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Supporting the role of the project leader and providing this individual with the tools necessary to be successful means that management also has a significant responsibility to assure that their message comes across loud and clear to everyone in their organization, and, in particular, to those individuals in positions to significantly affect and/or be influenced by the project leader's and the international project team's performance. Management must articulate the boundaries within which they expect the team to operate, the importance they place in the project leader's role, and the level of commitment and support they expect this individual to receive from all members of the organization. Because of the length of time required to develop a new chemical entity, the repetitiveness of these important messages becomes critical, particularly because it is often observed that over time some key individuals selectively remember only what is expected of them. Lack of visible support by senior management poses significant difficulties for the project leader and affects the leader's ability to manage the team effectively. |
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What level of responsibility and authority can a project leader expect to receive from management? Depending on the organization, that would depend upon how the project leader's role is perceived and the degree of empowerment which is really provided. The authority inherent in the job does not evolve primarily from a job description, but builds over time from the decisions, processes, and management behavior evident everyday in the organization. The project leader is, however, the one individual within the organization empowered with the basic responsibility of providing the overall direction and coordination for a project through all the development phases to complete it on schedule and within budget while maximizing the commercial potential of the company's assets. As such, this individual plays a key role in helping the organization achieve its overall corporate objectives. |
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Because the project leader's primary task is optimally integrating the efforts of all international team members who are contributing to the project, it is critical that management ensure that the role of project leader is considered a fairly senior level position in the organization. This becomes particularly important in a team environment where it is difficult for someone who is perceived as a junior in an organization to effectively manage other high level executives. In a matrix organization, if the project leader's organizational stature is not at least equivalent to that of the most senior member of the team and/or the project leader does not possess the political and organizational clout necessary to effectively influence and lead others, despite the stated position, the project leader will find it quite difficult to |
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