Discuss the qualities of an effective project manager. Elaborate on these various qualities as these relate to an effective manager and an overall effective project.
Please be thorough and comprehensive in your response to this topical question.
You do NOT have to make a response to another student, so focus on your own discussion board post to ensure that it is thorough, complete and accurate. Ensure that you have met the minimum word count. Use parenthetical citations to the textbook at the points at which you use materials – paraphrased or directly quoted from the textbook.
Your discussion post should be at least 500 words. Please be thorough and comprehensive in your response to this topical question. Use a MINIMUM OF 3 AUTHORITATIVE RESOURCES ON YOUR REFERENCES LIST (one of which will be the textbook). USE PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS THROUGHOUT YOUR POST at the point at which you use materials (quoted or paraphrased) from your sources. Label your list of resources as the “References” list.
The proper Reference for the textbook for your References list:
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2021). Project management: the managerial process. McGraw-Hill Education.
The correct parenthetical citation is: (Larson & Gray, 2021) for paraphrased materials or (Larson & Gray, 2021, p. 123) for a direct quote from a specific page.
MAIN RESOURCE:
Leading by Example
A highly visible, interactive management style not only is essential to building and sustaining cooperative relationships but also allows project managers to utilize their most powerful leadership tool—their own behavior (Kouzes & Posner, 2012; Peters, 1988). Often, when faced with uncertainty, people look to others for cues as to how to respond and demonstrate a propensity to mimic the behavior of people they respect. A project manager’s behavior symbolizes how other people should work on the project. Through his behavior, a project manager can influence how others act and respond to a variety of issues related to the project.
Priorities
Actions speak louder than words. Subordinates and others discern project managers’ priorities by how they spend their time. If a project manager claims that this project is critical and then is perceived as devoting more time to other projects, then all her verbal reassurances are likely to fall on deaf ears. Conversely a project manager who takes the time to observe a critical test instead of simply waiting for a report affirms the importance of the testers and their work. Likewise, the types of questions project managers pose communicate priorities. By repeatedly asking how specific issues relate to satisfying the customer, a project manager can reinforce the importance of customer satisfaction.
Urgency
Through their actions, project managers can convey a sense of urgency, which can permeate project activities. This urgency in part can be conveyed through stringent deadlines, frequent status report meetings, and aggressive solutions for expediting the page 371project. The project manager uses these tools like a metronome to pick up the beat of the project. At the same time, such devices will be ineffective if there is not also a corresponding change in the project manager’s behavior. If project managers want others to work faster and solve problems quicker, then they need to work faster. They need to hasten the pace of their own behavior. They should accelerate the frequency of their interactions, talk and walk more quickly, get to work sooner, and leave work later. By simply increasing the pace of their daily interaction patterns, project managers can reinforce a sense of urgency in others.
Problem Solving
How project managers respond to problems sets the tone for how others tackle problems. If bad news is greeted by verbal attacks, then others will be reluctant to be forthcoming.4 If the project manager is more concerned with finding out who is to blame instead of how to prevent problems from happening again, then others will tend to cover their tracks and cast the blame elsewhere. If, on the other hand, project managers focus more on how they can turn a problem into an opportunity or what can be learned from a mistake, then others are more likely to adopt a more proactive approach to problem solving.
Cooperation
How project managers act toward outsiders influences how team members interact with outsiders. If a project manager makes disparaging remarks about the “idiots” in the Marketing Department, then this oftentimes becomes the shared view of the entire team. If project managers set the norm of treating outsiders with respect and being responsive to their needs, then others will more likely follow suit.
Standards of Performance
Veteran project managers recognize that if they want participants to exceed project expectations, then they have to exceed others’ expectations of a good project manager. They establish a high standard for project performance through the quality of their daily interactions. They respond quickly to the needs of others, carefully prepare and run crisp meetings, stay on top of all the critical issues, facilitate effective problem solving, and stand firm on important matters.
Ethics
How others respond to ethical dilemmas that arise in the course of a project will be influenced by how the project manager has responded to similar dilemmas. In many cases, team members base their actions on how they think the project manager would respond. If project managers deliberately distort or withhold vital information from customers or top management, then they are signaling to others that this kind of behavior is acceptable. Project management invariably creates a variety of ethical dilemmas; this would be an appropriate time to delve into this topic in more detail.
Effective communication skills. Communication is critical to project success. Project managers need to speak the language of different stakeholders and be empathetic listeners.
Systems thinking. Project managers must be able to take a holistic rather than a reductionist approach to projects. Instead of breaking up a project into individual pieces (planning, budget) and managing it by understanding each part, a systems perspective focuses on trying to understand how relevant project factors collectively interact to produce project outcomes. The key to success then becomes managing the interaction between different parts and not the parts themselves.
Personal integrity. Before you can lead and manage others, you have to be able to lead and manage yourself (Bennis, 1989). Begin by establishing a firm sense of who you are, what you stand for, and how you should behave. This inner strength provides the buoyancy to endure the ups and downs of the project life cycle and the credibility essential to sustaining the trust of others.
Proactivity. Good project managers take action before it is needed to prevent small concerns from escalating into major problems. They spend the majority of their time working within their sphere of influence to solve problems and not dwelling on things they have little control over. Project managers can’t be whiners.
High emotional intelligence (EQ). Project management is not for the meek. Project managers have to have command of their emotions and be able to respond constructively to others when things get a bit out of control.
General business perspective. Because the primary role of a project manager is to integrate the contributions of different business and technical disciplines, it is important that a manager have a general grasp of business fundamentals and how the different functional disciplines interact to contribute to a successful business.
Effective time management. Time is a manager’s scarcest resource. Project managers have to be able to budget their time wisely and quickly adjust their priorities. They need to balance their interactions so no one feels ignored.
Optimism. Project managers have to display a can-do attitude. They have to be able to find rays of sunlight in a dismal day and keep people’s attention positive. A good sense of humor and a playful attitude are often a project manager’s greatest strengths.