Business Project Management : Business Planning

One of the key leadership skills that every project managers must possess is creating the link between the stakeholders throughout the phase of the project. From the very beginning, I had the leadership quality in me and wanted to excel in it because I used to enjoy the position of handling different groups. For a long time I used to think that, Leadership is important and required only on the project management. Therefore, I would define leadership as the ability to make the impact or convince someone. Most of the time leadership is seen as the title that is conferred on someone. Though we forget that leaders are everywhere in the society (Kerzner 2013). Whether the individuals are teachers, musicians or artists all of them provide input in the society in some way or the other and everyone in the true sense possess the leadership quality (Verzuh 2015).  This is not necessary that everyone is the leader in the true sense but yes they do have some qualities and that makes them the leader themselves (Gido and Clements 2014). There are certain skill sets and characteristics that are required for the leadership.  Leadership strategies include the decision of how the leaders can influence the performance of the group. The one of the approaches followed by the leaders is the situational leadership model (Bozarth and Handfield 2016).  The model is being matched by the leadership style.  The characteristic of the leader are the task behavior and the relationship behavior.  In the task behavior, the leader will provide the task to each and every Individual in the group (Hill  2013). Every project is different and individuals working on the project thus, requires planned and approached manner to complete the task. The personality of the project manager depends on the type and scaleof the project and on the experience of the project team.

Theories of management- There are three theories of the management. The theories are known as transactional and transformational theories (Garel  2013). Transactional leaders are the introvert while the transformational leaders are the managers who wanted their team to succeed (Burke 2013).  The transactional leaders are vice versa they do not converse with the team and just force people to work according to the parameters provided to them (Müller et al. 2013). The role played by the leader is to promote the objectives of the project, encouraging the positive attitude amongst the group, motivate the team workers (Marcelino et al. 2014). The nature of a project tends to influence the required leadership style of the project manager. Portfolio leadership is the most visionary in nature. The purpose of the portfolio is to deliver the host organization’s strategy (Hubbard and Bolles 2012). It must take into account the decision-making  ability and balancing of the targets (Kendrick 2013). Above all, the commitment of the senior manager with respect to the changes made by the portfolio will clearly state the good relationship.  The portfolio manager will strengthen and support the strategy with the help of the other people who are associated with the portfolio (Sánchez 2015).

 In my opinion, the project manager has to succeed in each and every project that he/she undertakes. The vital and the foremost point that would lead the project manager to succeed in completing the project is the ability to communicate effectively with the team members (Hill 2013). I at the time of my internship with the organization did worked on several projects. The span of three months taught me as to how difficult it is to manage a project. I used to think as the technical person of the company.  For small projects the project leader should be highly technical subject matter expert. While handling the project I used to take good care of my communication skills and used to take inputs from the entire team which consisted of 35 people. There are certain rules and skills that I followed. Firstly, the team should understand that the primary role of the team and the manager is to succeed in the task that is provided to them by the organization. Everyone in the team  is used to come to me for providing the context, guidance, parameters, process and help.  I being the head at handling the project focused on the core issues that the project is facing, strategy that is built by the manager in order to achieve the target and success while completing the project. In my opinion,the feedback plays a very important role while communicating. Communication takes place between two people. The communication between the project manager and the team  members is of utmost importance. Feedback are of two types firstly, the positive and secondly, the negative (Kerzner 2013). The positive feedback includes praising of the members when the great work is done. I  counselled the team when the manager struggles to work together with the team.

Experience of being a leader- The leadership qualities has given me enough exposure of how to manage the project and the entire group (Pollack and Adler  2015). I have personally been very fortunate to upgrade my skills that are needed for becoming a good leader and a motivator for managing a task or a project. This has given me tremendous opportunities to develop my skill as a leadership quality One of my experience as the leader was I was about to open my new start-up and for that I did not had much of the funds. I started working side by side in a company accumulated the funds and managed  my expenses. Likewise opened my own start-up and now there are several chains that are being opened at various part of the cities. Today the chain consists of around 300 human force. The company retains its employees and provides several benefits and a good culture and environment for the employees to work in. While opening the start-up I have made several connections by applying my leadership qualities and managed the projects accordingly. Leadership is the complex concept. There are different ways of becoming a leader. There are many leaders like Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama is the handpicked from thousands of people and trains the people for the task (Bozarth and Handfield 2016). Both the leaders have something in common that is they both are living their life in their own way (Gemünden et al. 2013).  The several definitions of the leadership according to my opinion  includes convince and persuade other people for a span of time where the leaders set aside their own concerns and to follow a common goal that is important for the upgrading of the group (James 2016).

Leadership skills and the development needs- I am  highlighting my leadership skills and the development needs. I am jotting down the feedbacks. The paragraph also deals with the leadership strength and the development needs. I am using the self-assessment and feedback from the colleagues in the form of the peers, managers and the reports. I have also included in the paragraph the vision and the style of management and searched for various qualities that are needed to make me versatile as the leader as this is important in each and every field of the working environment. Individual working regardless of any position, grades or titles conferred on them, environment and qualification, may become a leader (Gemünden et al. 2013).  In simple terms, I have to provide the leadership quality while working as the project manager in my organization. The qualities that are required while working as the project manager are vision, communication, integrity, passion, delegation, team building and the problem solving. A project leader is said to have a vision of where he sees himself in the next coming years and the ability to articulate it (Hubbard and Bolles 2012). Visionaries depend on developing a change and making a new boundary (Garel  2013). According to my opinion, the leader is someone who lifts us up, the one who gives the vision a change. The leaders with vision enable people to feel that they have a share in the project. They provide the entire team with the opportunities that will help them to create the new vision for the company and for the betterment of the entire team. While managing the project the manager should not lack communication.

 Project leadership needs clear communication among the team members. The goals that they have to achieve, the responsibility that every team members must possess (Verzuh 2015). The team members and the manager should match the expected level of targets. The targets that are been set by the manager. The manager must be honest and loyal. The actions performed by His/her should set as an example for the entire team members (Burke 2013). The project manager should value what they say and set as an example for the entire team. The goals of the team and the manager should remain the same and the goal must be achieve by keeping in mind the entire team (Gemünden et al. 2013). The manager should delegate the project with ease (Verzuh 2015). The entire team followed by the manager should possess interest on each other. The manager should take initiative in motivating the team and the staffs working in the organization (Burke 2013). The project manager should maintain their cool and listen to each and every feedbacks provided by the team members.  The efficient project manager should be capable of solving the problems that is faced while delivering a project (Pollack and Adler  2015).

Challenges faced by me while managing a project - The project disaster that I have observed has happened due to the result of the poor leadership. During my internship I have seen the seniors never used to be attentive in the meeting.  Constantly bickering, poorly managed meetings, the much of interference of the manager in the project, lack of communication, a can’t do attitude and many others are the signs of the bad leadership management (Marcelino et al. 2014). During my internship period I have seen the senior managers facing  such problems.I think that every leader should keep in mind these four points Firstly, the leadership maturity, secondly, strategic awareness, thirdly, executive presence, fourthly, the execution orientation. These set of skills define the complete set of professional attitude. These skills are considered to be very essential. I do look at how well the employees and the team members perform the task of the managers and what behaviors does the managers possess. The strategic importance of a project is the vital point and should be understood  by the project managers. A project manager can become an efficient leader only when he /she is well versed with the strategy of the organization and the project (Gemünden et al. 2013). The strategy is important as each and every projects requires strategy to proceed with it.  The organization deals with the globalization, time compression, the life cycle of the product, the change in the generations, the increase in complexity and more choices provided to the customers (Meredith et al.  2013). The organizations remain under constant pressure to execute the strategies (Kendrick 2013).

Points to be focused- I as the project manager would like to have skills that are in common with the good managers. I will try and work on enhancing my skills as the good project manager knows how to deal with the interruptions. I as a project manager should keep cool and have patience in order to deal with the problems, requests and other consequences faced by the team member or the client. I as the project manager would like to work in a straight way manner. I would enhance my skills to become make my points more detailed and understandable to the team, have the quality to organize meetings and the seminars and communicate with the people present there. I would like to become more optimistic. The trust is the vital point that has to be attached with the manager. I will be honest enough while communicating and keeping my views in front of the team or other members of the organization or even when the projects are going through any trouble.

Reference

Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Verzuh, E., 2015. The fast forward MBA in project management. John Wiley & Sons.

Gido, J. and Clements, J.P., 2014. Successful project management. Nelson Education.

Bozarth, C.B. and Handfield, R.B., 2016. Introduction to operations and supply chain management. Pearson Higher Ed.

Hill, G.M., 2013. The complete project management office handbook. CRC Press.

Garel, G., 2013. A history of project management models: From pre-models to the standard models. International Journal of Project Management, 31(5), pp.663-669.

Müller, R., Glückler, J., Aubry, M. and Shao, J., 2013. Project management knowledge flows in networks of project managers and project management offices: A case study in the pharmaceutical industry. Project Management Journal, 44(2), pp.4-19.

Marcelino-Sádaba, S., Pérez-Ezcurdia, A., Lazcano, A.M.E. and Villanueva, P., 2014. Project risk management methodology for small firms. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.327-340.

Hubbard, D.G. and Bolles, D., 2012, August. Executive PMO--Blending Project Management and Business Management. Project Management Institute.

Kendrick, T., 2013. The project management tool kit: 100 tips and techniques for getting the job done right. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Sánchez, M.A., 2015. Integrating sustainability issues into project management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 96, pp.319-330.

Pollack, J. and Adler, D., 2015. Emergent trends and passing fads in project management research: A scientometric analysis of changes in the field.International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.236-248.

Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2013. Project management in practice. Wiley Global Education.

Gemünden, H.G., Huemann, M. and Martinsuo, M., 2013. Project management: A social innovation that is changing our world of thinking and acting. International Journal of Project Management, 6(31), pp.791-793.

James, P.L., 2016. Fundamentals of project management.