BUS 528 Project management.-Chapter 3&4

Characteristics of a project manager
Based on few researches done by various researchers, here are the top five
characteristics that make a great project manager.

1. Interpersonal skills The ability to manage people is vital. Project managers will
ultimately be responsible for coordinating the efforts of the technical staff assigned to the
project. It's crucial that they have the interpersonal and leadership skills to direct team
members and keep them motivated and on track. They also need to be able to smoothly
navigate through the tricky politics within and between the participating organizations.

2. Organizational skills This key characteristic of great project managers is absolutely
critical to keep projects on schedule and budget. The ability to assign resources,
prioritize tasks, and keep tabs on the budget will ensure quality and impact the project's
success.

3. Communication skills The project manager is the main communication link between
the state level heads and his or her team members. His or her ability to clearly
communicate with members of both groups is essential. He or she must be able to
clearly communicate project objectives, challenges or problems, scope changes, and
regular project status reports.
In offshore outsourcing, communication skills become even more critical.
Project managers must not only communicate with team members that may be on the
other side of the world, they must do so in a way that makes the global nature of the
project invisible to the client. It's an added challenge to try to effectively communicate
between on-site and offshore staff. But an experienced offshore outsourcing project
manager can do this with ease. In addition to global distance between personnel, he or
she also needs to be aware of and address cultural differences.

4. Problem-solving skills In every project, it's unexpected problems or challenges that
drive everyone crazy. The project manager must be able to effectively handle these
situations and mitigate risk so they don't get out of control.