Introduction
The position of project manager requires someone with skills in coordinating and implementation of various projects. The position holder normally performs duties, such as, proposal coordination, project coordination, and management. It is a challenging post and the manager should be able to prove his/her ability in developing and sustaining close client relationship as well as facilitation of large pool of workforce that will attract more customers.
The position demand strong personality in directing and meeting the customers’ requirements as well as collaborating with other departments in the organization to achieve company’s goals. It also involves system configuration and supporting of customers’ training as well as ensuring the final product is of desired quality. The major role is to guide the workforce on matters relating to customers’ satisfaction so as to establish new work and opportunities.
Fundamental Responsibilities and Duties
There exist numerous duties that a proficient project manager should carry out, they include;
Supervise project execution that is necessary in accomplishing financial and procedural delivery as well as utilization, supervision, and integration. A major part is to ensure that there is strong collaboration between client and the workforce so that product preparation and delivery is ascertained (Barkley, 2007).
This assist the company to identify the clients’ demand and make the company to direct its operations toward customers’ needs and desires. In return the company produces high quality products and secures long term customers who maintain its growth.
Ensuring that contracts are implemented at the right time and also maintaining high level of workers knowledge regarding customers needs and company’s policies. The manager also ensures that client desires are fulfilled and correct configuration of project requirements observed (Barkley, 2007). He develops the agenda and organise meeting, which facilitate discussion of emerging issues that arise from time to time and establishing the solutions.
The project manager organises and troubleshoots the numerous problems arising from development of multifaceted projects and client end user data. He avails all relevant information in timely manner if required by other subordinate staff (Winch, 2010). This makes the work of the auditors easy, when the company is preparing the financial records.
He is also entitled to maintain good and strong partnership of company and external firms and thus enabling the company to establish external markets (Barkley, 2007). The project manager should not only establish good relations within the company but also with eternal firms. Finally, he should ensure that customer survey is conducted to evaluate the market demand of the company.
Challenges
The major challenges that are encountered by a project manager include lack of transparency in the scope of work. Once the scope statement is completed, it turns out to be company’s vision, which should be attained within the set time. The document sets a ground for a concord between the project team and the customers, by recognizing both the project target and project deliverables.
Lack of clarity in the scope of project arises due to complexity of activities in the initial stages, such as, piles of documents, files, and so on. If the project is not moving smoothly the manager need to revisit the scope and define it as well as gain an apparent understanding of the client needs (Wirick, 2009). This is done through better planning, controlling, and minimizing of changes. The success of the project is identified if all the requirements are attained and changes made.
Shifting organization priorities is another challenge encountered by the project manager. This is due to economic changes from time to time and also new organization policies that create uncertainty. Managers get a hard time in managing such organizations during implementation stages (Wirick, 2009).
These changes affect the project operation and also management. The changes usually occur due to several reasons, such as, hiring new company’s president or even department manager, reorganization of company structure, and also introduction of new innovations by the management.
Lack of project management skills is a major challenge that affects the project; some managers lack the desired skills to coordinate the organization effectively. Most of the training that exists in several organizations concentrates on training organization’s own methodology, this make the staff to lack adverse skills (Winch, 2010). Managers should have extra skills gathered from other organizations and incorporate the same in their project.
Training of sponsors in the organization is a prerequisite to enhance proper understanding of the project scope of work and how it can be attained (Wirick, 2009). When the sponsors are being trained, the resources are normally allocated in accordance with the project demand. This issue of resource allocation becomes a challenge to many project managers for the reason that the scope’s statement fails to identify this.
Conclusion
It is evident that organizations need to encompass corporate strategies in the project scope of work and also engage the project sponsors in thorough training. This will make the project to survive from shifting its priorities, which mostly affect the organization. Project managers should understand how various projects would trigger the realization of future goals through proper planning strategies. The managers should be prepared to tackle the challenges that arise within the organization.
Reference List
Barkley, B. (2007). Project Management in New Product Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional
Winch, G.M. (2010). Managing Construction Projects, 2nd Edition. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell publishing Ltd.
Wirick, D. (2009). Public-Sector Project Management: Meeting the Challenges and Achieving Results. Southern Gate: John Wiley and Sons publishers