Behavioral Aspects of Project Management

The behavioral aspects of project management consist of many different areas that a project manager must master. The organizational culture is one area that can take time to master for many project managers. The culture of an organization can be the success or the failure of a project. Management must share common beliefs and values and be willing to stand by them at the most critical times.

The personality of the project leader is critical to the project. The project leaders leadership will dictate if the project will be successful. The team has to believe in the manager and for this to happen the manager has to follow though with what they say they will do.

To build and manage a successful project team the project manager must be skilled in many areas. The project manager has to be able to select team members that will fit in with the team, manage meetings skillfully, establish a team identity and vision, establish ways of rewarding the team as well as individuals, manage conflicts within and outside the team, and be able to rejuvenate the team over long projects.

Organization Cultures Influence

Organizational culture research has identified ten primary characteristics that lead to successful or unsuccessful teams within an organization. These characteristics will in turn affect the selection, sponsorship, prioritization, and ultimate success of all projects in an organization (Gray, Larson, 2011).

1. Member Identity – is the employee’s ability to identify with the organization.

2. Team Emphasis – the activities of the organization in which the team or individuals are emphasized.

3. Management focus – the decisions management makes that affect the employee’s.

4. Unit integration – are teams within in an organization expected work independently or as a team.

5. Control – the oversight and control over an employee’s behavior. These types of rules and policies of the organization to oversee employees will dictate to the employee what is acceptable and what is discouraged.

6. Risk tolerance – this allows or sets limits on an employee and teams to have a certain amount of innovation and risk seeking.

7. Reward criteria – the organizational culture to allow or disallow promotions and salary increases based on merit rather than nonperformance factors.

8. Conflict tolerance – the limits at which em...

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...ansferred to the actual project or the significance will lessen and not be effective (Gray/Larson, 2011).

Conclusion

The project manager has to be skilled in many areas of an organization and usually has to work under less than ideal situations. The areas noted earlier are important but probably the most important area is the behavior of the project manager. The behavior of the manager is critical for the success of any project. If the manager has a bad attitude then the team will be lacking in enthusiasm and the project will likely be over budget and not on schedule. Leading by example is hard, especially when stress of the project is mounting. Corporate leaders influence the managers who influence the employees the same goes for project managers leading teams. The project manager must have discipline and be constantly aware of how personal actions are perceived by others (Gray/Larson, 2011).

Work Cited

Gray, C.F., Larson, E.W. Operations Project Management: The Managerial Process, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2011. Web 16 May 2015.

http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/fayad/current.courses/cmpe203-fall2014/docs/ERM/Project%20Management%205th%20Edition.pdf