Do project managers need industry-specific skills in order to add value to a project and has project management emerged as a distinct discipline and a specialist skill in its own right?
Over the last number of years, organisation have had to dramatically change their approach towards business, to cope with local and international competition and with financial pressures. Some functional businesses became more process driven to cater for the demand. It became necessary for project managers to adopt these changes in business to be able to manage projects efficiently and cost effectively.
Organisations became more matrix-structured, and the project managers had to acquire the business knowledge to be able to manage projects across functional areas.
Furthermore, the rapid adoption of e-business and b-solution development applications, the change from a product- to a solution-delivery offering and the constant changes in technology have resulted in a greater understanding of the importance of industry-specific knowledge and of the business processes within industries.
Organisations do not have the time or the budget to train project managers or to provide them with industry-specific skills. They are looking to contract or employ project managers who already possess the required skills and experience. This poses a challenge to the project management industry, as these skills are not always readily available.
In the past, technology applications (products) were the main drivers for business solutions and required project managers to be more product/technically skilled. Innovations in business processes have made technology the enabler and the demand for program and project managers with business- or industry-specific skills, technical competencies and know-how has grown enormously.
The project management discipline is now regarded as a distinct, multi-skilled competency. Project management has become an industry-specialist field, requiring a fundamental understanding of business architecture, business processes and IT systems architecture.
Soft skills in project management have become more important and more specialised as a result of the changes in the cultural environment in SA and elsewhere. People management, communication and facilitation skills are crucial in the management of any project. His skills and competencies will determine whether or not a project manager is successful.
To cope with the challenges and business changes, and to enable him to deliver projects within budget, time and to stakeholder`s satisfaction and expectations, the project manager needs to specialise in and focus on the following specific areas: risk-, change-, quality-, resource-, procurement-, communication-, integration-, costs and scope management.
Further to these, one must remember that different cultures and backgrounds, project politics, contract management and people management play a major role in project management, and the specific competencies and skills of project management are needed to achieve maximum efficiency.
The answer to the question at the beginning of this article is an emphatic yes on both counts - industry-specific knowledge has become a vital skill in project management, which has emerged as a distinct specialist skill in its own right.
Next week: What careers exist in project management, and how can an individual open the doors to such a career?
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