Building a Business Process Improvement (BPI) Model
Embracing Business Process Improvement program is the ideal way for Organizations to make that leap to the next level and build competitive edge. Implementing a BPI program gives the Organization several direct and indirect benefits and advantages. It helps the Organization get rid of the redundancies, reduce dependence upon people and eliminate wastage as well […]
Information System for Talent Management
Introduction Information technology and system have changed the way business gets conducted. Every decision-making process is enhanced with utilization of an information system. Information systems have been deployed by human-resource team to enhance employee employer relationship. Companies require great deal of contribution from employee for its success though information systems have made several processes automated. […]
Reverse Logistics & SCM – Scope and Advantages
Supply Chain Management is concerned not only with the flow of raw materials and finished goods, but scope extends beyond this to include reverse flow of unsold finished goods, parts and packaging materials from the point of consumption at customer’s end back to the organization or to rework/refurbishing vendors. Today reverse logistics has been adopted […]
The Changing Role of the CEOs in the Digital Age and What It Means for Them
The Changing Nature of Capital Allocation and Capital Expansion With the Digital Age well and truly upon us, the changes brought about due to the advent of this era have been many and multifaceted. Right from newer work methodologies such as Agile and the rise of the Gig Economy, the Digital Age has left no […]
Emergence of ERP System
Introduction Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP is one the most common term used among corporate world, business school and in the technology structure. There are several definitions of the ERP, but the term can be best understood if each word is looked at individually. Enterprise refers to any organization with aspiration and business motive. In […]
Project Management is both an art and a science. It is a science because project managers need to estimate budgets, draw up schedules, and manage costs and earn profits. It is an art because they have to ensure that the team gets along well and the extra edge that contributes to the success of the project is achieved through efficiencies and synergies.
In this context, it is very important for project managers to have good soft skills like communication, people management, and personality. The project manager is like a conductor in an opera who provides the direction to the individual performers in the team. Hence, he or she has to have exceptional people skills as they are tasked with the objective of carrying the team along with them.
Further, project managers need to communicate with different stakeholders including their superiors, the support functions like HR and Admin, and the other interfaces like customers, vendors, and members of other project teams with which their team is interacting. All these aspects call for a superior display of people skills from the project manager. We shall discuss each of these skills in the following sections.
The first essential skill that the project manager must have is exceptional communication abilities. Since project managers have to interact with the customers, the team members, and associated stakeholders, he or she has to get the point across without communication gaps. There are many projects where the project managers because of limited communication skills often find themselves unable to articulate the problems and the objectives to the stakeholders.
It is an axiom in contemporary organizational behavior theory and practice that the project managers must have excellent written and spoken English skills as he or she has to communicate in writing as well as during oral speech about the project imperatives and the project objectives.
Apart from communication skills, the project managers have to have superior people management skills. Since the project manager is tasked with the duty of ensuring excellent teamwork and team bonding, he or she must provide the leadership by example and leadership by people management from which the team members can draw inspiration and perform at their full potential.
In some multinationals, it is the practice that the people manager is different from the project manager and that this division takes some responsibility off the project manager. However, even in this case, the project manager still has the overall responsibility for teamwork and team cohesion and hence, his or her people skills must be exceptional.
The other soft skills that the project manager must have concern the conflict resolution, team development, and mentoring skills. Conflicts are inevitable in teams as well as with other stakeholders. Hence, the project manager has to be a skilled negotiator and an astute troubleshooter.
Further, the project manager has to inculcate teamwork and team bonding and hence, the team development skills must be exemplary. Apart from this, the project manager has to mentor new recruits and those employees who show high potential and pass on some of the tips and the strategies that made the project manager grow to the present position with the objective that the employees with potential would also grow in a similar manner.
One of the skills that we have touched upon briefly was the customer interfacing skills. Without this skill, project managers might as well find another role for themselves as customer interfacing is one of the key areas of project management.
Including the internal stakeholder management, customer interfacing is all about how well the project manager handles customer complaints, proactively prevents customer complaints, and achieves customer delight and customer wow that go beyond customer satisfaction.
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Costs in Project Management – Costs associated with the Projects
February 12, 2025
