Chapter 3: Deadline 27/02

Name the categories of skills that should be considered in the selection of a PM.
As mentioned in section 3.3, to be selected as a project manager, an individual should
have four primary skills categories. Firstly, the project manager should have two types
of credibility, which are technical and administrative credibility. Secondly, a project
manager should be emotionally mature in dealing with political-related issues and
having a sensitive system of specialized sensors. Next, as a project manager, he/she
should have leadership skills, ethics, and an effective management style that means
that he/she should have a broad vision and imagination and divide the right tasks for the
right people. Finally, dealing with stress or obstacles is essential when becoming a
project manager, including maintaining good organizational performance and business
relationships.

What are the major differences between functional managers and project
managers?
As mentioned in Section 3.3, the major differences between functional manager and
project managers are listed in the table below:

Differences Functional Managers Project Managers

Main Mission/ Specialists within function Generalists who are

Responsibility responsible for routine
business operations. They
have coordinate supervisory
duties over specialized
masters. He chooses who will
do the work, how the work
ought to be done, and the
arrangement takes a toll for
doing the work. Their
execution will frequently be
assessed utilizing
measurements that track
issues such as efficiency,
proficiency, utilization,
capacity, surrender, and
throughput inside the
functional specialization.
responsible for performing
unique activities. They act as
organizers and facilitators by
bridging the gaps and creating
an interdisciplinary solution as
authorized by the project’s
sponsor. They decide about
what needs to be done, when
it must be done, and the
availability of resources
needed to perform the work.
Their performances are usually
evaluated in terms of project
metrics for performance, time,
and cost for work that is
planned and executed across
multiple functional
specializations.
 Main Approach Analytic approach - to break
down a problem into pieces so
that they can be examined
more particularly.
Systems approach - try to
solve a problem as a whole
system to a general goal
without dividing it into isolated
factors.

Other Crucial Direct, technical supervisors Evaluate, make decisions

Differences and their knowledge must be relating to the project in order
in the technology of the to oversee all incoming and
process being managed. The
outgoing of the project. The
Functional Manager cannot
allow the PM to take over Project Manager cannot allow
authority for technical the Functional Manager to
decisions in the functional usurp control of the project.
area or to control the
assignment of functional area
personnel.

Examples With the purpose of increasing
revenue, Walmart focuses on
consumer satisfaction by
recruiting customer service
managers. The Walmart
Customer Service Manager
main duty is ensuring that
customers are satisfied with
their shopping experience at
the door, rather than
managing the handling and
assigning of daily tasks within
the company.
Every Tet season, Biti's Hunter
launches products in the "Đi
để trở về" project, with a
different message each year
and has obtained certain
success in the market. Biti's
Hunter has affirmed its brand,
becoming a leading fashion
trend in Vietnam that is loved
by young people and a
guideline for the standard
lifestyle for young people.

What project goals are most important during the project life cycle stages?

According to Table 3-1 below:

- Formation stage: performance, schedule and cost goals are equally important.
- Buildup stage: schedule is the most important as schedule commitments are
required to be followed strictly to catch up with later phases.
 - Main stage: schedule and performance are more important than cost.
- Phaseout stage: performance is the most important goal here, followed by
schedule and the least important goal is cost.

Question 18 Project managers must be generalists rather than specialists. Yet, team
members need to have more specialized, technical skills. Can a generalist manage a
team of specialists effectively? 
Yes, the generalist must oversee many functional areas, such as finance, engineering,
marketing, manufacturing, procurement. Although a management generalist does not typically
have the level of knowledge in any one area that a team of specialist does, the generalist’s
basic knowledge of wide variety of subjects allows him to seek out information more easily,
because he knows what needs to be done, when must it be done, and which resources required
in the project; hence, they can know what the specialist is doing and how to support them for
project goals. In fact, the generalists require specialized technical knowledge, they can handle
the whole project with specialist team from beginning to the end; however, the generalist should
offer technical decisions to the technical specialists as long as they are in compliance with the
project’s objectives for keeping the project on time, within budget, and up to specification.

Why do you think cost drops in importance as an objective right after the
formation stage?

Regarding special demands on the project manager, making project goal trade-offs
among cost, schedule and scope varies from different stages of the project life cycle,
namely formation, buildup, main, and phase out. While the relative importance of all
three objectives ranking at the essential position during the formation, its marks then
rank sequentially from 1 to 3, in which 1 is the highest importance. According to Table
3-1, after standing at position 1 in the formation stage, the cost went down to the least
priority for the rest stages of the project life cycle. On the one hand, when projects are
planned, expenditures need to be accumulated to meet the project's technical
requirements. On the other hand, due to the fact that during the buildup, main, and
phaseout phases, firms have to focus on achieving the schedule commitments for
delivering the performance specifications to customers, cost drops in importance as an
objective right after the formation stage.
Question 24: Do you agree that the trend now is to become less of a generic
project manager and more of a specialist? If so, then how do you gain a wide
range of experience for that next job opportunity?

There has been debate regarding whether generalist or specialist project managers
(PMs) can contribute more to their projects. From my perspective, a generic project
manager is still a better choice nowadays.
By taking on multiple types of projects, the generic PMs have a chance to learn more in
each specific field of knowledge. This provides them a wide range of experience and
technical know-how so that they can work with specialists and lead the projects better.
Moreover, most companies seek those having a more complete vision or understanding
of a project’s impact on other related activities and the whole organization. Meanwhile,
there is a tendency for specialists to overlook the other areas rather than their own
fields. Besides, the companies usually will require a PM to work on a variety of projects
from different areas, in contrast, the specialists may not be able to keep up with since
they only know about a single area.
In order to gain a wide range of experience for the next job opportunity or promotion, it’s
important that PMs not only continue to develop their project management skills but
keep themselves trained in the latest technologies. we should reach to the
professionalization and rapid growth of project management, to the project management
body of knowledge, as well as to the development of college and university courses and
degree programs available in the field to get the certification. In fact, as a generalist
usually applying a systematic approach that requires us to understand a component, we
must understand the system of which the component is a part. Therefore, we must
understand the environment in which it is a part with a skill set that is needed in almost
all professional endeavours can manage various projects well.