DEFINING THE FUNCTIONAL EMPLOYEE’S ROLE
Once the line managers commit to the deliverables, it is the responsibility of the assigned functional employees to achieve the functional deliverables. For years the functional employees were called subordinates. Although this term still exists in textbooks, industry prefers to regard the assigned employees as “associates” rather than subordinates. The reason for this is that in project management the associates can be a higher pay grade than the project manager. The associates can even be a higher pay grade than their functional manager.
In most organizations, the assigned employees report on a “solid” line to their functional manager, even though they may be working on several projects simultaneously. The employees are usually a “dotted” line to the project but solid to their function. This places the employees in the often awkward position of reporting to multiple individuals. This situation is further complicated when the project manager has more technical knowledge than the line manager. This occurs during R&D projects.
The functional employee is expected to accomplish the following activities when assigned to projects:
● Accept responsibility for accomplishing the assigned deliverables within the
project’s constraints
● Complete the work at the earliest possible time
● Periodically inform both the project and line manager of the project’s status
● Bring problems to the surface quickly for resolution
● Share information with the rest of the project team
DEFINING THE EXECUTIVE’S ROLE
In a project environment there are new expectations of and for the executives, as well as a new interfacing role. Executives are expected to interface a project as follows:
● In project planning and objective-setting
● In conflict resolution
● In priority-setting
● As project sponsor
Executives are expected to interface with projects very closely at project initiation and planning, but to remain at a distance during execution unless needed for priority-setting and conflict resolution. One reason why executives “meddle” during project execution is that they are not getting accurate information from the project manager as to project status. If project managers provide executives with meaningful status reports, then the socalled meddling may be reduced or even eliminated.
WORKING WITH EXECUTIVES
Success in project management is like a three-legged stool. The first leg is the project manager, the second leg is the line manager, and the third leg is senior management. If any of the three legs fail, then even delicate balancing may not prevent the stool from toppling.
The critical node in project management is the project manager–line manager interface. At this interface, the project and line managers must view each other as equals and be willing to share authority, responsibility, and accountability. In excellently managed companies, project managers do not negotiate for resources but simply ask for the line
manager’s commitment to executing his portion of the work within time, cost, and performance. Therefore, in excellent companies, it should not matter who the line manager assigns as long as the line manager lives up to his commitments.
Since the project and line managers are “equals,” senior management involvement is necessary to provide advice and guidance to the project manager, as well as to provide encouragement to the line managers to keep their promises. When executives act in this capacity, they assume the role of project sponsors, as shown in Figure 1–4, which also shows that sponsorship need not always be at the executive levels. The exact person appointed as
the project sponsor is based on the dollar value of the project, the priority of the project, and
who the customer is.
The ultimate objective of the project sponsor is to provide behind-the-scenes assistance to project personnel for projects both “internal” to the company, as well as “external,” as shown in Figure 1–4. Projects can still be successful without this commitment and support, as long as all work flows smoothly. But in time of crisis, having a “big brother” available as a possible sounding board will surely help.
When an executive is required to act as a project sponsor, then the executive has the responsibility to make effective and timely project decisions. To accomplish this, the executive needs timely, accurate, and complete data for such decisions. Keeping management informed serves this purpose, while the all-too-common practice of “stonewalling” prevents an executive from making effective project decisions.
THE PROJECT MANAGER AS THE PLANNING AGENT
The major responsibility of the project manager is planning. If project planning is performed correctly, then it is conceivable that the project manager will work himself out of a job because the project can run itself. This rarely happens, however. Few projects are ever completed without some conflict or trade-offs for the project manager to resolve.
In most cases, the project manager provides overall or summary definitions of the work to be accomplished, but the line managers (the true experts) do the detailed planning. Although project managers cannot control or assign line resources, they must make sure that the resources are adequate and scheduled to satisfy the needs of the project, not vice versa. As the architect of the project plan, the project manager must provide:
● Complete task definitions
● Resource requirement definitions (possibly skill levels)
● Major timetable milestones
● Definition of end-item quality and reliability requirements
● The basis for performance measurement These factors, if properly established, result in:
● Assurance that functional units will understand their total responsibilities toward achieving project needs.
● Assurance that problems resulting from scheduling and allocation of critical resources are known beforehand.
● Early identification of problems that may jeopardize successful project completion
so that effective corrective action and replanning can be taken to prevent or resolve
the problems. Project managers are responsible for project administration and, therefore, must have
the right to establish their own policies, procedures, rules, guidelines, and directives— provided these policies, guidelines, and so on, conform to overall company policy. Companies with mature project management structures usually have rather loose company
Source : Project management A system approach to planning, scheduling and controlling [EIGHTH EDITION] By HAROLD KERZNER, Ph.D.