Project Managers as Business Managers

BANGALORE: Increased outsourcing and global nature of projects is forcing project managers to take on leadership roles. This was the common thread of the key note addresses by Project Management experts Parthasarathy NS, Mindtree Consulting and Ranjan Acharya, Wipro at the QAI's Project Management Leadership Conference held in Bangalore.

A Project Manager (PM)'s role has undergone a sea change over the last 40 years, said Parthasarathy. "Initially the focus was on hard skills which then moved to soft skills when complex projects had to be handled. The 80s and 90s saw managers grappling with unpredictability of projects and uncertainty of profiles and management styles. But today, PMs need to act as business leaders," he said.

He contrasted the existing and past business scenarios. In the past, projects followed a predictable path, had reasonable life cycles, good price to cost ratios, limited competition and safe and risk free business models. Now, the changing business context has led to increased outsourcing, global nature of projects, increased competition and a transition into the knowledge era. This in turn has resulted in a change in measuring performance of project managers, he said. In addition to checking if the technical, financial and customer satisfaction parameters have been served, it is equally important to measure if leadership objectives have been achieved. "Leadership is going to be very critical to PM," said Ranjan Acharya who spoke about Leadership Drivers in Project Management.

CyberMedia News