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Project Management: Views, Benefits, and Barriers

Loren Karl Schwappach

Colorado Technical University

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Abstract

This paper is a record of an unclassified conversation between several members of a local Project

Management Institute (PMI) meeting and discusses the views benefits and barriers facing project

management.

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Project Management: Views, Benefits, and Barriers

Introduction: Loren from Colorado Springs

Fellow project managers, once again I am privileged to join you here today for this

marvelous occasion. It is great to see the growing number of project managers that have joined

our small PMI chapter.

Before we begin today’s meeting I was hoping to begin a small discussion that has been

influenced by the growing lack of buy-in and support and general negativity toward project

management that I have been receiving from employees and company executives.

In this room of intelligent project managers with diverse backgrounds and seasoned

veterans, I would like to propose a few questions. Please

Question one. How do organizations view the necessity for project management?

Question two. How do executives perceive the project manager position?

Question three. How have these views affected your ability to effectively manage

projects?

Question four. What barriers do believe exist in the world of project management?

Question five. What benefits to you believe project management brings to organizations?

Response to Question 1: Julie from California

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No problem handsome. I think I have a good response to your first question. How

organizations view the necessity for project management.

The way project management is viewed various from organization to organization.

Corporations that have successfully incorporated standard and consistent project

management techniques have done very well and thus perceive its importance.

Corporations that have not tend to view project management as unnecessary and time

consuming practice.

The key to reaching the later companies is though open communication and education.

Response to Question 2: Marge from Tennessee

Honey! I can tell you some things about how executives tend to perceive the position of

project manager.

When an organization is in the initial development phase of a project and when the role

of a project manager is initially developed there is a lot of negativity towards project

management and the role of the project manager.

However if the project manager knows what he / she is doing and uses solid project

management principles and practices good communication skills the negative energy tends to

evaporate. Sometimes it takes the results to really sell project management to an organization.

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Response to Question 3: Data from Las Vegas

Loren. I believe I can offer a logical solution to your third question. How these views

have affected my ability to effectively manage projects.

I learned in my early creation as project manager the necessity of not letting things get to

me. In the introduction phase of project management it is critical the project manager always

maintains one eye on the goal (the projects end), while allowing the other eye to observe project

stakeholders and team members.

A good project manager knows how to influence and focus a project team and will work

hard toward maintain a positive relationship with organizational leaders.

A project manager should be a motivator, good communicator, able to talk the talk,

understand and follow standard project management methodology, be able to coach the project

team, and have an active, wide and diverse grasp of technological understanding. (Wourms,

2002)

Response to Question 4: Cindy from New Mexico

Loren is it? I’ll tackle the next question regarding those barriers that exist in our world of

project management.

As planner, communicator, implementer, integrator, evaluator, manager, and leader we

are confronted with many hats. And above all these roles our communication skills can be our

greatest strength for overcoming barriers or our worst handicap.

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The role of a good communicator is essential for any project manager and demands that

the project manager maintain an interpersonal role, informational role, and decisional role.

Most of the barriers confronted by project managers (mis-understandings, resource wars,

personality conflicts, and conflicts of interest) are due to poor interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal skills require that the project manager be an honest, capable, dependable,

personable and effective leader. The project manager is responsible for dealing successfully with

people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, developing an environment of team unity,

resolving team disagreements, focusing team members towards milestones, motivating team

members toward reaching goals, and constructing positive relationships with stakeholders and

the project team members.

The project manager’s informational role requires that the project manager be able to

coordinate and lead team meetings, provide critical feedback on project results, phases, problems

encountered, and quality of deliverables.

It further requires that project managers make sound judgments without alienating others

by the decisions made. This is a difficult barrier for many project managers to overcome.

I believe the greatest way to defeat many of our barriers is through education, training,

and excellent communication.

Response to Question 5: Omar from Hawaii

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Aloha Loren. I can answer the last question about what benefits project management

brings to organizations. In fact it is still pretty fresh in my mind since I recently developed a

PowerPoint presentation that included this topic.

It has been repeatedly proven that there are many clear-cut benefits when applying

project management techniques to a company’s overall business strategy.

Project management creates the capability for an organization to supply products and

services with reduced delivery costs through the use of well thought-out project management

methodology by preventing excessive costs without thorough consideration. (Egeland, 2010,

para. 4)

Project management typically allows businesses to deliver products or services more

efficiently to the market than competitors due to the continuous process monitoring and resource

efficiency it creates. (Egeland, 2010, para. 5)

Project management provides a focus advantage streamlining products or services to the

client’s needs provided through the constant information updates. (Egeland, 2010, para. 6)

Project management allows for increased production of quality deliverables by including

structured testing phases and quality control measures. (Egeland, 2010, para. 7)

Project management gains the advantage of incorporating customer participation and

communication and allows for businesses to better accommodate and understand customer

requirements. (Egeland, 2010, para. 8)

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Project management allows for improved methodologies and increased capability in

predicting future project needs and concerns. (Kerzner, 2009, pg. 4) It also allows for improved

risk management and enables managers to make more informed decisions and cost predictions.

(Mulcahy, 2002, pg. 3, para. 4)

Project management allows for early problem identification (Kerzner, 2009, pg. 4)

Finally, project management is a promoter of teamwork and increased communication

across departments in an organization.

With all of these benefits it is hard to imagine why anyone would ever choose not to

practice strategic project management.

Concluding Remarks: Loren from Colorado Springs

These are all great and honest answers. However, I have been given the signal that we

are out of time. I would like to say thank you to Julie, Marge, Data, Cindy, and Omar for

providing some light to these questions. So far this meeting has proven to be very effective and I

am sure we are just warming up. Hopefully I can relay some of the feedback I received today.

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References

Kerzner, H. (2003) Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and

controlling (8th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Wourms, B. (2002). Competencies of IT Project Managers Art, science, leadership, and

managership combined . PM Solutions, Retrieved July 13, 2011, from

http://www.pmsolutions.com/uploads/file/Expert%20Series%20-

%20Competencies%20of%20IT%20Project%20Managers.pdf

Mulcahy, R. (2002). The Organizational Benefits of Project Management. RMC Project

Management, Inc., Retrieved July 13, 2011, from

http://swqualitymentors.com/Documents/Org%20Benefits%20of%20Proj%20Mgt.pdf

Egeland, B. (2010). “Strategic Organizational Benefits of Project Management”. Project

Management Tips, Retrieved July 13, 2011, from http://pmtips.net/strategic-

organizational-benefits-project-management/