Michael C.

Stankiewicz September 29, 2010

DNSC 261
Alternative Assignment to Bridge Game
What It takes to Be a Good Project Manager

Read the Chapter 3 directed reading – “What it takes to be a Good Project Manager”
and answer the following questions. Repeat the questions with your answer.
Assignment is limited to two pages.
Questions 1 – 5 on Page 160 of the book

1. What primary characteristic distinguishes the very successful project managers from
the more mediocre project managers?
Posner‘s article stated that as the result of surveys given to project managers (PM’s) during a
nationwide series of seminars, 84% of them believed that good communication skills were of
paramount importance in successfully managing projects. The PM must be persuasive and be
adept at selling ideas, and keep all lines of communication open, whether at the formal or
informal level. Communication was considered more important than organizational skill, team
building skill, and leadership skill.
2. In Table 3, match the rankings between skills and problems. Why aren’t the top skills
matched to the main problems?
PM Skills PM Problems
1. Communication 6. Breakdowns in communication
2. Organizational 5. Insufficient planning; 1. Resources inadequate
3. Team Building 4. Team members uncommitted; 8. Weak inter-unit integration
4. Leadership 3. Unclear goals/direction; 8. Interpersonal conflicts
5. Coping 7. Handling changes
6. Technological 2. Meeting (“unrealistic”) deadlines
The most important problem may not match the most important PM skill because the problem
may be created at a level beyond the PM’s control (e.g., upper management may not allocate
sufficient personnel and budget to do a great job, but the PM may have to use great
communication skills to rectify the problem, or at least minimize it).
3. In Table 1, which of the problems are related to project setup (perhaps occurring
before a project manager was selected) and which are related to the project manager’s
skills?
Project Setup PM Skills
Resources inadequate Breakdown of communication
Meeting (“unrealistic”) deadlines Team members uncommitted
Insufficient planning Conflicts between departments/functions
Unclear goals/direction Insufficient planning
Changes in goals or resources
4. How does Table 1 compare to the discussion in the chapter?
Table 1 project management problems are addressed in the chapter. Acquiring Adequate
Resources (p. 115) states that resources initially assigned to a project are frequently insufficient
for the project scope. The PM will have to make trade-offs with regard to cost, schedule and
performance and must be adept at this to in order to meet “unrealistic” deadlines, the second
Michael C. Stankiewicz September 29, 2010

DNSC 261
major problem in Table 1. Finally unclear goals/direction are often originated at the top level
and this makes the PM’s job that much more difficult. This is also addressed in the chapter.
This chapter covers the most important problems and provides insight to the PM with regard to
solving the problems.
5. How does Table 2 compare to the discussion in the chapter?
Table 2 shows that communications skill is the top-ranked PM skill, but this chapter (p.127) lists
eight attributes/skills that a PM should possess – none of which is communication skill.
Organizational and team building skills are not mentioned either. Some of the eight popular
attributes/skills are hard to quantify: “walk on the waters”, “mature”, “hard-nosed”, etc. the
chapter also states that the best PM is the one who can get the job done. Each project is
different so the PM’s background must be evaluated for the right set of strengths needed by a
particular project. For example, a project may require a high level of technical expertise or
superb leadership skills which a PM may not possess.
6. Using the skills listed in Table 2 evaluate your skills on a 1 to 5 scale where 5 is an expert
and 1 is a novice
Skill Level

Communication 3

Organizational 3

Team Building 4

Leadership 4

Coping 4

Technological 2

7. After you have completed your answers to the questions have a discussion with your team
about the responses to questions the questions. Summarize in 3 to 4 sentences (less than 75
words) the project manager insights that you had as a result of the discussion with your
teammates.

They mentioned other categories from the questionnaire distinguishing team-building and leadership skills
as separate characteristics can also be considered sub-categories of communication. It was noted that
top skills aren't matched to the main problems because it appears that many of the problems can occur
before a project manager is identified and can assemble a team. There are core characteristics that a
great PM should have regardless of the project.