Online Interview with Sir Christopher Pappas - Coursework Example

Management Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Management I managed to have an online interview with Sir. Christopher Pappas, in the attempt of learning how he performed his role as a community project manager. It is crucial to start by defining the term project for one to understand the nature of work that the manager is expected to do. A project mainly exists after a number of decisions have been addressed concerning a business that could either be internal or external depending on the customer’s needs to the organization. There should be enough funding that would be availed to ensure project execution. There are some specific and measurable goals and objectives created. It becomes difficult to manage a project when the expected results are not clearly defined, or even the quality of the end product. In most cases, the project we be considered to be temporarily since the start will always be defined by the decisions that would be suggested. The end was defined by the achievements of the goals and objectives that had earlier been set by the management. Most of the organizations, always have to incorporate some hierarchy that range from the strategic plan to the programs, projects, and even the sub-projects. A program is mainly a group of projects mainly managed, and coordinated in a way, to ensure that they are able to obtain the benefits that come along by managing them well. Christopher Pappas is the community manager of the instructional Design and e-learning Professional s’ Group at Linkedin. This interview gave me a lot of insight concerning what it takes to be a community manager in a community project. I was able to understand that project management entails at least five processes and each process interacts with each other to, be able complete the whole cycle. After interrogating Christopher, I was able to rank him in the organization chart that explained the hierarchy of the processes performed and how they interrelated. The figure below shows the five processes in the community management process (Reynolds & Russ, 2008). Christopher as the overall project manager and was seen as the person with the highest role in the company since he was always gearing the project’s life cycle. As the project manager, he initiated the projects and helped in their planning and execution. He was expected to supervise the project based on the time schedule that was given and the budget allocated to ensure that only quality outcomes were achieved. This process mainly involved the manager either directly or indirectly, managing some of the employees and coaxing them to perform towards the direction that he wanted them to in attaining organizational goals and objectives. In most cases, this was not appreciated, but in the end, it proved to have been a productive strategy. From the online interview with Christopher, I was able to gather a number of responses to the set questions in the questionnaire which helped in my analysis of his performance in Company. Christopher had been in the online community development for the last four years, and he said that what made him decide to join the company was because all along, he had been willing to interact, and share his knowledge with other professionals who seemed to have a similar opinion. He became the inventor of Moodlers group at Ning also the instructional Design e-learning Proffessional (Daft, 2008). He promised that he was still aiming at creating other inventions in the near future as long as he met the right partners to connect with in his line of business. I also enquired about his personal experience in managing different projects and how this had also contributed to his position. He explained how he managed develop the skills, and knowledge that would be considered to be necessary to enable him make his project a success. He attributed his success to reading a lot, doing extensive consultations from experts also become confident even when faced by challenges. He was the project manager for Yahoo, Oracle, eLearning Guild and e-front (Jennifer, 2004). When still, the project manager of e-Learning project, he faced a number of problems that required an innovative approach for it to succeed. One of the main problem solving skills that the manager thought was necessary, was the one on problem solving as a team. This was tremendously helpful because it enabled each member of the team to be able to clarify each of their roles in the project. As a team, they were also able to develop some development plans which would act as a guide to their plans and realistic schedules of the project. From the flow chart above, it is clear that there are a number of responsibilities that have to be performed to individuals, in order for the overall project a succeed (Reynolds & Russ, 2008). For Chris, there were some typical job task that he claimed and was expected to handle as the online community manager. The main role was to build an online community of professionals, which meant he was an initiator. He had to look for individuals with the necessary experience and common interests to ensure that they would be able to efficiently work in the same company. To be precise, Christopher specified that in the Instructional Design and e-Learning Professional group, he was mostly involved in helping the employees of that company come up with inventions that would be applicable in the company to ensure that it did grow. To be able to capture the interest of the other workers in the roganization. He always ensured that he was particularly enthusiastic, proactive and overly passionate when performing his duties. This was one character that any manager is expected to have in order to pass it to their junior workers. In any organization, there will be some instances when challenges will come up, and the person who would be hard hit would be the project supervisor. Christopher Pappa, was willing to give me the strategies that he applied in order to deal with this problem. As the manager, it would undoubtedly help if the rules were followed to the word. It is the duty of the online community manager, to encourage members to sign up with their mail addresses and names, to eliminate the chances of having to work with anonymous individuals (Daft, 2008). According to the online community manager, it was necessary for any leader, to be highly respectful to the fellow workers and ensure that they are given the floor to air their complains. They should also aim to be respectful and, constructive and avoid use of insults and harassment when dealing with other members (Reynolds & Russ, 2008). The company is known to have over 14,000 members globally, and it was said to be operating under the international business market. In this case, Christopher as the Online manager, was expected to perform the same fundamental tasks, since the managerial role does not change even though the international boundaries change. Christopher also had his own opinion regarding the organic and mechanistic organizational structure considering that he was the controller of the overall project. The Instructional Design Company was mostly operating online and it was mostly facing unpredictable environments since it was open to all the members who would be interested (Daft, 2008). Christopher commented that as the manager, he would opt to maintain the organic organizational structure. This was because, with this structure, he believed that it would be possible to process and distribute the information faster within the same organization. This would be extremely efficient for the manager who would be able to monitor if the company is moving in the correct path and immediately respond to changes in the environment. Christopher Pappas, works in a company that requires high differentiation of tasks, and this is the reason why the manager should stick to this structure. With the environment being highly dynamic, it would put the manager under pressure to put up with the changes and also come up with instant solutions that would be communicated immediately. This structure will ensure that the manager to pass on any critical information promptly and the response is adhered to just as fast (Jennifer, 2004). All the departments situated all over the world should be tightly integrated, so that none of them is left behind when new procedures and strategies are put in place. This will in turn enhance institute standardization and formalized procedures in the dynamic environment of the company. References Jennifer, A. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: theory and practice. London: Routledge. Reynolds, M. & Russ, V. (2008). The handbook of experiential learning and management Education. USA: oxford University Press. Daft, R. L. (2008). New era of management. China: Thompson Higher Education. Read More