The Key Competencies of a Project Manager - Coursework Example

Running “The Key Competencies of a Project Manager: Beyond the Basics” ID] [Lecturer] Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Ability to make Sound Decisions 4 Training of Staff and Dealing with Subordinates 6 Get the Job done Effectively and Efficiently – Resourcefulness 8 Ownership 10 Risk-taking & Goal-Oriented 11 Conclusion 12 Bibliography 13 Introduction A project manager is the backbone of any management activity. This in essence lays the foundation for the long term success of the management regime or otherwise. What this suggests is the fact that foreseeable vision on the part of the project manager is of utmost significance within the realms of any business, management activity or task at hand. He jumps the gun on most of the occasions and predicts what will follow next. His decisions are mostly based on sound logic and he has a creative mind which gets implemented within his business decisions. He knows his craft well and makes sure that the people around him understand his management acumen. He can manage well and hence the reason that he is preferred over his colleagues for the post of the project manager. The key competencies of a project manager are immense but a few of them are mentioned within the length of this paper. Literature Review Within the literature review for this topic, the emphasis would be laid on the fact that project managers commit their own selves whole-heartedly towards the cause of the project at hand and that they exhibit some of the very intrinsic traits within their professional duties and their personal capacities which make them stand head and shoulders with the rest of the employees within the organization. It is their single-ness in terms of management expertise which is given its due credit and thus they are appointed as the ones who will lead the organization towards success whilst accomplishing the results that are envisaged in the wake of a peculiar project. The literature review will explore the exact basis upon which project managers have achieved higher ranks, broke new grounds, taken care of new possibilities and in essence made their mark within this field of management itself. The key competencies of a project manager entail a number of strengths on his part and the time is right to make a clear cut understanding of the very same in the following paragraphs. (Frame, 2002) Ability to make Sound Decisions Decision making in science and indeed any other field of study is a difficult thing and for this, one needs to understand what are the basic ways in which a decision can be arrived at, without wasting much time and using the best tools and techniques in order to achieve the same. These decisions are very crucial to the outcome of a project and a project manager is accountable for the very same. At times, certain things should be kept in mind like the fact that information is the single most significant thing in this whole process. Decision-making is indeed a very complex and well-developed area, one that has to be looked at by the researchers and lecturers with particular care. People think in different ways. They can either be positive about something or be very pessimistic about an approach. Nevertheless, the positive approach is the one, which is more rational, and understandable, as the negative might lead to something that may not ever happen in the future, yet become a relic. A project manager must be on his feet always and make decisions which are not only sound but also proper. This is without doubt the reason that positive approaches are more or less quite successful when one talks about the project manager. At times, the positive thinking by the project manager can lead to a problem from an emotional, insightful, creative or negative viewpoint. The reason for the same is that one might minimize the resistance to plans or misfire in making creative jumps every now and then. The need nonetheless, by the project manager is to make contingency plans, the plans, which can come out of no where, when the need arises. A project manager needs to make fast and accurate decisions in the best of times and for that he is accountable to each and every person in the company, not to forget the top management who keeps a note of all the dealings and processes that the project manager undertakes. (Zwell, 2000) This also includes the esteemed stakeholders without which there would be no investment in the company in the first place. For this, the project manager needs to be sharp and visionary with the future in mind, both from the company’s perspective as well as that of the customers for which the company is actually striving to make some efforts. The project manager must understand that the strategic options can be balanced alongside the tactical and short lived goals which are basically brought into play so as to meet some realistic goals and tasks. He should align the same in the light of the mission and vision statements which are drawn up by the company when it was established. Training of Staff and Dealing with Subordinates The subordinates within the project manager’s domains are his real tools. He must make use of them in a way that shows in his adequate handling of the project at hand and his management skills within a broad perspective. People factor has been at the core essence of any organization mainly due to the fact that it is the ultimate resource which brings about completion of work and duties. Thus a company can move from a position of stability to one of a complete unstable stance as it acquires different means of gathering the market and its driving factors that come along with it. Within an organization, the current needs in the training regimes require the employees to get themselves acquainted with the ever changing role of Information Technology and the like within the business quarters as well as learn for their own betterment the different mechanisms through which they can make use of the business processes and management activities in a steady and quick manner. The project manager is assigned the task to prepare the training programs for the concerned staff as well as pinpoint the grey areas that need to be worked upon in a strict fashion. This means that the subordinates must align themselves with the advanced technological applications and that too in a quick way because the corporate world of present times is on the move. Thus the training needs are very much required within any project and more so the organization since the same would ensure that all the employees understand what they are doing and there are as such no hiccups within the domains of the project under discussion. More than anything else, the workers must know what the end goal for the project is like and on what parameters success is measured as far as the project manager of the related task is concerned. There must be unison in their working mechanisms so that they are all on the same wavelength no matter how trying or tough the circumstances turn out to be. One of the most essential training programs is to make sure that all the employees learn to make use of the Information Technology tools and methodologies that are in line with the present day regimes. This would guarantee them success right away since they would all be on the same level as far as understanding of the IT world is concerned. (Khaled, 2001) If the workers are from the IT department, there should be continuous training regimes in the IT sector whereby they are made to learn more and more about the firewalls, ever changing security issues and their remedies, different tools that help in having security in the IT infrastructure and so on. When one speaks of the project management training needs, there is a need to make sure that they are being taught about the different software which keep a close look on the performance measurement aspects of the different employees and workers and this could include a number of different software as and when one goes on to research and eventually select them. (Murray, 2006) This step definitely comes under the proactive vision as laid down in the project manager’s competencies. Training of staff would only facilitate the basis of growth and prosperity within an organization and this must be ensured no matter what the organization is trying to achieve both in the short term as well as in the long run. Get the Job done Effectively and Efficiently – Resourcefulness Another key competence of the project manager is within the resource allocation and eventual usage of the same. He must understand how and where his resources are going to be used and who will deliver what kind of result in the wake of adversity or otherwise. There must be a balancing act before he decides to allocate resources and budgets towards his subordinates and other employees, all of whom come under the realms of the organization itself. He must be proactive in his approach to find the right mix of employees who would deliver within the expected levels of the organization and more so the project that is being discerned about. His results need to be envisaged beforehand – effective and efficient, both at the same time. This requires a great deal of tact and foreseeable ability on the project manager’s part and he must be ready to face criticism if his decisions and actions go wrong in the end. His explanations must be in line with his thoughts and his plans for achieving success within the long run. The success however is a relative term since the project manager is always on the hunt for attaining figures that need to be crossed or bettered each and every time he undertakes an activity or a project. The job is tough and hence the reason that project managers are being paid handsomely all over the world within the business regimes. (Lewis, 2007) His effective and efficient handling of the people under him is one of the greatest skills that he possesses. He must have an eye to understand the strong points of the people under him as well as pinpoint, address and rectify the shortcomings as and when he notices within his subordinates. He must be jovial and very friendly to them but at the same time his handling should be of a tough taskmaster when it comes to getting work done within the project management domains. It is the project manager’s competence to find out the competencies of the people under him and work with them to gain instant results for the project and the business in essence. Ownership The project manager needs to take personal responsibility for the work that he has been assigned as well as the people who work under him. The subordinates take this project manager as their leader within the ranks of the project and he must show them that his dignity is equivalent to the worth that he has been bestowed with. He must be forthright with them with regards to his personal dealings as well as the subordinates’ ones. The project manager puts his heart and soul into his work because he feels a personal attachment towards the project and sees it as his own property. Since he is accountable for each and every tenet that comes under the project domains, he must know all about the project and his mind should be set on achieving results and success at the end. Nothing else is expected from him since he is a dedicated project manager for a particular task and upon its completion, he would be offered a place within top management or other projects that come within the realms of the business from time to time. The subordinates who help the project manager in achieving ownership for the sake of success should be taken in high esteem by the manager himself since he must determine that such employees remain committed to a common cause – to achieve considerable results at the end of the day and to make the project a complete success. Risk-taking & Goal-Oriented The project manager should be ready to take risks as and when required because this is an important aspect of managing different projects within the business domains. Risk-taking could be seriously hampered by sequential losses that are had within the project’s undertakings. Thus it is significant to notice what exactly a risk is for a project manager and what is deemed as a point of normality in his book. His aims and objectives must be directed towards the short term and the long term goals of the project. This would help him establish a clear cut basis for the things that need to be done instantly as well as from the longer scheme of things. Goal-orientation is a very basic premise of the project manager’s tasks. This is because without a goal it is literally impossible to follow a set pattern of activities. The project manager must spell out the exact objectives and the end goal which he and his team must aim at. This, in fact should be the primary responsibility of the project manager so that he could start getting results in an instant fashion. The project manager must be open to criticism but then again this should be without any bias and in line with the goals that have already been set within the long run. His creativity and desire to succeed must mesh with the goals that have been set for the project at hand and the project manager can do himself and his team a favor if he narrates the exact way under which success will eventually be achieved at the end of the day. (Dinsmore, 2006) There must not be any apprehensions with the kind of commitment that must be showed towards the fulfillment of tasks and activities and the devotion thus required should be pretty essential in the wake of the results sought. Conclusion It would be wise to state here that a project manager is indeed the lifeblood for any organization when the latter decides to have specialists for completing different projects. This is a contemporary practice and one that is reaping instant results. It is best to let project managers do their job in the best manner that there possibly could be, however the organization must make sure that they are allocating adequate resources, facilitation in the form of hiring the right mix of employees and any other requirements that the project manager might have at any given time of the project itself. (Brown, 2005) In the business world of present times, project management has become an art and it is best advisable to let the project managers accomplish the very same since they are the artists and they can solve it in the best possible form. At times, the expectations of the organizations are exceeded by the work that is done on the part of the project managers, which suggests that they are indeed the specialists and credit must be given to them since it is their due. Bibliography BROWN, Michael F. (2005). The Ethical Foundation of Performance Measurement and Management. Public Management, Vol. 87 DINSMORE, Paul C. (2006). The AMA Handbook of Project Management. AMACOM FRAME, J. Davidson. (2002). The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. Jossey-Bass KHALED, O. Abou. (2001). Information Technology and Staff Development: Issues and Problems Related to New Skills and Competence Acquisition. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, Vol. 9 LEWIS, James P. (2007). Fundamentals of Project Management. American Management Association MURRAY, Michael J. (2006). IT Offshore Outsourcing Requires a Project Management Approach. SAM Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 71 ZWELL, Michael. (2000). Creating a Culture of Competence. Wiley Word Count: 2,551 Read More