1) With respect to acquiring resources, there is a high potential for conflict between the functional manager and the project manager.
(a) Describe a major source of that conflict and ;
(b) Suggest how it can be properly managed.
In order to describe the conflict between the functional manager and project manager in related to acquiring resources, it is important to understand the inter-relationship between both managers’ role and their job functions in an organization or a company.
The role of a functional manager is to provide resources, particularly the staff or personnel who are related and involved in the project. They have full control of the personnel resources. Furthermore, the functional managers should have a depth knowledge in the
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The project manager is responsible for the overall success of the project. For instance, he / she must negotiate with the functional manager for the resources since they are always limited. In addition, they have to fight for the assigned resources whenever there are some changes of a project due to operational requirements. Furthermore, they have to take care the future of the personnel and should assign personnel to the project based on the resources acquired. Assigning staff towards a project team would be based on their experience and knowledge. Traditionally, the personnel who work on the project should report to the functional manager. It is not an easy task for the project manager to gain the cooperation and commitment of these personnel who are not directly reported to him or her. The project manager also required to negotiate regularly with senior managers regarding project priority and their commitment. All the work mentioned could lead to …show more content…
Task responsibility matrix
Finally, effective negotiation is always a solution towards the conflict. It is essential for both functional and project manager to reach an agreement before making a decision. Negotiation does have the power to overcome a problem by understanding the positions, objectives and interests of both parties. As a result, less confliction would be induced.
2) Discuss how the development and expansion of a project-oriented organization affects the organizational structure adopted.
Nowadays, projects are more likely to be business-oriented. The complexity of the business-oriented project could not be under-estimated. Companies are facing huge challenges to cope with the issues aroused by the complexity of the project. As a result, there is an increasing number of project-oriented organization around the world.
Project-oriented organizations are beneficial whenever the project consists of a long life cycles and consistency where resources could be directly reported to the same project manager over a prolonged period of time. Effective allocation of human resources is vitally important in these organizations, since the business is mainly based on planning, directing, organizing and controlling the resources efficiently, together with the team work and interpersonal skills of the project
Interpersonal skills. Project Managers also serve as mentors to employees on how to appropriately implement Six Sigma procedures (Knapp, 2015, p. 856). The “role modeling, teaching, and coaching” performed by the project managers “helps facilitate others who are internalizing the desired values” (Knapp, 2015, p. 856). Therefore, in addition to guiding projects, project managers build the culture that is vital to the success of an organization. This additional function of a project manager emphasizes the importance of including the project manager into the hierarchy with the appropriate span of
For more than 25 years, The Little Black Book of Project Management has been introducing project managers to the incredibly effective and logical project management skill and methods to help them achieve their goal. This book has been flooded with very nee project management techniques as well as the latest standards of the Project management body of Knowledge (PMBOK) .accepted by PMI (Project Management Institute).
The project manager leads the project and provides vision, direction and encouragement. The project manager takes lead in project planning to determine the schedule and budgets neces-sary to meet the project objectives and is responsible for delivering the project once the pro-ject has been approved by senior management. The project manager is also responsible for the project support team.
The project management have a particular initiative of a plan and then those plans are directed in a particular process which have certain measures depending on the project nature which is done in a controlled manner and if it has many processes then the cycle is repeated over and over, as it reaches the last stage then the project finally terminated. But on the other hand the ordinary management does not initiate the project with a proper plan and also it does not end the project in a proper manner since the processes are not followed correctly so the project never ends it goes on and on, one or the other problem ...
Frame, J.D., Managing Projects in Organizations: How to Make the Best use of Time, Techniques and People, third ed., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,112-117, 2003.
Conflict is a difference in opinion. The leader must devise ways of dealing with conflict in the team. The focus is to promote a healthy discussion that does not lead to division in the team . The team members come from different department and thus may have differing opinion on tackling the problem. The leader should be able to reconcile the different opinions into one strategy. In such cases, the negotiation skill becomes vital (Harrison, 1971). The leader must negotiate with the team member to strike a balance on the decision. Furthermore, the decision made by the team must be presented to the management and approved. The leader must convince the management that the proposal is viable, and its implementation will be beneficial to the organisation. The ability of the leader to negotiate for resources will enhance the success of the
Project managers have different roles in making the corporation successful where they portray their skills in the marketing field.
The projects in today’s world are given a lot of importance and it will continue to grow in the coming years. There are a lot of companies which do not have production, but all of them do have projects. There are a lot of books which have been published on which related to planning and managing the projects. The one of the most important one was published by the author Eli Goldratt in his book ‘Critical chain’. This book basically talks and shows how the application of theory of constraints in the field of project management. The novel is basically based on one of the MBA classes in America where a number of ideas are developed in discussions among the students and the lecturers. The lecturer is basically fighting for a tenure with the president of the university who expects a downturn in the executive MBA. The lecturer who teaches project management has a word with one the senior colleagues and project management was the right topic to teach. There were three students who were placed in the project management team of their company which manufactures electronic products. The students are enrolled in this MBA class along with other students, here they discover a new approach to project management which is known as the
Construction conflictand disputes are common between the parties involved incontract works. Conflicts may arisewhenissues are not addressed appropriately at the initial stage of contract procurement. For example; such issues would include overlooking clauses of construction risks, dissatisfaction overproject decisionsand lack of technical ability in managing contracts. Conflicts may also arise due to ineffective management in the processes of contracts, unfaithful ethics of professional people involved in the contract and the use of inappropriate contract procurement methods. In such cases, conflict of interest among the parties could abrupt to construction disputes.
A project manager should be aware of the key challenges and threats an organization would face as well as he/she should have the skills to tackle the crises effectively and efficiently. In addition to that, a project manager should also be able to convey the thoughts and ideas in a convenient manner who is responsible to make a framework for an effective communication to ensure clear communication between the team members even though the style of communication would be different based on the situation.
Sometimes, the stakeholders of the projects have their own personal objectives which become a hindrance in carrying out the project successfully.
When managed correctly, functional conflict helps managers anticipate and solve problems, feel confident and strengthen relationships. Dysfunctional conflict is a confrontation or interaction between groups that harms the organization or the achievement of organizational goals (Kumar, 2009). Cunningham is faced with a functional conflict. The conflict created by the merger that Cunningham is faced with can create positive consequences for both Synergon, and Beauchamp. Cunningham must solve the problems between the two companies and make it acceptable to all parties involved.
Functional employees should not be authorized to make project decisions because they might make extravagant decisions that might have huge financial implications. On the contrary, functional employees should be allowed to make contribution of ideas and advice to improve the project. The project management team should have autonomy in decision-making.
Project management involves all activities that encompass scheduling, planning, and controlling projects. A successful project manager ensure that an organization’s resources are being used both efficiently and effectively. Most projects need to be uniquely developed require a sense of customization and the ability to adapt to any posed challenges. The scope of effective project management includes defining what the project is and what is being expected to be accomplished. Projects are imposed to fulfill a certain need and project managers must have the ability to create the proper definition. Goals and the means used to attain those goals have to be clearly stated. Project Managers must also have the ability to plan
Project management creates a situation where the workers perform their duties and responsibilities in a structural and devoted manner. With much dedication and focus it is possible to use fewer workers to accomplish and execute a project. Allowing fewer workers to perform a project allows frees up possible persons to work other tasks. The increased efficiency of teams in their tasks is of a consequent meaning that the effectiveness of the organization as whole is increased as well (Larson, 2014). Doing this allows project management the ability to hold people accountable and this makes the workers much more efficient in their tasks than a slew of