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Topic outline

 

  • Time: 8 hours
    Level: Masters

 
 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • The aim of Managing Projects through People is to demonstrate the importance of managing people for the success of a project, to identify groups and individuals whose appropriate involvement in a project...
 

1 Why people management matters to the successful delivery of projects

 

2 Role of the project manager

  • 2.1 What makes a good project manager? Resource
  • The performance of the project manager is crucial to the success of any project, since he or she is the person responsible for ensuring that it reaches a successful conclusion. Although criteria for project...
  • 2.2 Effective communication Resource
  • Whilst effective communication is an essential skill for the project manager, most people tend to be over-optimistic about the accuracy and efficacy of the communication process. Achieving understanding...
 

3 Identifying and involving stakeholders in a project

 

4 Project team

  • 4.1 Introduction Resource
  • Some projects, especially large-scale ones, will rely on a team, not just an individual, for their successful implementation. Unlike permanent work teams, a project team's objective is the achievement...
  • 4.2 Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a project team Resource
  • Those involved in a project may have skills that fulfil more than one aspect of the project agenda. This is likely to be particularly important in small-scale projects, where management of the content,...
 

5 Dealing with senior management

  • 5.1 The relationship with senior management Resource
  • Senior management have a crucial sponsoring role to play both during the planning and the implementation of projects, in terms of establishing their legitimacy, making project resources available and endorsing...
  • 5.2 Using political skills Resource
  • In particular, a project manager needs to employ good political skills in order to maintain the support of senior management, without allowing them to undermine or take over the project. However, this...
 

6 Political behaviour

  • 6.1 Introduction Resource
  • Buchanan and Badham (1999) suggest that political behaviour can be usefully evaluated against four criteria to help determine whether it is acceptable or whether it is not:
  • 6.2 Political skills Resource
  • A project manager will encounter politics – the struggle to acquire and maintain power – on a daily basis, as he or she competes to secure resources and support for their project. This is inevitable, given...
 

7 Building relationships across the organisation

  • 7.1 Sharing the project Resource
  • As we have seen, the execution of a project may depend on the involvement and co-operation of several departments or functions within an organisation. If this is the case, then, for it to succeed, they...
  • 7.2 Negotiation skills Resource
  • Negotiation skills are essential for the project manager to get individuals and groups to agree on a common approach to a project, despite their potentially conflicting interests and priorities. The project...
 

8 Satisfying the client and end user

  • 8 Satisfying the client and end user Resource
  • Most projects have an identifiable client or customer group which will benefit from or use the outcome of the project. The client may be external to the organisation which is implementing the project,...
 

9 Summary

  • 9 Summary Resource
  • This unit has focused on managing projects through people and how important this is in relation to:
 

References and Acknowledgements

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