Any project undertaking requires a “point person” to manage individual tasks to ensure the smooth flow of operations – this person is called the project manager. The project manager is essentially the team leader. He is in charge of executing the project in the proper manner. There are a lot of responsibilities associated with project management. Aside from managing the people in the team, the manager’s role also involves checking the tasks to make sure to meets quality standards.
Leadership
The project manager should have leadership abilities in order to effectively manage, control, and execute his responsibilities. It is important for the project manager to gain the respect of the team members. This is the only way for the project to proceed effectively.
It should also be noted that in many instances, the project manager will have to make unpopular decisions to complete the work. That’s why he should have internal strength and conviction; this lets him deal with various problems simultaneously.
Conflict Resolution
Because the team members in a project often come from different backgrounds, it is inevitable for conflicts to arise in certain instances. It is also common for the team to only meet each other for the first time in the project so they don’t know each other’s personalities and/or capabilities yet. The project manager’s role is to know the strength and weaknesses of each person and give them the right task.
If conflicts do arise between team members, he needs to step in and help resolve the problem. The completion of the project should come first. In many cases, the conflicts can be resolved amiably if the manager has strong leadership capabilities. However, if there is still animosity between the individuals, the project manager should make an important decision whether to assign one team member to another role.
Internal Responsibilities
Besides having leadership qualities, the project manager should also be dependable. The team members have to trust him to follow through on his commitments and take responsibility for his personal mistakes as well as their mistake. When a project manager accepts the role, it is a given that he is personally accountable for the team’s success and failure.
As a leader, a project manager should share the credit for the team’s success but be responsible when the project’s fail. This is because he was trusted by the superiors to handle the team and the team members have accepted him as their leader.
