Guiding the members of a project through multiple stages, identifying the key tasks and assigning the participants with the corresponding roles and responsibilities are rather challenging tasks.
In order to qualify for a successful project manager, one must incorporate several crucial qualities and enhance the significance of certain concepts. Traditionally, authority, autonomy and conflict management are listed among the key elements. Although the three may not seem as perfectly compatible at first glance, a closer analysis thereof will show that they are indispensable for quality project management.
Authority of the leader remains the top priority for creating the environment, in which project management becomes possible the significance of the leader as a member of the project can hardly be overrated; by distributing roles and responsibilities among the rest of the participants, the leader defines the course of the project.
Therefore, the authority of the project manager must not be doubted; the leader must exert influence to motivate and inspire the staff. In other words, authority of the leader sets a very specific example for the staff to follow, which is important for the quality of their work and efficacy of their actions (Burke & Barron, 2014).
The leader’s influence, however, should not be blown out of proportions to the point where it hinders the project. Particularly, it is advisable that the leader should not prevent the staff from making essential decisions on their own; particularly, the significance of autonomy should not be out of the project management process. Autonomy creates premises for the staff empowerment and, therefore, for a sharp increase in motivation rate among the staff (Gemunden, Salomo, & Krieger, 2015).
Last, but not least, the strategies designed for conflict management and their proper adoption need to be touched upon. Conflicts in the workplace environment are practically unavoidable, yet considering them consistently harmful would be wrong; in most cases, essential experiences can be derived from the outcomes of conflicts.
Moreover, solving conflicts objectively will help make the relationships between the team members even stronger. As a result, in case of an efficient conflict management, confrontations in the workplace can become the basis for gaining crucial experience. Therefore, by managing conflicts in an appropriate manner, the project manager is capable of both solving the emerging problems and offering the team members important lessons to learn.
The above-mentioned skills can be deemed as not merely important, but essential to the success of the project management process. Seeing that a project requires a determined leader, who is capable of creating the required workplace atmosphere, motivate the staff and solve the emerging conflicts in a manner as efficient and expeditious as possible, the qualities listed above are essential for project management.
Indeed, the authority of a leader often defines the extent, to which the project principles and ethics are complied with (Yang & Huang, 2011). Although staff does need the supervision of an experienced manager, allowing the participants to have enough autonomy to make personal choices and contribute to the project is also necessary for enhancing the team spirit and, therefore, boosting the performance rates. Finally, active use of the tools that allow for successful conflict management is also crucial for managing a project, as disagreements are bound to emerge in the specified setting.
Reference List
Burke, R. & Barron, S. (2014). Project management leadership: Building creative teams. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Gemunden, H. G., Salomo, S., & Krieger, A. (2015). The influence of project autonomy on project success. International Journal of Project Management 23(4), 366–373.
Yang, L.-R. & Huang, C.-F. (2011). The association among project manager’s leadership style, teamwork and project success. International Journal of Project Management, 29(3), 258–267.