Project management is the assimilation of activities that bring about a finality to the theoretical modelling, planning and development stages of business strategies. Project managers are the key drivers of organisational growth since they draft projects that assist corporations in increasing their economic revenues, profits and prospects.
The sole objective of a project manager is to augur project plans that have long-term sustenance and provide a competitive advantage for the organisation over its competitors. Project management is the glue that binds different workflows, processes and company’s procedures.
Project Management and Game Plan: Defining the Similarities
“Trying to manage a project without project management is like trying to play a football game without a game plan.”
The quote mentioned above by Karen Tate portrays the similarities between project management and the setting up of a game plan. Project management is a team-centric department, and therefore the manager needs to develop an amicable and positive work relationship between themselves and their fellow members.
The core of successful project management lies in ensuring that the internalities and externalities affecting a certain project are taken care of at the earliest. A certificate course in project management serves as an excellent tool for understanding the dynamics of this job role. The XLRI project management program for senior professionals aims at teaching the several types of managers that constitute this space.
What are the Various Types of Project Managers?
Project management is a spread-out field with a comprehensive set of roles and responsibilities for dealing with and defining a particular project management plan. Owing to these reasons, there are numerous critical challenges that comprise the project management sector. Thus, there’s a need for different managers who can deal with these challenges and deploy strategies for overcoming them.
The distinction of these manager types as taught through the certificate course in project management comes down to different scenarios and rationalities. While one manager may like to challenge and modify the existing business strategies and plans, others may work around it and carry out the enlisted project management tasks.
Furthermore, whether seeking growth-related opportunities is the ulterior motive, or just a grandiose vision also influences the project manager role. Some project managers are risk-takers and motivate their team members to display the same traits; others could be conservative in their approaches and follow the beaten path for garnering success.
Several extrinsic motivators drive the project results- rewards-based system, incentives, salary increase, and other practices are some of the ways in which managers push their employees to perform their tasks with diligence.
The differences in terms of challenging strategies, seeking opportunities, external motivation and other factors have led to the following types of project managers:-
- Gambler Type Project Manager
The gambler type of project managers aims at seeking business opportunities that are well within the scope of project planning and strategies. These managers catch on to the business growth opportunities but play a gamble in terms of ensuring success. These opportunities might seem lucrative on the outside, but there’s no fool-proof evidence that pursuing them would lead to organisational success.
The risk involved is huge, but firms require project managers who can gamble for updating and tracking the analytically ignored business opportunities. These managers follow a “high risk, high reward” policy to carry out their tasks and meet business needs.
- Technical Project Manager
A technical project manager is the one who has all the bases covered and understands the corporational silos for deploying project plans. The technical project managers are also called commanders since they exhibit full command over the projects. Technical project managers study and research the business practices that can help their organisations and augur projects accordingly.
These managers hardly compromise on the essential deliverables, resources, KPI’s and other metrics that may bring down the effectiveness of projects. Technical project managers possess an analytical and radical mindset for assessing the results of their projects strategies. Furthermore, these managers provide constructive and detailed feedback to their team members during each project development phase.
- Expert Project Manager
An expert project manager is a step above the technical manager. These expert managers aim at capitalising on business opportunities that lie outside the project’s scope. However, they minimise the risk element involved by making data-driven decisions. With the incorporation of data backed technologies such as data analytics and analysis, expert managers take the help of reliable data for seeking business opportunities.
These expert managers trust their instincts and experience for making business project decisions. If the business opportunity is lucrative enough, expert managers then challenge the existing business policies and aim at adopting them in the corporational setups.
- Supportive Project Managers
Supportive project managers focus on establishing a nexus of supportive team members that help in driving and achieving results. They aim at integrating project employees with its different processes and technology. The combined group of people, technology and techniques help in delivering exceptional projects. These managers don the hat of organisational leaders and motivate their employees towards meeting goals.
Supportive project managers look after the welfare of their team members and profess non-judgemental listening, smooth collaboration amongst team members and inspire them towards meeting objectives. Supportive project managers create a strong bond between themselves and their employees, leading to a positive work culture and team cohesion.
The different types of project managers discussed above focus on delivering results with their separate working and planning methods. Each of the manager types listed above has unique traits, skill-sets and mechanisms for taking business to newer heights. The XLRI project management program for senior professionals provides existing managers with nuanced insights to help them move up in their corporate ladders and acquire prospective projects.
Project Manager: The Fuel for Growth
Different corporate scenarios call for various project managers. Industrial projects hold the key for unlocking a firm’s potential for moving upwards in the competitive market. The project managers act as the catalyst for developing projects and helping organisations achieve their objectives.
Managers already employed in this task force can manage their advanced project efficiently by enrolling for the XLRI project management program for senior professionals. Furthermore, those fresh graduates and budding managers looking to start a career in these domains can enrol for a certificate course in project management.