PROJECT MANAGER VERSUS FUNCTIONAL MANAGER

The project manager faces a more complex set of leadership challenges than the functional manager does, and therefore is required to have a more sophisticated set of people skills that can be applied to meet those leadership challenges. Some of the distinct leadership challenges between the project manager and the functional manager revolve around:

• Clarity of organizational structure

• Consistency of human resources

• Sources of leverage for motivation.

Clarity of Organizational Structure

The relationship between the functional manager and the employee is ongoing, which provides the functional manager greater clarity of organizational structure. This ongoing nature provides stability as team members develop deeper working relationships with peers and the manager. The ongoing nature of the functional unit also provides clarity of mission, as the purpose of the unit’s functioning (i.e., its product or service) generally remains constant over time. Such constancy offers opportunities for organizational efficiencies because formal and informal operating methods tend to remain constant.

Consistency of operation also exists for the functional manager based on his or her ability to control individuals in terms of assigning work tasks and providing direction. In addition, the leadership focus is clearer for the functional manager because he or she has fewer stakeholders and customers. The functional manager is also able to focus more clearly on managing upward, as the result of a clear and ongoing reporting relationship with his or her superior.

The project manager, in contrast, faces much less clarity of organizational structure. By definition, the project team, whether co-located or virtual, comes together for a finite time and mission and is required to achieve deliverables within aggressive time frames. The organizational structure is often nebulous, as team members come and go. The project manager has no direct authority to control all the activities of team members since many of them work on numerous projects simultaneously.

In the context of this lack of organizational clarity, as well as the lack of designated authority to control the work of the team members, the project manager needs a specific set of people skills to succeed. The sophisticated people skills required of the project manager in a matrix model include:

• A high tolerance for ambiguity

• Personal comfort in operating with a dual focus (such as applying technical skills while also operating as a generalist)

• The ability to quickly envision how the organizational functioning of each new team should come together

• A tolerance for relinquishing control while maintaining an achievement motivation

• Skill in creating group cohesion without succumbing to “group think” (see Chapter 5 for tips on avoiding group think on a team)

• A personal level of confidence that allows him or her to undertake a significant endeavor (the new project) without knowing potential obstacles.

Consistency of Human Resources

The functional manager also experiences greater consistency than the project manager does in the area of human resources.

Because of the long-term nature of the working relationships in the functional unit, the functional manager has more exposure to the technical strengths and weaknesses of each employee, as well as information about each employee’s personality and idiosyncrasies. Such knowledge allows the functional manager to:

• Apply the human resource strengths of the unit more effectively

• Avoid problems by slotting people into tasks in which they are likely to succeed.

Because the working relationships in the functional unit are long-term in nature, the functional manager also has the advantage, from the perspective of developing the human resources of the unit, to:

• Create and monitor ongoing personal development plans for each employee, thus increasing the level of the unit’s talent pool

• Be involved in hiring individuals for the unit.

The project manager, however, faces a much tougher set of challenges regarding the human resources capability on his or her team. Challenges include:

• Trying to quickly assess the strengths and weaknesses of people with whom he or she has never previously worked

• Having little control over the human resources component of the team, as team members are often assigned to the team by someone else

• Having little time or authority to craft long-term professional development plans for the poorly performing team member; often, the project manager has to take what is given and make the most of it.

The project manager needs specific people skills to be able work effectively within these human resource constraints. These people skills include:

• The ability to quickly and accurately assess the strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of people he or she may never have met (see Chapter 3 for more on this ability to identify individual differences)

• The ability to focus more on the strengths of the team member (seeing the glass half full) as compared to ruminating over what the team member cannot do and wishing that someone “better” had been assigned to the project.

These two skills are best developed by:

• Developing knowledge of and comfort with a system that describes individual differences (see Chapter 3 for a discussion of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

• Monitoring your own tendency to see the glass as either half full or half empty, and consciously working on identifying some positive aspects of any negative professional situation (see Chapter 6 for a discussion of positive psychology).

Sources of Leverage for Motivation

The functional manager faces a less complex challenge in the area of motivation than the project manager does.

Because the relationships within a functional unit are long-term, the employee realizes that he or she will need to meet the expectations of the manager, who will have significant impact on raises, promotions, assignments, and career direction. Within this ongoing relationship, the employee generally carries an intrinsic motivation to please the functional manager and to work through any difficulties in the working relationship. In essence, these sanctioned powers give the functional manager the ability to motivate with the “stick” as compared to the “carrot.” (See Chapter 4 describes for more appropriate tools to use than the “stick.”)

For the project manager, the process of motivating the team is far more difficult. In a matrix organization, the project manager has little control over team member availability and therefore must lead the team more through influence and motivation than through direction. The project manager must be truly skilled in influencing the behavior of team members, creatively using many “carrots.”

These two people skills required for successfully motivating team members in a matrix organizational structure are described in detail in Chapters 3 and 4.