Soft Skills and Technical Expertise of Effective Project Managers

Introduction Project management emerged as a methodology for managing initiatives that not only focused on creating a one-time product or prototype but also required the expertise of individuals from cross-departmental boundaries. Most large-scale projects required input and personnel from functional, technical and support departments working under the auspices of a project manager. In response, many companies migrated from the traditional hierarchy organizational structure to a matrix organizational structure designed to spread scarce technical manpower resources throughout large-scale, cross-departmental projects. In large-scale organizations, project managers oversee two types of subordinate groups. One group includes project team members permanently assigned to the project office and solely under the project manager's authority. The second group consists of subject matter experts from the organization's functional, technical, and support departments who are temporarily attached to the project team but remain assigned to their parent department. Those employees are responsible to both their department supervisor and the project manager (Dunn, 2001; Harrison, 1981, p. 17). This dual-leadership role required of the project manager underscores the importance of solid leadership skills for effective project management. Smaller organizations may not maintain a permanent Project Office, and the project manager resides within the functional organization. The physical arrangement, however, does not diminish the complex role of the typical project manager. The project manager is responsible for meeting project objectives, for schedules, budgets, and assessing alternatives, for assessing risks and deciding how to accept, avoid, remove, or mitigate them, and for leading the initiative to successful completion (Baca, 2007; DiVincenzo, 2006; Dunn, 2001; Zielinski, 2005). Managers of the functional, technical, and support departments provide personnel and technical assistance to the project manager, yet retain responsibility for their tools, training, performance evaluation, and reassignment (Jacques, Garger, & Thomas, 2008; Wellman, 2007). A further complication of the project manager's role stems from the multi-dimensional environment in which s/he functions. At the core of day-to-day operations is the project office and the project team. A second dimension is the intra-organization--the parent organization, user community, and contractor(s). And a third dimension is the inter-organization--external organizations having a vested interest, or oversight authority in the project office. This complex environment presents a communication paradigm unparalleled by any other management position: The team is often large in number and consists of a multi-faceted mix of multi-disciplinary, inter-organizational, geographically disbursed members, internally employed personnel, and outsourced or contract staff; the project manager must cope with tenuous lines of authority and power; and the project manager must interact with multiple, varied groups and stakeholders inside and outside of the employing organization, often with conflicting interests relevant to the project at hand (Gillard, 2005). As stated by Zielinski (2005, p. 18), "these 'accidental' [project] managers must simultaneously satisfy the needs of often finicky clients, adhere to tight deadlines, and marshal limited or sometimes nonexistent resources to get the job done--all while shepherding, motivating and cajoling a diverse universe of personalities up and down the organizational food chain. They are held accountable for project results, but often have little power over personnel or resource matters--and they must find a way to get things done without ruffling too many feathers, because the next project on the docket might involve many of the same people." Responsibility without authority is yet another challenge that the project manager faces. …