PEOPLE AND BEHAVIOUR

Managing projects and managing people are very similar; however, there is one critical difference between
them that often makes project management more difficult than people management and another that makes
them approach their work differently.

Similarities Between Project Management and People Management

Both disciplines require strong leadership skills. Project managers and supervisors propel teams to achieve
common goals. In order to be a leader, people have to follow. If a project manager or supervisor does not
have followers, the consequences are dire. Work does not get done, and everyone gets frustrated. While
individual followers may face disciplinary action, leaders are the ones whose jobs are most in jeopardy
when their leadership is not followed.

Communication is critical in project management and supervision. A common adage about project managers
is they spend 90% of their time communicating. Any project manager should tell you that is true. Checking
on the status of a task a work member committed to completing, writing status reports, and holding
meetings are just a few of the communication responsibilities project managers have. Supervisors
communicate much of the time as well. Setting expectations with their staff, gathering information, and
reporting on the team’s work are some supervisory responsibilities that require effective communication.

Organizational skills are important for project managers and supervisors. Project managers tend to be
planners by nature who thrive on establishing a plan and executing it. They even have plans within plans
like a communication plan within a project’s work breakdown structure. Supervisors need to keep track of
what their staff members are doing.

Supervisors ensure everyone is working on the right things at the right time. They corral the work of
individual contributors to help their efforts be most useful to their employing business, nonprofit or
government agency.

Differences Between Project Management and People Management

The main difference between project management and supervision is that project managers do not hold
management authority over their project team members whereas supervisors can hire, fire, discipline and
compel their staff to follow orders.

This means project managers need to have excellent management skills. They do not have the threat of
personnel action in their back pockets. Granted, supervisors should rarely threaten personnel action, but they
have the ability, and many times, that is enough of a threat.

A project manager’s first instinct is not to go to a team member’s supervisor when a problem occurs. Project
managers set up mechanisms for team members to hold one another accountable. Regular status meetings
where team members commit to executing tasks within specified timeframes help the team members hold
one another accountable. A project manager does not want to be the only one calling out people on missed
deadlines and poor deliverable quality.

When all else fails, a project manager gets help from a project sponsor. This person has the organizational
clout to do things neither a project manager nor an ordinary supervisor can do. A project sponsor can go
above a supervisor to have a project team member removed or coached to better performance.
Something that makes project managers approach their work differently than supervisors is that a project
manager is not necessarily an expert in a project’s subject matter while supervisors are experts in their staffs’
business.

The project team solves a project’s problems and issues. The project manager provides structure for the team
to do so. A supervisor is more participatory in devising business solutions because he or she often has a
similar degree of expertise on the matter as his or her staff.

Project management and people management share many of the same necessary skills and abilities;
however, the jobs are dissimilar in their authority and technical expertise. Both present interesting and
challenging career paths for those who have leadership, communication, and organizational skills.

I. Use the following words to describe the people below:

shy thoughtless honest

bad-tempered mean sociable
friendly affectionate patient
out-going good-tempered generous
fun thoughtful nice
selfish easygoing caring
childish mature kind

1. She gives a lot of money to charity, and she likes to share everything she has with other people.
2. He’s great to go out with to parties and discos. He makes me laugh.
3. He never gets angry. He’s always calm and relaxed.
4. She never thinks about how other people may feel.
5. He’s very loving. He likes to show that he cares about me.
6. Sometimes he does stupid things. He should grow up!
7. She is only interested in herself.

II. We often use adjectives that end in –y to describe personality. Find the phrase in the
description that defines each of the words below.

fussy cheeky witty nosy moody

 Well, frankly, my brother is all of those things. He always wants to know what everybody else is
doing, even when it’s none of his business.

 He is bright and lively one minute, and quiet and bad-tempered the next.

 He is also very hard to please when it comes to a good meal.

 But he thinks very quickly and says the funniest things, although sometimes what he says is
funny but rude to people older than him.

III. Choose the right answer:

1. My wife is always ......... when she is busy and becomes angry at me for no reason at all.
a. jealous; b. talkative; c. content; d. bad-tempered.
 3. Glenn is very .......... He always helps out the underprivileged people in our community.
a. creative; b. reticent; c. sociable; d. generous.
4. My little sister is so ......... at school that she is afraid to ask any question.
a. shy; b. courageous; c. tolerant; d. envious.
5. Never ask Phoebe to dance while her husband is looking. He always gets so ..........
a. jealous; b. responsive; c. loving; d. tolerant.
6. Mary's husband is very .......... He never helps her with any of the chores around the house.
a. handsome; b. dependable; c. lazy; d. tolerant.
7. William loves gossip. He always wants to know what everybody else is up to. That’s because he’s
…….
a. inquisitive; b. interesting; c. informed; d. bad tempered.
8. Teresa never gets angry with children. She is very ........
a. brave; b. patient; c. pleasant.

IV. Match the following body idioms with their significance. Then use the right form of the idioms
above to fill in the gaps:

1. break someone's heart a. persuade someone;

b. watch someone carefully;
2. stand on your own two feet
c. entirely;
3. back someone up
4. learn something by heart d. be independent
5. have green fingers e. upset someone greatly;
6. keep an eye on f. be a very kind person;
7. from head to toe g. be very busy;
8. have your hands full h. like gardening;
i. support someone;
9. have a heart of gold
j. remember all the words without help.
10. twist someone's arm

1. She ………………………………..when she left him.

2. I’ve ………………………..the poem …………, so I can recite it to you.
3. She'll always help – she ………………………….. .
4. I can't do anything about it right now – my …………………. .
5. Her garden looks amazing. She must …………………..
6. I didn't want to go out, but, after he …………………….., I finally went.
7. I don't need your help – I can ………………………………
8. Thank you for ………………………… in the meeting. I wouldn’t have done it without your help.
9. I think that he is not really honest; you’d better ………………..
10. We were covered in mud ………………

VIII. What personal qualities you think are important in the following categories of people?

a. a close friend
b. a parent
c. a boss