Resource Management
6. Based on full knowledge of the disadvantages and advantages of different organizations, one can select
5.3 Roles and Responsibilities of the Project Manager
The project manager is one of the keys to project success. His abilities can lead a team to success on a path that avoids or mini- mizes performance anomalies. The following are among a project manager's responsibilities:
• supervising the preparation and project plans;
• defining the relations between the different parties involved in the project's execution;
• taking all actions and steps necessary for obtaining project resources;
• organizing supervising and coordinating work between departments;
• following up project activities, and taking appropriate interim decisions to re-form pathways of execution;
• monitoring costs, and making decisions to ensure they match plan costs;
• taking action to ensure the cash flows to and from the project in benefit toward the project;
• ensuring that the professional competence of subcon- tractors meets the required level, and following up their work;
• preserving the rights of the company, as set out in the contract, and overseeing the administration of the contract;
• sending on the project deliverables in a timely manner and reviewing customer claims (often a source of the truest and most objective judgment of the degree of the project's success);
• establishing a linked system of reports that coordinates the project internally with its functional departments and externally with the project's owners, consultants, local authorities, sub-contractors and suppliers;
• attending the meetings of the project at a strategic level, in general (including executive-level meetings);
• developing a policy to encourage employee initiative within the project;
• testing assistants and subordinates as part of discharg- ing the responsibility for achieving the project plan in
Figure 5.3 Effects of clarity and cloudy for objective, vision and mission to the project team.
terms of time, cost, and quality, and making all other decisions required for completing the project that do not violate existing company policy or practice at Head Office (not to mention governmental statutes and regulations);
• ensuring good onsite management of the project (administration, subsistence, regulating traffic, and securing the site and its employees against risks, etc.
In the case of a non-resident manager, regular visits have to be carried out. In the manager's absence oth- erwise, a second-in-command must be available to take charge and maintain everything according to the regular manager's norms);
• ensuring that equipment works and materials are in compliance with specifications.
The project manager is "the conductor of the band." Failure on the project manager's part to lead execution of the tasks at hand properly will produce a result unsatisfactory to the client. He or she is, and will be held, responsible for clarifying the objectives and requirements of the project before and during its execution.
The following figure illustrates the usefulness of consensus group work, setting goals as the business runs smoothly for the
project as a whole. The second figure illustrates what happens with non-compliance and a lack of clarity. Time will be wasted, and that would result in increased costs.
5.3.1 Project M a n a g e r as a Leader
A successful project manager has the ability to lead a team com- posed of individuals with different skillsets, personalities and lev- els of experience. The team members may have also worked on different projects and in different organizational structures. As a project manager, you must overcome cultural barriers and create a spirit of cooperation and coordination of effort.
The following list attempts to encompass the most desirable combination of qualities and skills in the ideal project manager:
• Excellent communication skills
• Flexibility in work and acceptance of changes
• Training on the tools and techniques of project man- agement
• Potential to direct every member of the project to achieve the objectives of the project
• Respect of senior management
• Ability to make quick decisions
• Ability to identify, analyze, and solve problems
• Entrepreneurial mentality and work ethic, and an attitude that treats general rules of the project as role models and guidelines rather than as either absolutes or matters of indifference
• Self-confidence
• Experienced in procedures and project management tools
• Motivated to achieve success
There are two ways to manage individuals: through direct orders and sharp resolution of a centralized dictatorship, or through democracy, meaning the dialogue and discussion of ideas and analysis as the basis for issuing commands. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but the project leader must determine how it will operate, and needs to be ready and able to "shift gears" between these approaches as circumstances may dictate.