6 Major Roles Of A Project Manager
Once your project has been approved, it is time to execute it. Multitasking of many resources makes negotiation and scheduling components of the project management a constant challenge. In this article, I want to look at some of the major roles of a Project Manager.
For the project to succeed, you must have the right resources as the Project Manager. The most important resource in any project is the intellectual capital that the project team brings to the table.
Certain people will have the skills that you need. Your job will be much easier if you can negotiate for, effectively design and schedule the human and material resources that you need to successfully complete the project. If you lose this battle, all your hard work building a great plan will be for naught.
A Project Manager has many roles which include:
#1 Leader
The formal authority of the Project Manager is established in the Project Charter and the informal authority will be established by their ability to demonstrate leadership skills with the team.
Project Managers must provide clear direction for where the stakeholders need to go and credible strategies for how to get there. Project Managers must serve as advocates for their projects. It is their responsibility to inspire others-stakeholders and non-stakeholders about the project and enlist their help and support.
#2 Planner and Controller
Project Managers must facilitate project planning and determine the measurement criteria for evaluating the work accomplished. They must also establish systematic processes for measuring the work against the plan.
#3 Communicator
Project Managers act as communication central on a project, interfacing with executives, functional managers. consumers, vendors, project team members, consumers vendors, project team members and other interested parties outside of the clearly and appropriately to each level, to make sure that the right information is transmitted to the right person at the right time and executive support for the project is maintained.
#4 Negotiation
Project Managers need to negotiate for resources- time, money, people, and equipment- in order to complete the project successfully. Depending on the organization, these negotiations may involve an element of “horse-trading” with other functional managers.
In addition, as the project evolves, project managers may need to negotiate changes in the scope, schedule, or budget with stakeholders. This may involve negotiating trade-offs among the previously established success criteria for the project.
#5 Problem Solver
Every project is unique, which means that every project has its own unique set of problems to overcome. Project Managers must be able to face problems rather than deny them, determine the root cause of problems, and make decisions about the best methods for dealing with these problems. Problem-solving is the key role of project managers.
#6 Organizational Change Agent
Project exists within organizations. Project Managers need to know how to get things done in the organization. How to avoid political issues that may hamper the project’s progress, and how to influence the organization to bring about change.
They also need to be willing to adapt to project changes that may be imposed upon them by their organization.
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