Although companies have long engaged in project management on some level, it has only been in the last 15 years or so that companies have recognized that project management is a separate function that can have a significant impact on a company's ability to achieve its short- and long-term objectives. Part of this is due to the availability of software that supports the project management function, and that provides the tools through which project management can be accomplished with greater ease than in previous years. Increasingly, companies are also moving toward matrix management structures that facilitate the use of project managers to bring together the various functions necessary to accomplish project management across functional lines. However, this trend toward project management has led to confusion in some instances about the role and responsibilities of the functional manager compared to the role and responsibilities of the project manager. This research considers the level of responsibility that project managers might have with regard to the diverse composition of a project team in general, and with regard to communications and group rewards in particular.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
The responsibilities of the project manager vary from organization to organization and are dependent on the role that the company has defined for the project manager. In some companies, the project manager and the functional manager are the same person, but increasingly, this type of role is disappearing as the inherent conflict of interest is recognized as a weakness in this structure. Assuming that the functional manager and the project manager are two different individuals, the responsibilities of both need to be defined and understood in order to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness (Kerzner, 2003).
In nearly all organizations, the project manager is responsible for monitoring the progress of a specific ...