HRM Project Management

Finally, the fault-funder analyses the justifications that have led to define the new scope. He focuses

on the events, which could negatively affect the fulfilment of the project. His main ability is to

objectively observe the situations and find possible obstacles.

Classifying people via their ways of being is an important step for a Project Manager. By doing so, he

can build specific relationships with each team-member and use all individual potentialities in the

best way possible. The four fundamentals of Leadership

What are the bedrocks of leadership?

Leadership is mainly based on four pillars, which are competence, authority, being a model and creativity.

Firstly, a good leader cannot be unqualified, so a Project Manager must be inclined to continuously

develop and strengthen his competences in order to show himself prepared and qualified in front of

other team-members or spokespeople. He has to infuse trust, reliability and strength.

Secondly, the leader is respected by others if he is credible. Furthermore, the Project Manager’s

authority is a result of his inspiring behavior, which is aimed to motivate and drive others towards

the desired direction. Certainty, it is not the consequence of an imposition, whose aim is to the

maintain a strict observance of rules. Moreover, it is necessary to establish long term relationships

based on trust and reliability, while increasing the emotional capabilities for handling harsh situations

and moderate the own exuberance.

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Furthermore, being a model for the team, is the third fundamental of leadership. It means to support

and be a guideline in each situation. Generally, people don’t judge on the base of what we say rather

on what we do. In fact, an unreliable person will never be considered a model for the team. Therefore,

a model is a mentor, who gets in line with the team and is emphatic for deeply understanding the

interests and expectations of each individual.

Creativity, the last fundamental, is essential of a Project Manager because it describes the ability to

find new solutions to new problems, employing experience and an innovative way of thinking.

Further, it means to be able to handle the uncertainty and unpredictability of events and being open

to listen to others’ opinions and ideas.

These leading lights are at the base for a manager’s behavior. However, they are not enough because

the leader has to communicate his ideas with an effective language, able to enchant all addresses.

Communication

Each day we communicate sending messages, talking and simply interacting with lots of different

people. In my option, communication is at the base of our society because we are social beings and we

instinctively need to express our feelings, ideas and thoughts. In other words, we need to share our

being. However, communication has different means but all have the same aim – sending a message.

Nevertheless, the main issue is to ensure that the listener correctly interprets our words. That’s why a

professional Project Manager learns how to communicate, so to send a clear and precise message and

avoid time-consuming misunderstandings.

The world “communication” comes from the Latin term “communis”, which suggests the will to share

knowledge, expectations and emotions. For this reason, communication is distinguished by

“information”. The latter limits itself spreading only contents, whereas, “communication” takes care

if the received message had been correctly understood and interpreted.

The interpretation of the massage is subjective and it can be easily misunderstood, especially

nowadays, where the use of IT systems such as intranet, internet, socials and emails are the main tools

for communicating, also inside an organization. The time dedicated to face-to-face contact is limited

and it has been replaced by chats and emails. Phoning and chatting save time, but they can damage

relationships and increase difficulties when messages are not well interpreted. In fact, there are several

distorting factors that can even cause conflicts. Firstly, the interpretation of messages is highly

subjective to the person’s personality. Secondly, it depends on the current emotional status of the

listener, who will consequently give a certain kind of response. Thirdly, communication could be

distorted and manipulated on the behalf of the spokesperson.

However, face-to-face contact allows a wider understanding of the emotional status, feelings and

reactions of the consignee. Indeed, the non-verbal communication is fundamental in the

understanding of messages. The latter is strongly tied to the body language, so, gesticulation, attitude,

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posture and tone. It expresses messages about us even preceding our words. The non-verbal

communication can be, therefore, coherent or incoherent to the verbal expressions. In the first case,

the final meaning will be reinforced and it will increase the trust of the listener towards the

spokesperson. Whereas, in the second case, the communication can result confused and ineffective.

Moreover, the Project Manager learns to benefit from all these languages for influencing and

convincing people of his own idea by showing the validity of his thesis. This step represents the final

goal of communication. Only if, at the end of a discussion, the addresses are persuaded from the

validity of the outstanding thesis of the interlocutor, we can affirm that the communication process

has succeed.

In order that to happen, it is necessary that the interlocutor carefully manages three moments, which

define and characterize the development of the communication process. These are the statement of the

message, followed by the listening of other speeches and, finally, responding to all questions given in the

meantime. Feedbacks

Feedbacks are one of the most frequent messages occurring in a discussion between the leader and a

team member. Certainty, the provision of feedbacks can have positive or negative effects depending

on the way they are given.

On one hand, feedbacks represent a source of motivation for the subject because they provide inputs

for development and improvement of a person’s work.

On the other hand, when feedbacks aren’t given or they are provided as an offensive criticism, the

result is deleterious; the employee will become absent in his work and unmotivated to pursue

organizational goals. Thus, the worker will be emotionally damaged. However, this consequence is

harmful for the organization’s performance too. Having a motivated and passionate human resource

is fundamental for the business’ performance. That’s why a good Project Manager has to provide

feedbacks in a kind manner, in order to correct and let the listener to be aware of his weaknesses and

errors.

However, the Project Manager has to take care of how he provides feedbacks. In truth, feedbacks are

a kind of criticism, which can have a negative impact on the addressee. Nevertheless, if the leader is

emphatic with the team-members, he will understand his emotional status and realize the leader’s

corrective actions.

Being emphatic is the most important emotional ability for a leader. Empathy allows the interlocutor

to provide a productive feedback, even if the letter is negative. As a consequence, the message is not

going to result as a critic rather as a corrective guideline for the subject, who will feel motivated and

encouraged to improve his work. Hence, the secret of success for a Project Manager is to never let his

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team-members to their own devices, because the direct consequence is the loss of motivation, passion

and trust.

In addition to empathy, the leader has to be concerned about four meaningful factors, which will

guarantee him a successful speech. These are – be specific, provide a solution or an alternative, be

emotionally present and be sensible. Following these suggestions, the feedback will be perceived as a

mean for improvement and not an offense.

In conclusion, communication will be successful, if the interlocutor is able to drive people’s behavior

with his words. In order to achieve this goal, the Project Manager has to be emphatic and a good

listener first. The Team-Building

Now, I will converge all the element until now I’ve described – interpersonal relations and

communication abilities – in a unique set: the team.

The team is a cohesive group of people that work together pursuing a common scope, sharing values

and believes. The team is very flexible and adaptable to external environmental changes because it

combines different skills and knowledge. These allow the project to survive despite of contingencies

and unpredictable negative events.

To notice the significant difference between a team and a group of people. In the first case, interaction

between members is essential and it represents the pillar for innovation and development. This

happens because people can talk and share knowledge among each other. Further, the team is often

self-managed and the leadership is shared according to the different objectives and skills, the

organization needs. In a group, instead, people are under the control of a supervisor, namely a boss.

The Project Manager is the leader inside his team and he offers a guideline and sets clear objectives.

He employs the team as a political action for relating himself with all members and guiding people’s

behavior towards a single scope. The Project Manager is the father of his own team, indeed, he recruits

people, he supports them and he provides feedbacks, ideas and corrections to work on. Maintaining

serenity and managing conflicts in a team are one of the most demanding tasks. However, both

composure and conflict are definitively necessary, as we will soon see.

It is the effect of synergy among all team-members that increases the performance of the final result

in both qualitative and quantitative way. Interdependence is based on the acknowledgment of

members’ differences and their need to feel cohesive. At the beginning the team begins as a set of

diverse people coming together and discussing upon an idea. Afterwards, the group of people

becomes a team. Now, the colleagues collaborate inside the same environment and towards the same

goal. Each individual develops a feeling of belonging to the group and identifies the latter as an

individual subject, characterized by several needs to grow and develop.

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The consciousness of belonging to a team is called group-ship. It determines, in each individual, the

wiliness to satisfy both one’s own needs and the community’s, with the aim to develop a strong

collaboration between members. In particular, the latter will be based on the trustfulness and the

reciprocal esteem. The interpersonal relations will