8.4 Skills Developed and Improved Improvedorganization skills – With all the other skills such as computer and communicationskills, organizational skills are important and handy skills an employee canhave. Organizations need employees who can stay organized, planned andconcentrate on the projects. Though, it is also managers’ responsibility toorganize and arrange the required work of the employees.
This can contain: timemanagement, task scheduling and planning, resource coordination, stating andmeeting deadlines and general organizing. Developed conflicts managementskills – In a project conflicts can be listed as: resource allocationissues, disagreements and arguments about equipment or facilities, costs andexpenditures, design discrepancies, technical conflicts, prioritization oftasks, process methodologies, disagreements on the schedule, lack of keyresponsibilities and etc. Project manager recognize that the conflicts areunexpected and unavoidable.
Nevertheless, how efficient the manager is athis/her job, they cannot control the working environment. Therefore, it isimportant to be cautious about conflicts and have a plan to deal with. So thesteps followed to manage these situations ae listed below: 1. Studied the issue and collect all the information available,2. Pu in place a conflict resolution process, 3.
Ensuredthe company set the proper working atmosphere/environment within the project team. Improved delegating skills– Notonly the project managers, all mangers need to learn how to be good delegators.But some managers find it very difficult to delegate work and it needs a levelof intent and finesse.
Good delegator knows how to; 1. correctlydescribe outcomes, 2. communicatetheir expectations with the subordinates, 3. direct others into the correct path, and make subordinates accountable for their tasksand results. These skills supported many managers to perform andrise above the level. Negotiation Skills – Negotiation is the skill of nurturing an effective agreement thatsuits to project constraints. A project is requiring negotiations from start toend. Managers need to negotiate deadlines, costs/budgets, scope of the project,communication requirements and a system and resources.
Someproject managers simply accept what they were given and fail to deliver theexpected results. Therefore, to be a successful negotiator, should demand andchallenge till both parties arrive at a point where they both satisfy. Firing/Terminating employees – Thisis one of the unkindest and unpleasant tasks managers had to deal with.
Termination process of an employee should be quick, impartial and unemotional. 8.5 Areasof Expertise Project Planning – Projectplanning species project goals and deliverables and key activities to beperformed to achieve the corporate goals. The manager must be good atscheduling, prioritizing and assigning tasks among the project team. Whenplanning the project, it is a must get team members involved.
If not, theycannot be accountable and responsible for deadlines have not met. Guiding the project team members – Theteam should be guided in: listing the tasks, identifying dependencies, orderthe dependencies, milestones, activity time period, risks identification andmitigation. Need to explain all of the above to the team during the projectplanning phase. Communication – Withouta proper communication system in place even a small team will have major issuesand will get out of control. An effective and efficient communication systemcontains a proper infrastructure to exchange information among project teammembers and stakeholders. This helps to keep everyone aligned on the projectgoals and its progress. Therefore, it is important to plan the communicationsystem at the beginning of the project.
8.6 Areas to Develop Further Estimation of Time – Exacttime estimation is an essential skill needed for a project manager. A thoroughlist of activities could help to estimate time needed for each accurately.
Thislist should also include all meetings to be held and other administrativetasks. And at last but not least it should be given a window for unexpecteddelays can inevitably happen. Therefore, further developing this skill is ofparamount importance. Scope Estimation – This a critical success factor for a project, without scope beingrecognized the project will lose its focus. It is the project manager’s role tomanage the project scope and guide the project team.
It can be done by definingthe: · Projectlimitations and constraints · Requirementsand needs · Assumptionsand expectations A well-structured andcomprehensive project scope helps the project manager to keep the team focusedon goals. 8.6 Personal Development Objectives Setting goals in terms of short-term as well as long-term. · Improved people skills – at the beginning of the project it was adifficult task to manage different people from various functional areas of theorganization with different personalities. But as the project continued did aSWOT analysis on the project team to identify their strengths, weaknesses,opportunities and threats. That analysis helped in supporting and encouragingthe project team towards achieving he corporate goals. · Improved organizational skills and task focused – to delegate andmanage project activities among different people from different departmentsneeds lots of organization and people skills.
Frequent meetings, follow ups,group discussion and check lists kept focused on the project and have a clearunderstanding about goals. · Focus on result oriented – managed different personalities fromdifferent functional areas of the company by delegating work and got them focuson the tasks and results. · More collaboration with the individuals – motivate and encouragethe team members by identifying their skills, abilities, strengths andweaknesses. Supported the team in completing tasks and achieving objectives. · Improve planning & development skills. · Problem recognizing & solving skills, team work skills – someconflicts that can be occurred among some team members even before the start ofthe project. This can delay some activities.
To handle these types ofsituations, needs more people management and change management skills. 8.7 Skillsto Improve as a Marketing Manager 1. Critical Thinking Critical thinking (the capability to evaluate) andhandling/controlling situations is the base for current management expertise tobuild their careers and professions. Critical thinking helps in solvingproblems through creativeness. This is a demanding skill in the industry andwhat companies expect from their employees.
2. Analytical Skills Successful marketing managers should be able to analyses the vastamount of data available to reveal about customer patters, market trends,competitors and innovation. And also need the ability to look for moremarketing opportunities by evaluating the market.
3. Complete Approach Need to have the ability to look at all the sections in themarketing plan, integrate and manage them effectively and efficiently. 4.
Technical Skills Tobe competitive in the job market it is necessary to have all the technicalskills required. Technology will continue to advance by the day and need toupdate the knowledge accordingly to be familiar with consumers’ requirementsand how best to deliver it. 8.9 Future Plans Withthe understanding on my strengths and weaknesses while carrying out theproject, with a proper planning & ensure my personal growth personaldevelopment plan on the knowledge, skills and behavioral development withinnext 3 years.
AcademicDevelopment : Complete Msc & PhdLearning: Leadership management and improve project management skills Management :Understand & practice more management styles
