0.4 Project stakeholders  (Page 3/3)

Peer support is essential. Because most of us serve our self-interest first, use some investigating, selling, influencing and politicking skills here. To ensure you have cooperation and support from your peers:

• Get the support of your project sponsor or top management to empower you as the project manager with as much authority as possible. It’s important that the sponsor makes it clear to the other team members that their cooperation on project activities is expected.
• Confront your peer if you notice a behavior that seems dysfunctional, such as bad-mouthing the project.
• Be explicit in asking for full support from your peers.
• Arrange for frequent review meetings.
• Establish goals and standards of performance for all team members.

Resource managers

Because project managers are in the position of borrowing resources, other managers control their resources. So their relationships with people are especially important. If their relationship is good, they may be able to consistently acquire the best staff and the best equipment for their projects. If relations aren’t so good, they may find themselves not able to get good people or equipment needed on the project.

Internal customer

Internal customers are individuals within the organization who have projects that meet the needs of internal demands. The customer holds the power to accept or reject your work. Early in the relationship, the project manager will need to negotiate, clarify, and document project specifications and deliverables. After the project begins, the project manager must stay tuned in to the customer’s concerns and issues and keep the customer informed.

Common stumbling blocks when dealing with customers include:

• A lack of clarity about precisely what is wanted by the customer.
• A lack of documentation for what is wanted.
• A lack of knowledge of the customer’s organization and operating characteristics.
• Unrealistic deadlines, budgets, or specifications.
• Hesitancy to sign off on the project or accept responsibility for decisions.
• Changes in project scope.

To meet the needs of the customer, client or owner, be sure to do the following:

• Learn the client’s organization’s buzzwords, culture, and business.
• Clarify all project requirements and specifications in a written agreement.
• Specify a change procedure.
• Establish the project manager as the focal point of communications in the project organization.

External customer

External customers are the customers when projects could be marketed to outside customers. In the case of Ford Motor Company for example, the external customers would be the buyers of the automobiles.

Government

Project managers working in certain heavily regulated environment (e.g., pharmaceutical, banking industries, etc.) will have to deal with government regulators and departments. These can include all or some levels from city, through county, state, and federal, to international.

Contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers

There are times when organizations don’t have the expertise in house or available resources and work is farmed out to contractors or subcontractors. This can be a construction management firm, network consultants, electricians, carpenters, architects, and in general anyone who is not an employee. Managing contractors or suppliers requires many of the skills needed to manage full-time project team members.

Any number of problems can arise with contractors or subcontractors:

• Quality of the work.
• Cost overruns.
• Schedule slippage.

Many projects heavily depend on goods provided by outside suppliers. This is true for example of construction projects where lumber, nails, brick and mortar come from outside suppliers.

• If the supplied goods are delivered late or in short supply or of poor quality or if the price is greater than originally quoted, the project may suffer.

Depending on the project, managing relationships can consume more than half of the project manager’s time. It is not purely intuitive; it involves a sophisticated skill set that includes managing conflicts, negotiating, and other interpersonal skills.