Project Manager vs. the “Real” Manager?
One can ask: what do I mean by this title? Is there even a distinction? Are Project Managers not considered “Real” Managers?
Well, theoretically, there supposed to be a perfect synergy between the Project Manager and the different Functional Managers in the organization. FM’s manage the organization and PM’s manage the projects inside the organization. The problem is that as Project Manager usually comes from outside the organization, he’s naturally treated as outsider and could be even perceived as a threat to “local” managers. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that there are significant differences in the skill sets of PM’s and FM’s, so they are not always speaking the same language about similar subjects. This lack of communication and trust between the two critical Management branches of the organization can seriously disrupt the working process, so I find it advisable to mitigate the conflict in order to reduce possible losses.
Trust is best built by understanding the other side, so in my next post I’ll try to reverse some existing myths about Project Manager not being a “Real” Manager.
In my post on communication I mentioned that language has its limitations when trying to explain something – for the simple reason of possible gaps in the understanding of terminology by the involved parties. We’ve already encountered this problem when trying to distinguish between Skill, Competence and Expertise, as everyone seems to understand these concepts differently. However, there is an elegant solution for this problem: Continue reading 
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