The Importance Of Project Managers

The Project refers to make ‘a plan to do something’. Every organization has its goals. To achieve the organizational goals, the organization undertakes many projects. Projects are the specified tasks that an individual or team will have to achieve within the specific time period and availability of resources. The project management is an art to plan for specified goals, organize the components of the project and to ensure that those goals are achieved effectively and efficiently. It involves all the functions of management that is required to accomplish the tasks.

The roles of project managers vary from organization to organization. The project managers in every organization coordinate everything in the project management from beginning till the end. This may involve working on the budget, working in the organization and working outside of the organization. Project managers are skilled professionals and for a successful manager it requires a lot of coordination in the activities for achieving the results.

The project manager must have a specialized knowledge and expertise in the field; a thorough study of project management techniques, problem solving methods, leadership and communication skills. The project manager must be formally well trained and must also develop new skills, as on the job learning.

Project managers have an influencing role in the organization. They coordinate with other departments and team members for understanding project dependencies. The ability for building relationships and getting the best from others is a critical skill that project managers need to undertake.

Project managers are expected to complete the project and for that they need to motivate the staff, build teams from different sources, manage the conflicts and possess all the skills that requires the ability for understanding the people and their needs.

Project managers must have leadership skills and the ability for making decisions after analyzing the situation.

Therefore, there are 5 most important roles of the project manager:

Perceiving – Project managers must know how to accurately recognize and understand the emotions of people in the organization.
Managing – Project managers must have the ability to effectively manage and control the organizational activities.
Decision making – Project managers must know how to solve problems and make appropriate decisions, wherever alterations are necessary.
Achieving – Project managers must have the ability to motivate the team for achieving the goals of the organization.
Influencing – Project managers must also have the ability to recognize and evoke the emotions of the people in the organization in order to deliver the results.

The major tasks of the project manager include:

Integration management – Managing the project direction and focusing on the project improvement.
Quality management – Checking the quality of the products and ensuring that quality standards are adopted constantly.
Risk management – Identifying risks involved in a project and taking actions to prevent them.
Scope management – Defining the scope of the projects.
Time and cost management – Allocating the available resources and managing the required funds for the project.
Human resource management – Encouraging and motivating the team to perform their best in goal achievement.
Communication management – Preparing a communication plan and ensure there is healthy communication.
Stakeholder management – Stakeholder’s role and expectations is defined, and their needs are prioritized accordingly. To understand the status of stakeholder is very important during the course of the projects. The project manager reviews the project documentation a number of times, from the beginning till the end of the project for ensuring a successful project.

Therefore, the project managers are responsible in all the stages of the project, from the initial stage till the closure of the project.