Q:1 Project managers are usually dedicated and committed to the project.

Who should be” looking over the shoulder” of the project manager to make
sure that the work and requests are also in the best interest of the company?
Does your answer depend on the priority of the project? Give practical
examples from your employing organization.

Effective project team leadership is probably the most important factor that will determine
whether or not a project will be successful. Without leadership, project teams splinter into
smaller groups and slowly drift apart to work on their own set of objectives resulting in a
lack of effective communication, conflicting roles and responsibilities, redundant work,
and all too often, rework. If a project manager does not establish a leadership role and a
clear set of responsibilities for the project team at the start of the project, it will be difficult
to develop a cohesive and high performing team. A critical factor in conditioning a team
for success is for the project manager to take the time to establish expectations about team
performance before that actual scope of work and project details are introduced. The
project manager is, in many ways, similar to the coach of a sports team. The coach seeks
out talent, identifies potential in each player and plans to develop those players who need
some additional support. That additional support is most effective when it comes from
other team members The more experienced or skilled players create an environment of
support that in turn creates a team wide feeling of confidence. It all begins with effective
leadership. Upon approval of a project and the signing of the charter, the project manager
begins the planning process. In an ideal world, the project manager has the opportunity to
select the project team and picks the most skilled and qualified resources to perform the
project’s activities. More realistically, the project manager is provided with a pre-selected
team or must settle for whoever is available at the time. A true leader will not dwell on
who has been assigned to the project but will identify the potential of each team member.
Imagine a project manager speaking to his or her team for the first time and saying “Well,
you’re not what I really wanted but I guess you’ll have to do.” How would each person
react to a statement like that? Can you expect commitment and dedication to achieving
project objectives? It is most likely that you will receive minimum support and will have
to spend great amounts of time micro-managing. To create an environment that will
encourage the project team to step up to the challenges of the project, the project manager
should invest some time and effort in the very early stages of the project planning process
to establish a foundation for team work that will lead the team to success. The management
science identifies several team member roles that a project manager may encounter. There
are Destructive Roles and Supportive Roles and every project manager should be aware of
their existence. The goal is to emphasize and continually enhance supportive roles while
discouraging destructive roles. The project kick-off meeting is an ideal setting to introduce
a project manager’s expectations around the supportive roles and also create awareness
among the project team members about the undesired destructive roles.
Destructive Team Members

The Aggressor Criticizes the team members, challenges ideas,

deflates egos
The Dominator Manipulates and tries to take over
The Devil’s Advocate Finds fault in everything and challenges any
idea
The Topic Jumper Switches from one idea to another, creates
imbalance an inability to focus
The Recognition Seeker Always argues for his or her position, attempts
to take credit for successes
The Withdrawer Does not participate, withhold information
The Blocker Provides multiple reasons why ideas won’t
work

It is clear by the descriptions of these roles that they would be undesirable on any project
team. By introducing and explaining these roles during the project kick-off meeting and
their negative impact on the project, the project manager can set expectations about what
behaviors should not be displayed during the project life cycle. Explaining what is not
desired is only a part of the expectation setting process. The project manager should, upon
reviewing the undesired destructive roles, immediately focus on the supportive roles.

Supportive Project Team Member Roles

The Initiator Looks for new ideas, uses phrases like – “Let’s
try this!”
The Information Seeker Tries to become more informed, looks for
resources and supportive data. Offers to
research for the benefit of the team
Information Givers Share what they know, increase the knowledge
of the team
The Encouragers Shows visible support for other peoples ideas.
The Clarifier Helps make sure that everyone understands
and issue or a decision
The Harmonizer Creates a unified feeling among the team
The Gate Keeper Ensures that all information is relevant and the
team stays focused on the issue at hand

Working with a team that is actively displaying and practicing the supportive roles
described in the table will significantly increase the chances for project success. By
explaining these roles at project start up, the project manager effectively sets expectations
for overall performance and proactively encourages the team to establish an environment
that will make the work of the project more enjoyable and possibly fun. The key here is for
the project manager, as the leader, to prevent the destructive roles from developing by
actively displaying the supportive roles and acknowledging team members when they
display the desired characteristics of the supportive roles.

Q:2. Would a cost-benefit analysis be easier or harder to perform in traditional

or project management organizational structure? Explain your answer with
the help of practical example.
Cost/Benefit Analysis

You may have been intensely creative in generating solutions to a problem, and rigorous
in your selection of the best one available. However, this solution may still not be worth
implementing, as you may invest a lot of time and money in solving a problem that is not
worthy of this effort.

Cost Benefit Analysis or cba is a relatively* simple and widely used technique for deciding
whether to make a change. As its name suggests, you simply add up the value of the
benefits of a course of action, and subtract the costs associated with it. Costs are either one-
off, or may be ongoing. Benefits are most often received over time. We build this effect of
time into our analysis by calculating a payback period. This is the time it takes for the
benefits of a change to repay its costs. Many companies look for payback on projects over
a specified period of time e.g. three years.

How to Use the Tool:

In its simple form, cost-benefit analysis is carried out using only financial costs and
financial benefits. For example, a simple cost benefit ratio for a road scheme would
measure the cost of building the road, and subtract this from the economic benefit of
improving transport links. It would not measure either the cost of environmental damage
or the benefit of quicker and easier travel to work. A more sophisticated approach to
building a cost benefit models is to try to put a financial value on intangible costs and
benefits. This can be highly subjective - is, for example, a historic water meadow worth
$25,000, or is it worth $500,000 because if its environmental importance. The version of
the cost benefit approach we explain here is necessarily simple. Where large sums of
money are involved (for example, in financial market transactions), project evaluation can
become an extremely complex and sophisticated art.

Example:

A sales director is deciding whether to implement a new computer-based contact

management and sales processing system. His department has only a few computers, and
his salespeople are not computer literate. He is aware that computerized sales forces are
able to contact more customers and give a higher quality of reliability and service to those
customers. They are more able to meet commitments, and can work more efficiently with
fulfillment and delivery staff.

His financial cost/benefit analysis is shown below:

Costs:

New computer equipment:

10 network-ready PCs with supporting software @ $2,450 each

1 server @ $3,500

3 printers @ $1,200 each

Cabling & Installation @ $4,600

Sales Support Software @ $15,000

Training costs:

Computer introduction - 8 people @ $400 each

Keyboard skills - 8 people @ $400 each

Sales Support System - 12 people @ $700 each

Other costs:

Lost time: 40 man days @ $200 / day

Lost sales through disruption: estimate: $20,000

Lost sales through inefficiency during first months: estimate: $20,000

Total cost: $57,000

Benefits:

Tripling of mail shot capacity: estimate: $40,000 / year

Ability to sustain telesales campaigns: estimate: $20,000 / year

Improved efficiency and reliability of follow-up: estimate: $50,000 / year

Improved customer service and retention: estimate: $30,000 / year

Improved accuracy of customer information: estimate: $10,000 / year

More ability to manage sales effort: $30,000 / year

Total Benefit: $180,000/year

Payback time: $114,000 / $180,000 = 0.63 of a year = approx. 8 months

The payback time is often known as the break even point. Sometimes this is is more
important than the overall benefit a project can deliver, for example because the
organization has had to borrow to fund a new piece of machinery. The break even point
can be found graphically by plotting costs and income on a graph of output quantity against
$. Break even occurs at the point the two lines cross. Inevitably the estimates of the benefit given
by the new system are quite subjective. Despite this, the Sales Director is very likely to introduce it,
given the short payback time.

Key points:

1. Cost/Benefit Analysis is a powerful, widely used and relatively easy tool for
deciding whether to make a change.
2. To use the tool, firstly work out how much the change will cost to make. Then
calculate the benefit you will from it.
3. Where costs or benefits are paid or received over time, work out the time it will
take for the benefits to repay the costs.
4. Cost/Benefit Analysis can be carried out using only financial costs and financial
benefits. You may, however, decide to include intangible items within the
analysis. As you must estimate a value for these, this inevitably brings an element
of subjectivity into the process.
5. Larger projects are evaluated using formal finance/capital budgeting, which takes
into account many of the complexities involved with financial Decision Making.
This is a complex area and is beyond the scope of this site, however books on
capital budgeting are shown on the side bar

Cost Benefit Analysis:

A cost benefit analysis finds, quantifies, and adds all the positive factors. These are the
benefits. Then it identifies, quantifies, and subtracts all the negatives, the costs. The
difference between the two indicates whether the planned action is advisable. The real trick
to doing a cost benefit analysis well is making sure you include all the costs and all the
benefits and properly quantify them.

Q:3 several authors contend that technology suffers in a pure product organizational form
because there is no group responsible for long-range planning, whereas the pure
functional organizational tends to sacrifice time and schedule. Do you agree or disagree
with this statement? Defend your choice with examples.
Every organization faces an ever-present tension between short-term and long-term results.
What promotes the one often hinders the other. Yet every manager must strive for both:
performing well today and, at the same time, building for a strong future. As Peter Drucker
put it, "He must...keep his nose to the grindstone while lifting his eyes to the hills - which
is quite an acrobatic feat." In most organizations, performing such a deft double act is the
job of the annual planning cycle.The process on paper looks something like this: The
corporate center issues guidance to the business units on desired overall financial results
and invites managers to develop multiyear plans. Managers are asked to submit plans with
the highest net present value and to bid for the resources they need to implement them.
Each business unit discusses its strategy with the corporate center, which then adds up all
the resource requests and performance projections.
Inevitably, there is a gap: more resources requested and less performance promised than
the top-down guidance requires. Managers are encouraged to revise their plans. Resources
are prioritized according to payback rates and whether they are discretionary or not.
Attention is given to the long term by developing multiyear plans and considering net
present value. Pressure is put on the short term through upfront guidance, by using payback
rates and isolating discretionary spending. The result is an accommodation between short-
term results and long-term investment. Well, that's how it's supposed to work. But for many
companies, the reality is quite different. Perhaps the following will sound familiar. The
center positions its upfront guidance as just that - guidance. Yet everyone knows that it is
a top-down target that dare not speak its name.
The business units know what strategy they want to pursue from the outset, and so spend
their "strategy development" time developing a case for their preferred plan. Managers
make sure to implement the strategy with a view that technology does not suffer. A
technology plan can sound like another piece of bureaucracy, but don't be fooled. There is
no substitute for thinking through what you need and how you will meet those needs.
Technology planning is the process that will help you save money on technology, buy what
you need, and use technology as a tool to accomplish your organization's mission.

Technology planning is the magic ingredient that will help you to:
Obtain funding.
Funders will be much more likely to give money for technology if you can show them a
technology plan.
Use technology effectively to further your mission.
The technology planning process can expand your horizons and help you see new ways in
which technology can further your mission.
Buy the right equipment.
Purchasing hardware, software and networking equipment can be overwhelming. If you don't
plan, it's easy to end up with something that is way too complicated or doesn't do what you
need it to. There's no substitute for thinking through your goals and researching possible
solutions.
Save money.
You probably do not need the fanciest system on the market. Planning allows you to figure
out how to spend less and still meet your needs.
Avoid crises.
 Bad technology decisions can leave you suffering for years. A faulty system can send your
stress level through the roof and make you lose crucial data and capabilities.
Use staff time more effectively.
How many hours of staff time have you lost to those niggling technical problems? A
technology plan will help you streamline staff use of technology, and put systems in place that
will make technology a useful tool for staff, not a stumbling block.
Protect yourself from staff turnover.
If the person who knows your technology leaves, what will you do? A technology plan can
save you by providing documentation of existing systems as well as future plans.
Establish leadership and support.
Setting up a technology team and ensuring management and staff buy-in will allow you to get
started with the whole organization behind you. See the article "Establish Leadership and
Support" in either the Management or Staff version for more information.
Assess your resources.
The first step in planning is to assess your existing technology. What do you have in place?
How well is it working? See the article "Assess Resources" for more information.
Define your needs.
Why do you need technology? What will new technology help you do that you can't do
already? Defining your needs will enable you to choose the most efficient solutions. See the
article "Define Your Needs" for more information.
Explore solutions.
The next step is to research existing technology options and decide on ones that meet your
needs at a minimum cost. See the article "Explore Solutions" for more information.
Write the plan.
Your written plan should document your resources, needs and solutions, as well as your
budget. See Write the Plan" for more information.
Get funding.
You can now use your technology plan as key element in seeking technology funding.
See TechSoup's Funding section for more information.
Implement the plan.
Setting a timeline, assigning responsibilities and evaluating your progress will make your plan
a reality. See the article "Implementing Your Technology Plan" for more information.
with one or more aspects of the technology planning process. See the article "Do I
Need Help?" to think through whether you have the expertise to do the plan on
your own. See the article "Getting Help with Your Technology Plan" for
information on how to find a technical assistance provider, consultant or
volunteer to help you.
Don't despair! Help is available. Technology planning is no simple matter, but it is
a rich, powerful process. In the long term, it can reduce your headaches tenfold,
and lead you to use technology to further your mission in ways you never
dreamed of.

While admittedly painful to acknowledge, I agree that far too often organizations bring a
team of consultants and employees together to build a glossy document entitled IT Strategic
Plan that results in no dollar and sense benefit. No matter which side you have been on,
practitioner or employee, you can concede that there is validity to the thought that creating
an IT Strategic Plan provides little value and can be construed as a sales vehicle for
consultants to propose the coveted high dollar implementation project. I think we have all
heard the ‘buy this Magic Box and all your problems will be solved’ pitch before. To me,
it is no wonder the industry is left with tainted cynicism for the term IT Strategic Plan.

Q:4 one of the major controversies in project management occurs over

whether the project manager needs a command of technology in order to be
effective. Consider the following situation:

You are the project manager on a research and development project. Marketing informs
you that they have found a customer for your product and that you must make major
modifications to satisfy the customer’s requirements. The engineering functional managers
tell you that these modifications are impossible. Can a project manager without a command
of technology make a viable decision as to whether to risk additional funds and support
marketing, or should he believe the functional manager, and tell marketing that the
modifications are impossible? How can a project manager, either with or without a
command of technology, tell whether the functional managers are giving him an optimistic
or a pessimistic opinion?

The project manager manages the project on a day to day basis. He must plan the work,
organize it and ensure that corrective measures are taken, so that the project is finished
within time and budget. The project manager must also re-evaluate the plan if access to
resources is not as expected. The project manger must work internally within the project
and in relation to the base organization. He must arrange for effective interfaces between
the project and the base organization. The project manager must anticipate events. He
cannot expect the project members will just pop up when the project needs them. He must
plan, negotiate with line managers, motivate, inspire, conclude agreements on cooperation
in the project and see to it that the resources appear at the right time.

The project management is different from line management, and it demands other skills. It
is characteristic trait of the project work that the project manager manages people who do
not work together on a daily basis, and therefore do not know each other in the same way
as colleagues in base organization. The project manager must create a sense of common
cause among people who originally are strangers. Project management should be regarded
as a distinct profession requiring specialized knowledge and skills. Most people accept the
fact that you cannot become a line manager until you have gone through a basic
“apprenticeship” where you acquire the relevant knowledge, experience and interpersonal
insight. But it is depressing to see, even in organizations whih set high standards for line
management, how the same standards are not applied to project managers, even for very
important projects.

Too little effort goes into developing good project managers. Since project management is
probably more difficult in general than line management (because of unknown tasks and
unfamiliar people), higher requirements for training and experience should actually be set
for a project manager than for a line manager. The project manager should be educated in
the field of project management. It is now possible to acquire basic professional skills
through courses and training programs. Experience as a “rank and file” project member is
also necessary. An organization should spend time and money training its projects
managers. You cannot be a line manager without a solid background. Some believe that
anybody can be a project manager.

Qualities of a Project Manager:

One sometimes sees specifications for the personal qualities required of a project manager.
He should, for example, have distinct leadership qualities (charisma), be respected by his
team, have the ability to communicate with superiors and subordinates and be able to
represent the project externally in a favorable manner. Such lists often gives a picture of a
person who is superhuman, and are usually of little use. There is no sense in dreaming
away and demanding supernatural qualities of a project manager. When an organization
must choose a project manager for a project, it is necessary to choose from among those
who are available. The project manager’s personal character is important, but for most
practical purposes there is little value in comparing a person with a list of super qualities.
Instead it is important to have an idea of the essential requirements for a project manager’s
success. And since it is often extremely difficult to know whether a person will succeed as
a project manager, it is also useful to know what type of person should be avoided
absolutely. A project manager must be capable of formulating a realistic description of the
present situation in the project. At the same time he must be able to manage if there is a
variance between what the present situation is and what it should be. He should also have
the ability to see what types of measures will be effective. The project manager must
observe progress in the project very closely. He must be able to assess the situation
realistically. A dreamer (who only sees through rose-colored glasses) or an optimist (who
believes that everything will sort itself out as it goes along) is of no use. Realism in the
evaluation of the present situation must apply to both factual matter and people. The
reporting proformas which are described earlier are of course, very useful tools for
developing an accurate description of the present situation. The project manager on the
other hand, must be concerned with both factual matters and people. He must be able to
sense the mood of the project and form a realistic picture of the team members’ situation.
He must support them and assist them in the realization of the goals. Assisting means
pushing reverse people forward and controlling dominant ones. In general, a project
manager must be flexible by nature, so that he will be able to change course along the way.
He must be action oriented, that is he must be willing to try new measures if there is
deviation between the plan and reality. Through a constant evaluation of what works and
what does not what, including his own contributions, helpful or not, a project manager can
continually improve his competency. A project manager should have professional
qualifications in the field covered by the project, although there may be expectations in
very large projects. It is felt that the project manager should be an ‘active coach’; he should
be able to direct and perform special work related to his professional area. This does not
mean that he should be able to do more than everyone else, but he should be sufficiently
qualified to be able to lead professional discussions in the project. We believe that a project
manager who is unfamiliar with the professional issues in the project will lack the respect
of his team. The project manager should be able to guarantee the quality of the results
produced by the project. In order to be able to do this he should preferably have a
professional background which will enable him to judge the quality of the results.
Assessing the situation in hand, I am reminded of an event from the history. Just after
taking his office, US President J.F. Kennedy announced in a public meeting that his country
was to put a man on moon by the end of that decade. People including scientists from
NASA criticized the president’s decision saying that since things were to be done by
NASA, the president should not make such announcement, as implementation of the same
was seemingly not possible at that time. However, in the lateral years the world witnessed
that the will of the president was too strong as first man landed on moon on 22nd July 1969.
Following on to this example I would definitely, as a project manager, support the
marketing department’s requests and explore the possibilities of bringing about
technological changes in the product patterns.

Q:5 Saleem Ahmed is a department manager with thirty years of experience in the
company. For the last several years, he has worn two hats and acted as both project manager
and functional manager on a variety of projects. He is an expert in his field. The company
has decided to incorporate formal project management and has established a project
management department. MR. Ali Nawaz a thirty year’s old employee with three years of
experience with the company has been assigned as project manager. In order to staff his
project, Mr. Ali Nawaz has requested from Mr. Saleem Ahmed that Mr. Rashid Butt (a
personal friend of Mr. Nawaz) be assigned to the project as the functional representative.
Mr. Butt is twenty six years old and has been with the company for two years. Mr. Saleem
agrees to the request and informs Mr. Butt of his new assignment, closing with the remarks.
“This project is yours all the way. I don’t want to have anything to do with it. I’ll be too
busy with paperwork as the result of our new organizational structure. Just send me a memo
once in a while telling me what’s happening.”

During the project kickoff meeting it became obvious to both Mr. Nawaz and Mr. Butt that
the only person with the necessary expertise was Mr. Saleem. Without the support of Mr.
Saleem the time duration for project management could be expected to double.

This situation is ideal for role playing. Put yourself in the place of Mr.Saleem , Mr. Nawaz,
And Mr. Butt and discuss the reason for your actions.

a) How can this problem be overcome?

b) How do you get Mr.Saleem to support the project?
c) Who should inform upper level management of this situation?
d) When should upper level management be informed?
e) Would any of you answers change if manager Mr.Nawaz and Mr. Butt were not
close friends?

a) How can this problem be overcome?

This is the situation where the project manager has to combine his expertise and skills with
his team members, and lead from the front. Effective project team leadership is probably
the most important factor that will determine whether or not a project will be successful.
Without leadership, project teams splinter into smaller groups and slowly drift apart to
work on their own set of objectives resulting in a lack of effective communication,
conflicting roles and responsibilities, redundant work, and all too often, rework. If a project
manager does not establish a leadership role and a clear set of responsibilities for the project
team at the start of the project, it will be difficult to develop a cohesive and high performing
team. A critical factor in conditioning a team for success is for the project manager to take
the time to establish expectations about team performance before that actual scope of work
and project details are introduced. The project manager is, in many ways, similar to the
coach of a sports team. The coach seeks out talent, identifies potential in each player and
plans to develop those players who need some additional support. That additional support
is most effective when it comes from other team members The more experienced or skilled
players create an environment of support that in turn creates a team wide feeling of
confidence. It all begins with effective leadership. Upon approval of a project and the
signing of the charter, the project manager begins the planning process. In an ideal world,
the project manager has the opportunity to select the project team and picks the most skilled
and qualified resources to perform the project’s activities. More realistically, the project
manager is provided with a pre-selected team or must settle for whoever is available at the
time. A true leader will not dwell on who has been assigned to the project but will identify
the potential of each team member. Imagine a project manager speaking to his or her team
for the first time and saying “Well, you’re not what I really wanted but I guess you’ll have
to do.” How would each person react to a statement like that? Can you expect commitment
and dedication to achieving project objectives? It is most likely that you will receive
minimum support and will have to spend great amounts of time micro-managing. To create
an environment that will encourage the project team to step up to the challenges of the
project, the project manager should invest some time and effort in the very early stages of
the project planning process to establish a foundation for team work that will lead the team
to success. The management science identifies several team member roles that a project
manager may encounter. There are Destructive Roles and Supportive Roles and every
project manager should be aware of their existence. The goal is to emphasize and
continually enhance supportive roles while discouraging destructive roles. The project
kick-off meeting is an ideal setting to introduce a project manager’s expectations around
the supportive roles and also create awareness among the project team members about the
undesired destructive roles.

b) How do you get Mr.Saleem to support the project?

As prescribed in the supportive role of a project manager, Mr. Saleem should exactly
follow these precepts. The table given below (also given above in question No.1). Working
with a team that is actively displaying and practicing the supportive roles described in the
table will significantly increase the chances for project success. By explaining these roles
at project start up, the project manager effectively sets expectations for overall performance
and proactively encourages the team to establish an environment that will make the work
of the project more enjoyable and possibly fun. The key here is for the project manager, as
the leader, to prevent the destructive roles from developing by actively displaying the
supportive roles and acknowledging team members when they display the desired
characteristics of the supportive roles.
Supportive Project Team Member Roles

The Initiator Looks for new ideas, uses phrases like – “Let’s
try this!”
The Information Seeker Tries to become more informed, looks for
resources and supportive data. Offers to
research for the benefit of the team
Information Givers Share what they know, increase the knowledge
of the team
The Encouragers Shows visible support for other peoples ideas.
The Clarifier Helps make sure that everyone understands
and issue or a decision
The Harmonizer Creates a unified feeling among the team
The Gate Keeper Ensures that all information is relevant and the
team stays focused on the issue at hand

c) Who should inform upper level management of this situation?

A hierarchal organization is often used and recommended when organizing a project. This
principle is however, not always advisable as it has been seen that an uncritical use of a
hierarchical structure inevitably leads to problems. For very large and long term projects
which work on isolated tasks and are staffed mainly by full-time employees, the heirarchial
structure may be appropriate. But it is not when the project is to be integrated with the base
organization, and will therefore, to a great extent, affect and involve people in large
sections of that organization. The strength of a hierarchical structure is that it describes the
responsibilities of the organizational units which appear on the organizational chart. It
shows the chain of command between different units in an organization. This method of
organization, however, has many built in limitations with regard to what have been
expected from good project organization. Keeping in view the drawbacks of a hierarchal
structure, often organizations switch to matrix. In such an organization, groups and
individuals are arranged in various constellations of responsibilities and authority,
depending on the matter involved. This is the organizational aspect most of the companies
want to utilize in projects. The matrix structure is used for example, in companies which
sell several types of products and which are established in several regions. Such a company
may have a regional organization, where each region has a regional director, a regional
management and staff in a set hierarchy. But in addition the company has an organizational
division according to product with a product manager for each product having authority
also over the regional staff that is connected with that product. The workers are therefore,
subordinates to the regional director in matters such as those concerning work in the region,
and to the product manager in other such as technical product questions and marketing.
The traditional role of a manager is that of commander or captain of the ship. In many
ways this is the role model which most managers are exposed to at an early stage in their
career. Command and control is an easy role to fall into, both because we see examples
all around us all the time, and perhaps because there is something tempting about the power
of becoming a manager where people have to do as you say. However easy it is to fall into,
the command and control model has serious drawbacks. It can mean that staff are limited
in the degree of initiative they take, and constantly refer back to the manager for
instructions, making more work in the long run. In particular long serving or skilled staff
may become demotivated if they do not have enough responsibility, or feel that they are
not trusted. Managers must work to make the total effect of their team’s work
meaningful. They have to quickly get to know their team’s activities, the strengths and
weaknesses and ensure that the team is working together, not duplicating each others
work. The activities have to be balanced and focused towards an ultimate goal.
This is rarely as simple as merely handing out the tasks in a project plan. Team members
will each have their own ways of working and some will be stronger than others. There
will be tasks that take longer than expected, and there will be regular obstacles and
unexpected priorities to deal with. Thus coordination within the whole organization is also
the major and appropriately suited job for the project manager, who should inform the
above situation and every other situation rising out of a routine or crisis, to the
management.

d) When should upper level management be informed?

Informing the top management of each and every step is not considered as an encouraging
act. The project manager should inform the top management as and when he really has to.

e) Would any of you answers change if manager Mr.Nawaz and Mr. Butt were not
close friends?

I don’t think so. Mr. Nawaz and Mr. Butt, though good friends, worked for the organization
as professionals. Maintaining relationships and dealings can be seen here in the perspective
of manager role as politician as the world of work is always a political world, and being a
manager is a political job. Taking a more political role is often a hidden, unspoken part
of management, but it is an important part of your success as a manager. Managers must
negotiate often difficult relationships with all sorts of stakeholders and it pays to pay
attention to growing these relationships in all directions. Being political can also mean
improving your personal and professional networks. The majority of new jobs and
promotions are gained through contacts and already established relationships, so the
successful manager will always pay attention to maintaining and increasing their networks,
within and outside the organization. So, being pure professionals, Mr. Nawaz and Mr. Butt
would have established their relationship, even if they were not good friends from earlier.