Course: Project Management

Level: MBA
INSTRUCTIONS:
a) All written assignments must be well organized, presented in an easy-to-ready
format, and neat. If your hand writing is not legible, type or compose the written
assignment. Moreover, pay particular close attention to grammar spelling
punctuation and understandability. Communication is extremely important in this
course.
b) Documentation is likewise very important. Un-supported statements or opinions
are worth less to the reader, who desires to verify your finding. Complete and
specific documentation is mandatory. Also your reference should be to primary
sources, except I rare unusual situations.
c) Quoting should be kept to an absolute minimum.
d) Assume for each assignment that you have been given research to do on behalf of
the client. The information you prepare will be used by your supervisor as he or she
meets with the client or with the revenue agent.

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

Note: 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:

 Cost/Benefit Analysis is a powerful, widely used and relatively easy tool for
deciding whether to make a change.

 To use the tool, firstly work out how much the change will cost to make. Then
calculate the benefit you will from it.

 Where costs or benefits are paid or received over time, work out the time it will
take for the benefits to repay the costs.

 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.

 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.

Should we hire an additional sales person or assign overtime? Is it a good idea to

purchase the new stamping machine? Will we be better off putting our free cash flow into
securities rather than investing in additional capital equipment? Each of these questions
can be answered by doing a proper cost benefit analysis.

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:

Funders will be much more likely to give money for technology if you can show them a
technology plan.

The technology planning process can expand your horizons and help you see new ways
in which technology can further your mission.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Your written plan should document your resources, needs and solutions, as well as your
budget. See Write the Plan" for more information.

You can now use your technology plan as key element in seeking technology funding.
See TechSoup's Funding section for more information.

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.

Well then I am confused. Why it is state that organizations need technology

Strategy? What sense does this make to implement if it offers no value?

Well, as my grandma Toots used to say ‘You can not judge a book by its cover.’ That is to
say, just because you have a shiny document entitled IT Strategic Plan does not mean that
you have implemented technology Strategic Plan, or more importantly, that you have
‘working management’ on board - carrying out the tactical action that aligns with the
strategy.

What does working management have to do with this? Don’t we simply need an
executive sponsor?

Hold the phone, let me explain what I mean - Today with all the focus on getting
executive management on board, this problem is a non-issue in most organizations. In
fact in most cultures the strategic vision is already there to some extent. More often than
not there is a disconnect between executive (strategic) and working (tactical)
management within an organization. The problem lies in building the tactical roadmap
and executing on that plan which falls under working management. Without the tactical
alignment and execution, Technology Strategic Plan is only a document.

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?

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.