EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGER

Selection of the project manager is one of the two or three most

important decisions concerning the project. The most popular attributes,
skills and qualities that have been sought when selecting project
managers:
 A strong technical background
 A hard-nosed manager
 A mature individual
 Someone who is currently available
 Someone on good terms with senior executives
 A person who can keep the project team happy
 One who has worked in several different departments
 A person who can walk on (or part) the waters
there are four major categories of skills that are required of the project
manager and serve as the key criteria for selection:
1. CREDIBILITY
The project manager needs two kinds of credibility. First is
technical credibility. It includes technical knowledge in such arcane
fields as accounting, law, psychology, anthropology, religion,
history, playwriting, Greek, and a host of other nonhard sciences.
Second , the project manager must me administratively credible.
Credible. For the client and senior management – The project
manager must keep the project on schedule and within cost and to
make sure that project reports are accurate and timely. Finally, the
PM is responsible for making the tough trade-off decisions for the
project, and must be perceived as a person who has the mature
judgment and courage to do so consistently.
2. SENSITIVITY
 In addition to a good, working set of political antennae, the project
manager needs to sense interpersonal conflict on the project team or
between team members and outsiders. Successful project managers
are not conflict avoiders.

The PM must keep project team members “cool.” This is not easy.
As with any group of humans, rivalries, jealousies, friendships, and
hostilities are sure to exist. The project manager must persuade
people to cooperate irrespective of personal feelings, to set aside
personal likes and dislikes, and to focus on achieving project goals.

Finally, the PM needs a sensitive set of technical sensors. It is

common, unfortunately, for otherwise competent and honest team
members to try to hide their failures. Individuals who cannot work
under stress would be well advised to avoid project organizations.
3. LEADERSHIP, ETHICS AND MANAGEMENT STYLE

Leadership has been defined as interpersonal influence, exercised in

situations and directed through the communication process, toward
the attainment of a specified goal or goals. To all the skills and
attributes we have mentioned, add enthusiasm, optimism, energy,
tenacity, courage, and personal maturity. The project manager
should know when to punish and when to reward, know when to
communicate and when to remain silent. Above all, the project
manager should know how to get others to share commitment to the
project. In a word, the project manager must be a leader.
Another aspect of leadership that is important in a project manager
is a strong sense of ethics. There is a considerable amount of
attention to this topic in the news media these days, both good and
bad.
4. ABILITY TO HANDLE STRESS
There are numerous factors in life that cause stress and project
managers are as subject to them as other humans. There do,
however, appear to be four major causes of stress often
associated with the management of projects. First, some project
managers never develop a reasonably consistent set of procedures
and techniques with which to manage their work. Second, many
simply have “too much on their plates.” Third, some have a high
need to achieve that is consistently frustrated. Fourth, the parent
organization is in the throes of major change.