Program Managers from POME by Gautam Koppala

by jonas_k

Program Managers from POME by Gautam Koppala

Program Managers

Managing complex programs represents a challenge requiring skills in team building, leadership, conflict resolution, technical expertise, planning, organization, entrepreneurship, administration, management support, and the allocation of resources. POME examines these skills relative to program management effectiveness. A key factor to good program performance is the program manager’s ability to integrate personnel from many disciplines into an effective work team.

The program level of an organisation has as much responsibility for the success of a project as the project manager. If a program manager is also a project sponsor and has given approval for a project to begin, then support throughout the life of that project will be essential. Without such support it is unlikely that a project will succeed.

Program manager

Function

Responsibility

Implications if not met

Scope

Ensure the project objectives meet business needs

Project becomes irrelevant

Time

Monitor the project’s progress

Incomplete business solutions,

overruns schedule

Cost

Provide prudent financial direction

Exceed budget

Quality

Monitor the project’s outputs, provide quality assurance

Rework

HR

Provide leadership, allocate staff

Disorganisation and inefficiency

Communications

Communicate the project outcomes and status to the

Project lacks support

business level or client

Risk

Consider business risks as well as project risks

Poor issues and change management

Contracts

Monitor adherence to scope,

Incomplete deliverables, legal

ensure legal issues are resolved

disputes

Integration

Linking the project to the business outcome through benefits management

Lack of corporate support

To get results, the program manager must relate to

(1) The people to be managed,

(2) The task to be done,

(3) The tools available,

(4) The organizational structure

(5) The organizational environment, including the customer community,

(6) The collection of revenue of the operations,

(7) Unbilled follow up

(8) Managing escalations of the diversified projects

(9) Working Capital of the his group of Projects

(10) Collection Plan of the his group of Projects

(11) Contractual Obligations

(12) Compliance and Legal issues

(13) Others, which are pertaining to the Projects in the eagle eye view.

With an understanding of the interaction of corporate organization and behavior elements, the manager can build an environment conducive to the working team’s needs. The internal and external forces that impinge on the organization of the project must be reconciled to mutual goals. Thus the program manager must be both socially and technically aware to understand how the organization functions and how these functions will affect the program organization of the particular job to be done. In addition, the program manager must understand the culture and value system of the organization he is working with. Effective program management is directly related to proficiency in these ten skills:

Team building
Leadership
Conflict resolution
Technical expertise
Planning
Organization
Entrepreneurship
Administration
Management support( Finance, Contracts, Supply Chain, Logistics, Sales, Facilities)
Resource allocation

It is important that the personal management style underlying these skills facilitate the integration of multidisciplinary program resources for synergistic operation. The days of the manager who gets by with technical expertise alone or pure administrative skills are gone.

Team-Building Skills

Building the program team is one of the prime responsibilities of the program manager. Team building involves a whole spectrum of management skills required to identify, commit, and integrate the various task groups from the traditional functional organization into a single program management system.

To be effective, the program manager must provide an atmosphere conducive to teamwork. He must nurture a climate with the following characteristics:

Team members committed to the program
Good interpersonal relations and team spirit
The necessary expertise and resources
Clearly defined goals and program objectives
Involved and supportive top management
Good program leadership
Open communication among team members and support organizations
A low degree of detrimental interpersonal and intergroup conflict

Three major considerations are involved in all of the above factors: (1) effective communications, (2) sincere interest in the professional growth of team members, and (3) commitment to the project.

Leadership Skills

A prerequisite for program success is the program manager’s ability to lead the team within a relatively unstructured environment. It involves dealing effectively with managers and supporting personnel across functional lines and the ability to collect and filter relevant data for decision-making in a dynamic environment. It involves the ability to integrate individual demands, requirements, and limitations into decisions and to resolve intergroup conflicts.

As with a general manager, quality leadership depends heavily on the program manager’s personal experience and credibility within the organization. An effective management style might be characterized this way:

Clear project leadership and direction
Assistance in problem-solving
Facilitating the integration of new members into the team
Ability to handle interpersonal conflict
Facilitating group decisions
Capability to plan and elicit commitments
Ability to communicate clearly
Presentation of the team to higher management
Ability to balance technical solutions against economic and human factors

The personal traits desirable and supportive of the above skills are:

Project management experience
Flexibility and change orientation
Innovative thinking
Initiative and enthusiasm
Charisma and persuasiveness
Organization and discipline

Conflict Resolution Skills

Conflict is fundamental to complex task management. Understanding the determinants of conflicts is important to the program manager’s ability to deal with conflicts effectively. When conflict becomes dysfunctional, it often results in poor program decision-making, lengthy delays over issues, and a disruption of the team’s efforts, all negative influences to program performance. However, conflict can be beneficial when it produces involvement and new information and enhances the competitive spirit.

To successfully resolve conflict and improve overall program performance, program managers must:

Understand interaction of the organizational and behavioral elements in order to build an environment conducive to their team’s motivational needs. This will enhance active participation and minimize unproductive conflict.
Communicate effectively with all organizational levels regarding both project objectives and decisions. Regularly scheduled status review meetings can be an important communication vehicle.
Recognize the determinants of conflict and their timing in the project life cycle. Effective project planning, contingency planning, securing of commitments, and involving top management can help to avoid or minimize many conflicts before they impede project performance.

The accomplished manager needs a “sixth sense” to indicate when conflict is desirable, what kind of conflict will be useful, and how much conflict is optimal for a given situation. In the final analysis, he has the sole responsibility for his program and how conflict will contribute to its success or failure.

Technical Skills

The program manager rarely has all the technical, administrative, and marketing expertise needed to direct the program single-handedly. It is essential, however, for the program manager to understand the technology, the markets, and the environment of the business. Without this understanding, the consequences of local decisions on the total program, the potential growth ramifications, and relationships to other business opportunities cannot be foreseen by the manager. Further technical expertise is necessary to evaluate technical concepts and solutions, to communicate effectively in technical terms with the project team, and to assess risks and make trade-offs between cost, schedule, and technical issues. This is why in complex problem-solving situations so many project managers must have an engineering background.

Technical expertise is composed of an understanding of the:

Technology involved
Engineering tools and techniques employed
Specific markets, their customers, and requirements
Product applications
Technological trends and evolutions
Relationship among supporting technologies
People who are part of the technical community

The technical expertise required for effective management of engineering programs is normally developed through progressive growth in engineering or supportive project assignments in a specific technology area. Frequently, the project begins with an exploratory phase leading into a proposal. This is normally an excellent testing ground for the future program manager. It also allows top management to judge the new candidate’s capacity for managing the technological innovations and integration of solutions.

Planning Skills

Planning skills are helpful for any