I am a research project manager in academia for a large complex research study. The role of the project manager is fairly new in my department. In my two years in this job, I constantly had to justify myself for doing regular project management tasks, such as just being involved and understanding what is going on.
I thought it is normal to overlap in tasks with functional managers which can lead to friction. However, I am currently struggling with a functional manager who is upset after I sent information on organizational theory and roles in project management based on PMI principles, and how I think our project fits into that framework. I am having to justify what I do for a job more than ever right now. Does anyone else feel that too? Is it just academia? Saving Changes...
Management and non-management are often different job classifications each with different skill levels. Pay level may have no relationship to who is assigned what manager, however at the highest skill levels, an employee may be an individual contributor such as a consultant reporting to senior level management rather than a 1st line manager.
Yes but people in management are promoted from among non-management employees that have reached a certain seniority level as individual contributors.
After that level some companies have a so called dual career ladder: management and technical. That means that someone on the technical ladder has an equivalent managerial position. Pay levels indeed may vary but usually companies have ranges for each level.
To make it more complicated I heard that in some tech companies some individual contributors may be given direct reports even if they are not managers. Each company chooses its own way in this. Saving Changes...
Paola GranadosProject Manager/Management of Change/Black Belt| HPGoicoechea, San Jose, Costa Rica
“I am currently struggling with a functional manager who is upset after I sent information on organizational theory and roles in project management based on PMI principles, and how I think our project fits into that framework.” Another avenue is to change hat from Project Manager to change manager or to Business Process Manager. Focus on where you are adding value on the team. How can they make relevant contributions to the customers of the organization. By strengthening the team grassroots, understanding the value they are capable to deliver and enabling them to that potential through processes innovation and teamwork.
If we focus on value and contribute to a better organisation then the door is open to new ways to work.
Having a very deligent Change Management approach were the team feels they are generating the change, understanding and wanting to change, being taught better ways to change. Saving Changes...
From your comment it looks like that you do not have acceptance from both project team and the function manager.
It could be because of various reasons. E.g. team and function manager do not feel you are adding any value to there work. They considere it micro management, acceptance of you as a manager (based on rank, age, experience etc.), lack of clarity on roles and responsibility on project.
So I would suggest, please focus on value adds which you feel as a project manager you can bring into project. Make your role very clear w.r.t. project and try to get acceptance. It might not help with sharing theoretical knowledge as you mentioned. If it is about you (rank, experience) then you need to work on getting acceptance as a person based on your soft skills. This could be difficult but still achievable.
As you mentioned functional manager is upset, I would say, it would be good you start working on getting his acceptance first. Best of luck.. !!
I really appreciate everyone's responses. It is helpful to know that this is a common problem, albeit frustrating. Saving Changes...
Priyanka AgarwalProject Manager - Business Excellence| AccentureJaipur, Rajasthan, India
Agree, have encountered similar situation multiple times in my experience in service industry. It was difficult to follow to project methodology and have to explain the significance for each step at times. Unfortunately, while the goals are being defined when project manager roles are created, but no one wants us to adhere the methodology required to reach there. I have had so many difficult discussions when I followed the chain of escalation, revised the budgets and implemented change management approaches. In fact, in one of the project, I had to convince my sponsor to approve the project charter and budget for almost a month as he thought it was unnecessary. What I have learned and now do is to take the teams through my role in details during the 1st phase and spend significant time in defining the RACI/ ARMI to them. Identify one senior mentor or sponsor right from the beginning to push the teams and link the outcomes and learning to the methodology followed. It helps is avoiding many non value adding conversations. And I think, gaining subject matter knowledge gave an advantage during difficult conversations. Saving Changes...
To some yes. Most- no. Unfortunately I see a lot of people thinking the PM is whatever they think it should be. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Despite efforts of PMI and IPMA for at least 2 decades, the role of PM is not commonly understood or perceived in the same way. If you hear about an accountant, doctor or lawyer, the image is clearer.
The role of a PM is taken on by others in many industries, as functional manager, construction manager, lead engineer and many others. If you try to introduce the PM role, they might feel threatened or puzzled at least. The heslthiest way is to convince by results. Saving Changes...
I think this kind of issues are more common when the PM is not a subject matter expert in a relevant line of work related to the project.
SMEs would never accept to be led by someone that is not an expert like they are and also functional managers would not agree to let such PMs manage their subordinates. This is common sense.
So as a non-technical PM you should forget about leading people in the true sense and you should focus more on facilitating and coordianting. Also you should see the team members as your peers and not as subordinates because technically they are really not your subordinates.
I have heard advises given to PMs on how they should manage "their" team members, but these advises assume the PM is also the line manager of those team member and also he is more experienced. This however is not a general rule, some PMs have to work with team members that are more senior than them in the organization and also in pay.
This aligns with my experience in my current role as a Project Coordinator for a software project. I work closely with highly knowledgeable SMEs who have been with the organization for years. From the outset, it was clear that they did not want an internal PM, since the project already had a vendor TPM assigned to it, the reason I was brought on as a Project Coordinator. However, there are times when I'm expected to step into PM responsibilities, despite not officially holding that role.
The first few months were challenging as I navigated this dynamic, but over time, I found my rhythm by leveraging my core strengths: facilitation, coordination, communication, task tracking, and occasionally performing business analysis to help the organization clarify its needs.
