The Project Manager is the person most responsible for ensuring that the project team completes the project. The Manager develops the Project Plan with the team and manages the team’s performance of project tasks. The manager is also responsible for securing acceptance and approval of deliverables from the Project Sponsor(s) and Stakeholder(s). He, besides this, is also responsible for all critical communication, including status reporting, risk management, escalation of issues that cannot be resolved in the team, and, in general, making sure the project is delivered in budget, on schedule, and within the scope.
Project Manager Responsibilities toward the project team members: -
1. To help team members understand the vision and objectives for the project and how its outcomes could benefit the organization and them individually.
Project manager’s role is to create a sense of responsibility among its team members towards the project that is pivotal so that they work for the project and feel self-motivated for its success. He acts as a leader for all the team members working on a project. He needs to guide them continually for the smooth working towards and consequently, the successful implementation of the project. The manager also needs to maintain a perfect relationship with all his colleagues and people working on that project. He can’t just be their boss and order them; he needs to maintain a friendly relationship with all of them so that they can share their problems with him and can work together as a unit for the successful implementation of the project.
This reminds me of my Major project during my undergraduate studies when we were in a group of four for working on a project. I was the head of that team. I regularly need to act as a leader along with maintaining a friendly relationship with them as they were my classmates, as well as friends. I just can’t order them to do the work. I tried my best to guide them and work as a team. We worked as a team for our goal and output. We shared each and every problem and try to figure out their solution. So being a leader, I provided them direction as well as checked everyone so that they perform their task with full dedication. Meanwhile, I also acted as a friend to them so that they can discuss their difficulties with me.
2. Define guidelines: Project manager’s role is to establish objective expectations for a team member. He should provide perfect guidelines of their work. He also needs to inform them about the whole process; its scope and risk associated.
When I was a trainee in B.S.N.L, one of the largest telecommunication company in India, my project manager informed me each and every single detail of the project. He explained me my responsibilities and what I need to perform in the limited amount of budget and in what time frame I need to complete my task.
3. Actively engage team members in the project by involving them in scope definition, activity effort estimation, risk identification and analysis and any other appropriate planning.
4. Provide regular, objective performance feedback for the team members to their functional managers.
5. Regularly update team members on overall project status including expected outcomes and any approved changes to project objectives or constraints.
This reminds me of the time when we participated in the UTKARSH, competition held at IIT Bombay Techfest. We in a group of three worked for the aim desired for that. It was a rural creative competition where we need to submit an innovative design for the upliftment of rural India. We assign our goal for that. We worked as a team, divided our work. We analyzed its scope, cost and time frame. We actively provided feedback to each other for improvement.
6. Assign responsibilities and the divided work among them so that every team member is aware of their roles and responsibilities.
During my undergraduate studies, we had various project works and team presentation. Many