Should project Manager have a veto power and Power to instruct ?
Mohan KulkarniPM Specialist| MBK ConsultantsPune, Maharashtra State. India, India
This is from history of Hitler's attack on France----
Nobody expected that there would be an attack from thick Forest of Ardennes there on France..
The troops guarding that area were not well equipped and not very well trained since nobody expected an attack from such a dense forest. Moving vehicles and troops there would be very hard but the Germans did just that. They spearheaded an attack there and cut off many French troops from Paris and after that, it was just a matter of time before France fell.It was almost bloodless victory in couple of days.
Every body German top ranked military officers, and strategists viz;Mr Romel. Mr Gobel and many other were advising Mr Hitler that it is impossible to access and fight war through the jungle of Ardennes ,Hitler didnot agree and ordered to march through this jungle and rest is history.
Many times in collaboration and discussions though it is a majority decision screened through decision making matrix ,in intitutive mind of Project manager the decision arrived at by majority oyr by consensus remains lop sided and there can be project failure.
Therfore should Project manager have veto power and also should he have authority to advise and instruct what is right.
REgards
MOhan
Mohan KulkarniPM Specialist| MBK ConsultantsPune, Maharashtra State. India, India
Jun 19, 2020 8:58 PM
Replying to Tarun Nair
...
In my view project manager has that power in executing the project and representing the status with +ves and -ves in a way that influences the decision making.
There is clear view from project manager that is taken into account while making decision.
I agree that the authority may be not a veto, but this may be because project manager may be very good in representing the project itself, but may not be organization business priority as a whole.
So for me it will come with the role given and organization structure which will define the authority.
Dear Tarun Sorry I missed your response. I agree with you that the Project Manager has power of executiong the the project. Obviuosly he is that way lower in hierarchy of organisation structure and either reporting to Program Manager or Portfolio Manager or sometimes PMO. My view point was though as we learnt in PMP or PGMP or Project Manmagement principles , there are occassions during actual execution some times Project Manager has to put his foot down and say "this way not other way". OK, one may say that collaborative understanding and decision is like other way but fact remains the foreseeing of consequences and repercussions of collective decision can be counter productive and at the same time all that is foreseen by project manager cannot be be explained to a level of others conviction though project manager is having strong conviction of what is forseen by him. One need not call this as Veto Power but the senior leadership also be flexible enough and and should repose that level of trust in Project manager to accept and allow the project manager to move on his path as if it is consented by them and take the ownership.. I have experienced this . At Pantnagar while building Tata Motors 1000 acre Manufacturing facility. After hearing my strong resistance to steering committee's view to change the complete layout of the facility as the river was flowing through the acquired land , I almost vetoed their idea and said that this is going to kill the project . Of course my say was backed up by my thinking and my ability to get the river diverted, As far as working level project team is concerned on ( Where Project Owner or Project Sponsor is not present though ideally expected normally)technical issues after doing collaborative effort ,if the decision is not in the interest of project ,the Project manager can veto the outcome of collaboration and decide and instruct. Though we learn different decision making techniques and matrices ,practically that much time is not available to conduct that kind of exercise when you are in executing modes and may not be viable to be process oriented just for the sake of process orientation. Project Manager carries responsibility of delivering successful project at the end of the day ,hence it can be at time right approach to use his executional power and instruct to do the things. Just imagine ,had HItler followed the collective decision of his sr. Military officers and Gen. Romel's advice not to pursue the path of attack through Ardennes Jungle , Which was ofcourse intituve, it would have been almost impossible for Germany to break the defence of France breaking Proptective Wall ,just like China wall in those days. Here one may say he was war sponsor and not war manager. . My view is system or science should deliver success if not the system need be tailored to make it happen.. I agree ,that the project manager usually should not be in dictetorial mode but has to carry his team along to deliver and collaborative working , seeking advice from sponsor and steering committee is required to be followed as a rule. But as we say there are exceptions to rule , some time either in emergency or typical situations in my view Project Managerws do take cue in hand ,decide the way and keep Management informed later and Management remains magnanimous to support the decision or succumb to demand of Project manager. One thing is sure ,the project Manager shall be totally integral and focussed on Project Delivery, then only he deserves to have this ethical and professional--which he should have accued to his account with past records. Warm regards MOhan Saving Changes...
Mohan KulkarniPM Specialist| MBK ConsultantsPune, Maharashtra State. India, India
Dear Tarun
Sorry I missed your response.
I agree with you that the Project Manager has power of executiong the the project. Obviuosly he is that way lower in hierarchy of organisation structure and either reporting to Program Manager or Portfolio Manager or sometimes PMO.
My view point was though as we learnt in PMP or PGMP or Project Manmagement principles , there are occassions during actual execution some times Project Manager has to put his foot down and say "this way not other way". OK, one may say that collaborative understanding and decision is like other way but fact remains the foreseeing of consequences and repercussions of collective decision can be counter productive and at the same time all that is foreseen by project manager cannot be be explained to a level of others conviction though project manager is having strong conviction of what is forseen by him. One need not call this as Veto Power but the senior leadership also be flexible enough and and should repose that level of trust in Project manager to accept and allow the project manager to move on his path as if it is consented by them and take the ownership..
I have experienced this . At Pantnagar while building Tata Motors 1000 acre Manufacturing facility. After hearing my strong resistance to steering committee's view to change the complete layout of the facility as the river was flowing through the acquired land , I almost vetoed their idea and said that this is going to kill the project . Of course my say was backed up by my thinking and my ability to get the river diverted,
As far as working level project team is concerned on ( Where Project Owner or Project Sponsor is not present though ideally expected normally)technical issues after doing collaborative effort ,if the decision is not in the interest of project ,the Project manager can veto the outcome of collaboration and decide and instruct. Though we learn different decision making techniques and matrices ,practically that much time is not available to conduct that kind of exercise when you are in executing modes and may not be viable to be process oriented just for the sake of process orientation. Project Manager carries responsibility of delivering successful project at the end of the day ,hence it can be at time right approach to use his executional power and instruct to do the things.
Just imagine ,had HItler followed the collective decision of his sr. Military officers and Gen. Romel's advice not to pursue the path of attack through Ardennes Jungle , Which was ofcourse intituve, it would have been almost impossible for Germany to break the defence of France breaking Proptective Wall ,just like China wall in those days. Here one may say he was war sponsor and not war manager. . My view is system or science should deliver success if not the system need be tailored to make it happen..
I agree ,that the project manager usually should not be in dictetorial mode but has to carry his team along to deliver and collaborative working , seeking advice from sponsor and steering committee is required to be followed as a rule. But as we say there are exceptions to rule , some time either in emergency or typical situations in my view Project Managerws do take cue in hand ,decide the way and keep Management informed later and Management remains magnanimous to support the decision or succumb to demand of Project manager. One thing is sure ,the project Manager shall be totally integral and focussed on Project Delivery, then only he deserves to have this ethical and professional--which he should have accued to his account with past records.
Warm regards
MOhan Saving Changes...
