ---- Structural Engrs ---- Geotechnical Engrs

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The Functional Manager vs. The Project Manager Functional managers are usually specialists,

analytically oriented and they know the details of each operation for which they are responsible

Project managers must be generalists that can oversee many functional areas and have the ability to put the pieces of a project together to form a coherent whole

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The Functional Organization Managers familiar with the analytical

methods of his discipline Can directly and technically supervise

E lec trica l M ec h an ic a l C ivil Tec h n ic a l S u p p o rt

C h ie f E n g in eer F in an ce L eg a l

C E O

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The Project Organization Project Manager is a facilitator and

generalist Takes a “systems approach”

ProjectManager

Access SystemDesign

Manager

LandsideDesign

Manager

AirsideDesign

Manager

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Where do these people come from? Functional managers start at the bottom of these

functional chains and are promoted based on technical ability and managerial skills

Project managers usually plucked out of the same functional structures on the basis of their “systems thinking” and communications skills

Formalized education is usually functional in nature and that continues with “on the job training”

Project manager training is a relatively new idea but is becoming more and more popular and desired.

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Project Management Career Paths 1st Track: Start as a project team member

Projects have an organization to them – you gain responsibility in managing pieces of the project

2nd Track: Some organizations use shadow or assistant Project Managers Fully responsible for first small, then larger projects May transition to General Management career track or Mega-

Project track (Seldom back to a technical track) 3rd Track: Large Engineering Organizations often have

a technical track Not strongly managerial in nature Compensation, value and status dependant upon technical

knowledge to the organization

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AT&T Project Management Career Paths

Trainee

Cost Analysis/Schedule Engineer

Site Manager

Small Project Manager

Project Manager

Program Manager

TIME

6 months

6 -18 months

6 - 12 months

Learn about Project management

Project Team Member

Manage large site

Manage $3-$25 Million Projects

Manage $1-$3 Million Projects

Manage Projects > $25 Million

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What is this thing called “Systems Thinking”? (If Project Managers are supposed to use it) The recognition that processes and components are

linked together through inputs and outputs and that they are dependant upon each other to form some useful function within an environment.

The results of the project have to fit purposefully into the organization that commissioned it and within the larger environment that it will function within.

Project Managers are “Synthesizers”

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Project Managers put the pieces together Functional Managers are experts at

analyzing the pieces

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What does a Project Manager Manage? Project manager is largely responsible for

organizing, staffing, budgeting, directing, planning, and controlling the project.

Questions faced by the project manager: 1. What needs to be done (performance)? 2. When must it be done (time)? 3. What are the resources required for this project and

where do I get them (cost)? The three things discussed in our planning session

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Who is the Project Manager responsible to as he/she manages a project? Three broad and sometimes conflicting areas of

responsibility: To the parent organization (his employer) To the customer who commissioned the project To the project team members

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Responsibilities to the Parent Organization Conservation of resources (Don’t spend money that

you don’t have to.) Timely and accurate project communications Careful, competent management of the project (Get

the Project done!) Protect the firm from high risk (Some projects can

sink the organization.) Accurate reporting of project status with regard to

budget and schedule

No Surprises = Excellent Project Management

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Responsibilities to the Customer To deliver the project product which was

asked for and promised Resolve conflict between competing project

interests Ensure performance, budgets, and deadlines

are met Fairness, respect, honesty

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Responsibilities to the Project Team To provide a work environment where they can

excel and grow Challenging work is highly valued by professionals

Fairness, respect, honesty An experience which will be career enhancing

Generally what any supervisor should be doing … however in a project this relationship is just “temporary”

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Frequently the PM has no “Direct Subordinates”, but has several people “working for him” on the project team The project team members are drawn from

the functional organization They are loaned to the project during the

temporary period of project performance Despite this lack of formalized

“boss/subordinate” relationship, the PM needs to provide supervision which will both get the project done and grow the people who are working on the project

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Special Demands falling on a Project Manager (each highlighted in subsequent slides) Acquiring adequate resources Acquiring and motivating personnel Dealing with obstacles Making project tradeoffs Failure and the Risk/Fear of failure Communicating Broadly

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Acquiring Adequate Resources The PM has to make sure he has the resources to

complete the project (on time, on budget, to the agreed upon level of quality)

Resources initially budgeted for projects are frequently insufficient Happens because estimates get cut as they are reviewed by

higher level managers The PM must “scramble, elicit aid, work late, wheedle, threaten

etc.” Sometimes resource trade-offs are required (better people can

offset poor equipment Subcontracting may be an option

May require spirited debates with functional management staff

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Getting to a “Win-Win” with a functional manager

Discuss the value of Project Success as benefiting the entire Corporation

Discuss how a Project Success will benefit the functional manager directly Improve utilization Provide experience for returning staff

Attempt to understand the threats the Project poses to the functional manager Can they be mitigated?

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Acquiring and Motivating People A major challenge for the project manager is that most

people required for a project must be “borrowed”. (More negotiations with functional managers) The people the PM wants and needs are the same people the

FM wants and needs Projects can have more glamour or offer an escape making

the FM jealous Often, the functional manager retains control of

personnel evaluation, salary, and promotion for those people lent out to projects If this is the case the project only offers challenging work The good news in that is that professionals are motivated by

challenging work

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Characteristics of an effective team members

High quality technical skills You need to get the work done

Political sensitivity Teams report in two directions (temporarily)

Strong problem orientation Put the discipline to work on the problem

Strong goal orientation People have to do whatever it takes

High self-esteem Comfortable with success and failure

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Every Project has its Obstacles (problems). What are they?

At the beginning the obstacles are resource related My goodness, how are we ever going to get it done?

In the middle they are tradeoff related How do we adjust to get to the target of what, when and

how much? At project completion problems involve last minute

schedule and technical changes and team transition Can we tweak this and get it done quicker? What will we do when we are done?

What I need is a list of specific unknown problems

that we will encounter!

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Making Project Goal Trade-offs Trading Project cost, schedule and performance

(scope) Reducing the project performance (scope) may reduce

project schedule and project cost Reducing project schedule and scope will reduce project cost Reducing project schedule with scope the same may

increase costs Reducing project cost without reducing scope may increase

schedule

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Making Project Goal Trade-offs (contd.) Relative importance of project objectives for each

stage of the project life cycle as presented by the author

Do you buy it?

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Avoiding Project Failure

Two types of Projects fail for different reasons Classifying your project may help to avoid failure

Type 1 – Well understood, simple, we have done them before

Type 2 – Not well understood, complicated, many unknowns

Both can fail

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Why would Type 1 fail? Type 1 - these projects are generally well-

understood, routine projects Appear simple at the beginning of the project Good plan But something happens to take us off the plan and we

never pick it up The project fails to meet cost or schedule targets

because we have not modified the plan to get back on track

We have done it so many times that nothing can go wrong (but it did!)

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Type 2 fails for different reasons Type 2 - these are not well understood, and there

may be considerable uncertainty about specifically what must be done Many difficulties early in the life of the project (What are

we supposed to do? Fuzzy plans lead to fuzzy and failed performance The Project Team doesn’t know what to do The client doesn’t know what to expect

In our rush to get something done we neglect to agree on what is needed

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Avoiding these types of failures

Type 1 The execution strategy must include frequent checks on

adherence to schedule and budget and a clear definition of who is responsible for replanning the project if it gets off track

Type 2 The project planning must have a clear milestone event

where the Project Team and the client demonstrate understanding on the “what” of the project

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Communication and the Project Manager

Most of the project manager’s time is spent communicating with the many groups interested in the project

Repeat with emphasis Most of the project manager’s time is spent

communicating with the many groups interested in the project

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What is communicated?

Considerable time must be spent selling, reselling, and explaining the project What are we doing? Why are we doing it? What are we doing? Why are we doing it?

The relevance of the project will be tested throughout the project life cycle

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Who does the Project Manager communicate with? Clients Members of the project team Functional departments Top management of the performing

organization and top management of the client organization

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To be an effective communicator the PM must understand and be able to

convey to others: Why the project exists The consequences of project failure What it takes to get and keep top

management support How to develop and use an information

network When and how to be flexible

Hold them or fold them Negotiations

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What kinds of people are promoted into Project Manager positions Strong technical background (gives credibility

with the team and functional managers) Results oriented manager Maturity Availability Someone on good terms with senior executives

(more credibility) A person who can keep the project team

performing (more than keeping them happy) Experience working in several different

departments (credibility)

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Key Traits of Successful Project Manager Someone who has the desire to complete the

project Someone who has the skills and

temperament to get the project completed

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Project Managers must have:

Credibility Sensitivity Leadership and Management ability A tolerance for stress

It is not enough to possess these things – You need to be perceived by others to possess these things.

We will touch on each of these areas

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Credibility is a big part of PM success

Technical credibility - perceived by the client, senior executives, the functional departments, and the project team as possessing sufficient technical knowledge to direct the project

Administrative credibility - keeping the project on schedule and within costs and making sure reports are accurate and timely. Must also make sure the project team has material, equipment, and labor when needed.

Chapter 3-186-44

Sensitivity (Comes with Maturity) Understanding the organization’s political structure Recognizes interpersonal conflict on the project team

or between team members, parent organization, and the client(s)

Does not avoid conflict, but confronts it and deals with it before it escalates

Keeps team members “cool” (productive) Has “technical sensitivity” - ability to sense when team

members may try to “sweep things under the rug”

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Leadership Ability Leadership has been defined as: “interpersonal influence, exercised in situation and directed

through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals.”

Leaders demonstrate: enthusiasm optimism energy tenacity courage personal maturity ethical behavior

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Project Managers are subjected to stress caused by:1. Absence of a consistent set of procedures

and techniques with which to manage their projects

2. Having too much to do3. A high need to achieve which is consistently

thwarted by the project demands4. A changing parent organization

This course is primarily aimed at #1.

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Ethical Issues confronted on Projects

“wired” bids and contracts (the winner has been predetermined) “buy-in” (bidding low with the intention of cutting corners or

forcing subsequent contract changes) “kickbacks” “covering” for team members (group cohesiveness) taking “shortcuts” (to meet deadlines or budgets) using marginal (substandard) materials compromising on safety violating standards consultant (e.g., auditors) loyalties (to employer or to client or to

public)

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The impact of culture on the project and the Project Manager National culture affects:

The value of time The value of relationships The value of trust The status of engineering disciplines

Corporate culture affects Commitment to the project Status and credibility of the Project Manager Status and credibility of the disciplines on the project

The successful PM can sense the culture he is working within and adjust accordingly

Our course in Global Engineering Management treats some of the National Culture issues

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Impact of Institutional Environments In general systems theory, the environment of a

system is defined as everything outside the system that receives outputs from it or delivers inputs to it

Project managers must consider the following environments and how they may impact a project: Socioeconomic environment Legal environment The business cycle as an environment Technological environment

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Summary of Chapter 3 Projects are focused on problems not disciplines Project success depends on support of top management Project Managers are generalists, not specialists Project Managers have responsibilities to:

The Parent Organization The Project Team The Project Success

Project Managers get things done Project Managers communicate Project Managers appreciate how their project fits within

other environments and contexts

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Documents

Chapter 3: The Project Manager Presented by: Jasim Alnahas