A New Hope for Managing People & Projects...

 (Ye, 2019)

 

This discussion proposes that various levels of management can be differentiated by the roles described by Buckingham (2005), adhering to the ideals of Managing and Leading Operations (MALO) in Operations Management (OPMA). Overall, Buckingham's article is awesome!
 

Average Managers Expect Everyone To Work The Same Way, Like Stormtroopers

I tend to agree with the three analogy roles as described by Buckingham (2005), as they adequately differentiate the roles of average managers, great managers, and leaders in MALO. Regarding the ‘checkers’ analogy and average managers, it behooves all managers to outwardly treat all employees as equal, especially when directing group communications, meetings, and discussions of compensation. Quinn (2010) recognizes that managers must balance Informational, Interpersonal, and Decisional roles; in a way, I feel that it is tactically beneficial for all managers to outwardly appear as though they are ‘average managers,’ if only to convey the sense of fairness amongst their employees, especially in Mintzberg’s roles of: Disseminator, Spokesperson, Leader, Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, and Negotiator. Like Buckingham (2005) describes, my experience with average managers (especially those working in unionized environments) has seen little change for employees, as everyone is expected to do what they are expected to do, with very little accommodation for individual differences.

 

Great Managers Assemble Rag Tag Crews, Like A Rebel Alliance

In contrast, great managers may be analogous to chess players, exhibiting strengths in managing by knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each employee (or ‘chess piece’); as described by Buckingham (2005), great managers must know each employee intimately, including how to overcome weaknesses, ‘trigger’ each employee to perform well, and teach toward each employee’s preferred learning styles in order to ‘release’ the employee based on strengths. Being a great manager requires sufficient time and effort to analyze, assess, and get to know each employee, and may be easier to do with smaller groups of employees to manage, or with managers that have resources (perhaps more education and experience?) available for them to become great. Personally, I have known only a few great managers, and they have always been instrumental in ‘changing the game’ to accommodate employees, to the benefit of the organization; at the same time, employees are often reluctant to change, so a large part of a great manager’s job is to negotiate and renegotiate how people work at organizations, and change the organization itself.

 

Leaders Are Attuned With The Forces Of The Universe

Most leaders that I have worked with (especially in implementing Enterprise Resource Management systems) are typically concerned with the Leading and Conceptual notions of being able to see the ‘big picture’ in every facet of an organization; likewise, they must inspire their managers and employees to also see that ‘big picture’ and be motivated to achieve it over the middle- and long- term, as Buckingham (2005) describes. Good leaders possess sufficient knowledge of the Technical and Human aspects of their organization in order to motivate managers and employees, requiring the ability to quickly switch between Leading, Planning, Organizing, and Controlling (Quinn, 2010) in the face of myriad problems, ideas, and solutions.

 

Project Managers Are Like Jedi Masters

In my experience, I feel that project managers (PMs) must act as a hybrid combination of all the best qualities of employees, managers, and leaders, with additional skills in PM, per se. I would describe PMs as ‘chess grandmasters’ or ‘jacks-of-all-trades,’ who are good employees, great managers, and excellent leaders with enough political savvy and resourcefulness to rally everyone together for a project in the face of organizational change. (Good PMs are great at managing change, and have likely had experience working as star employees, great managers, or leaders.)
If projects have been developed and approved (as part of the allowable project portfolio structure within an organization, as described by James in 2011) to implement change, every team member’s opinions are equally important; I believe that PMs tend to treat all team members, including themselves, as equals (or perhaps like checkers pieces), in that all ideas are relevant. For the duration of a project, I envision that project team members are expected to act like managers and employees, abiding by a curious mix of bureaucratic and team structures, as depicted in the Calm Seas case (Quinn, 2010); there would be a mix of team members doing what they’re supposed to do (‘checkers’ pieces), along with dynamic ‘chess’ pieces doing what they are strong at doing, and a mix of average managers, great managers, and leaders, all coordinated by a humble project manager. I’ve observed from my work and volunteer projects that the best PMs divide their efforts between: rallying people toward project completion, knowing which people to assign to what kinds of work, and ensuring that people are able to complete their assigned work (or stepping-in to take over incomplete work).

 

PMs Are Different Than Other Managers & Leaders

As James (2011) describes, projects are unique one-time efforts, initiated from various departments in an organization; thus, a PM must be able to quickly familiarize themselves with the relevant stakeholders from that department and the department’s goals, while being able to negotiate (often politically) for capacity (people’s time) to take away from their regular work to invest in temporary project work. Project managers are different from project team members in their authority to make decisions, financial / resource allocations, and Execution: Estimate, Planning, and Control Activities (James, 2011). 
James (2011) recommends that PMs often use a top-down formal strategy, like Project Evaluation and Review Technique, of allotting the right managers and people to a project, including the selection of people using Project, Functional, or Matrix structures. To add control to projects, it is recommended for PMs to formally Scope a project to avoid Scope Creep (What Is, n.d.) as much as possible, which ought to keep the project life cycle shorter (perhaps based on Network Analysis), thereby respecting budgetary limits.
In practice, however, the allotment of people, scope, and budgets can be uncontrollable due to the uncharted nature of projects, and projects may often be staffed by motley crew of ‘whoever we are able to get!’ involved. Overall, anyone working as a PM should be prepared for a myriad of problems, creative solutions, and wide assortment of activities under their purview.

 

Going Forward 

Project managers ought to be people that are good at rallying others (leaders) to achieve a limited-time objective, while utilizing what each person can do (great management), and ensuring they do it (average management). All leaders, managers, and project managers must possess the authority to Plan, Lead, Organize, and Control (Quinn, 2010), while having the flexibility to switch to other roles as needed. MALO roles, including Conceptual, Technical, and Human (Quinn, 2010), may be more predominant in the varying types of managers / leaders, necessary for fully functional OPMA across all members of an organization, including project managers and project team members. Utilizing our MALO and OPMA knowledge, especially with good training / education, we can all be better employees, project managers, managers, and leaders.
I have met many brilliant managers, leaders, and project managers that have had informal education in these areas. I feel that enthusiasm, passion, and a positive attitude can tackle almost any challenge!  Having a more formal university education can open many more opportunities because we have a recognized and robust set of tools for exploring the world.

 

References

Buckingham, M. (2005) What great managers do. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2005/03/what-great-managers-do

James, T. (2011). Operations Strategy. Bookboon. https://bookboon.com/en/operations-strategy-ebook

Quinn, S. (2010). Management Basics. Bookboon.com. https://bookboon.com/en/management-basics-ebook

What Is Scope Creep in Project Management? (n.d.). Wrike Project Management Guide. https://www.wrike.com/project-management-guide/faq/what-is-scope-creep-in-project-management/

Ye, J. (2019). Auto battlers started with Dota Auto Chess and now Valve and Riot Games are joining in. [Online image]. South China Morning Post. https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/person/2019/07/09/image4.gif