Making the Best Use of Soft Skills to Succeed in Information Systems Project Management - Research Proposal Example

A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of Information Systems Project Management Course requirements Assignment #3 Making the best use of soft skills to succeed in Information Systems Project Management. 2016 Thesis Statement The adoption of soft skills in information systems project management can create a dynamic shift in the manner in which the projects are managed. This paper highlights some of the most important soft skills that project managers apply in order to be successful in project management. The application of the soft skills in information systems project management is also dealt with in depth in order to provide information that is applicable to all types of firms across the board. Key Words Soft skills, project management, information systems project management, managers. Overview Introduction Information systems management revolves around the study of how people, technology and select organizations coexist. Most firms dealing with projects related to information systems management are in today’s world bound to be situated in a competitive environment that requires that the best skills employed in order to keep these companies afloat. Recent developments in work places has seen those in charge of project management focusing on the use of soft skills to bring out the best from the members of the teams they are working with and to make the organizations within which they are working to get successful on the overall[Had14]. This introduction paves way for the presentation of a number of research questions aimed at guiding the discussion of project management “soft skills” in relation to information systems project management. The various skills are highlighted and their relevance to project management are discussed. Ultimately, there are conclusions made regarding the discussion and suggestions are offered in case there is need for further research. The information presented in this research is applicable for any type of firm dealing with information systems project management, regardless of the size. Research Questions These research questions will govern the scope of this discussion: 1. What does information systems project management entail? 2. What are soft skills and how have they proven important in the sector of project management? 3. Why do information systems project managers need soft skills? Discussion Information Systems Project Management Project management refers to the science of organizing a project’s components, whether in the confines of the development of a new product or in the launching of a new service[MPU16]. Information systems management refers to the management of computer and information systems within an organization[Pro161]. Information systems project management can therefore be defined as the science of organizing a project in a computer and information systems’ related environment, in a bid to have a new related service or product launched in an organisation. The role of information systems project managers involves tasks that are definitely very crucial to the wellbeing of any projects set up in an organisation that relate to information systems. The project managers stand in a position to have the project planned at the initial stage. Upon the completing of the planning stage, they immediately get into action and lead all the others in the execution of the project. This introduces the project manager’s automatic role as the one in control of the project[MPU16]. The information systems project manager has the oversight of the projects major constraints. These are time, money and the scope. They therefore have to steer the others in the team to stick to these three constraints. This basically defines an information systems project manager as the overall project portfolio manager in the realms of computer and information systems in an organisation[MPU16]. Basically, information makes no solid sense if it doesn’t exist to serve a specific purpose within an organisation (EC, 2016). The project managers thus stand in a position where they oversee the creation of the systems used for data finding and storage. They thus should be aware of the manner in which networks, computer databases and computer security works (EC, 2016). Soft skills and how they are related to information systems project management Soft skills can best be defined as the set of personal attributes that enable a person to effectively interact with people and to harmoniously coexist with them. Along the lines of project management, soft skills also entail the set of behavioural attributes which enable a project managers to handle the teams they are in-charge with the aim of driving the projects to success. Project managers in information systems project management are the leaders of the projects, are the ones who bear the vision of the project and are responsible for bringing the teams together to work towards a common goal (Babou, 2013). A select set of behavioural skills is crucial for a project manager in this field to make the projects to run successfully and smoothly (Babou, 2013). Such a set is composed of soft skills which are discussed below: Leadership This is a must have soft skill that any project manager is required to be in possession of. This goes for the project managers in the field of information systems project management. The project managers are tasked with the consolidation of the team members who are in their individual capacity have the great working capabilities, in order to form a team with everyone being on the same page[Pet16]. The information systems project managers should, after having managed to compose the team, be in a position to tell the team members what the purpose of the projects they are working on is in a bid to have all of them working towards a similar goal. Leadership also means having team working towards a common goal even with the team members having unsettled personal differences between them. Leadership skills are thus paramount in this field that involve projects, which in most times are usually short deadline projects. It is thus necessary for a project manager to be in a position to consolidate the team as fast as possible so that work can begin as soon as possible[Pet16]. Conflict Management Conflict is almost an inevitable thing in the common human setting, a situation arising from the differences that people have in the handling of various situations. In the areas of information systems project management, conflict comes by no surprise. Most information technology experts believe in their abilities and when it comes to the selection of the best approach to a given project, conflict may result. There may be cases in which conflict may result from non-work related grounds but still goes a long way in influencing the manner in which the employees correlate at the work place[Pet16]. Conflict in most cases slows down the decision making processes in a team and generally leads to time wastage. It is thus in order for the project managers to be in a position to handle conflict between the team members by learning the conflict management skill and applying it where appropriate. Coaching There are inevitable situations in which project managers, in their capacity as the vision carriers of the project, have to be involved in the active competency development among the team leaders. This is a possible scenario if the information systems project manager has enough the necessary skills to address the visionary aspect of the project. This is geared towards ensuring that team members are in a position to perform excellently in the activities related to the project (Babou, 2013). The information systems project manager should thus learn the skill of coaching in order to set the perfect examples on the manner in which the project should be carried out in order to achieve the desired results. Negotiation Information systems project managers are placed in a situation that sees them as the default representative of the team if need be. This may create the need for them to have the ability to negotiate on behalf of the team members (Marion, Richardson, & Earnhardt, 2014). It is also common to have a situation in which the project managers have to negotiate with the team members so as to speed up the decision making process. In this therefore, the project managers have to learn the negotiation skill in order for them to achieve their desired objective (Babou, 2013). Team Building Team building is a soft skill that is focused on the creation of a close to perfect team in which the taskforce is well defined and in which the roles of the team members are collectively agreed on. This skill places more focus on the project manager’s involvement with the team they are managing as opposed to the focus being on the results to be achieved[Lyn15]. The creation of better relationships between the project manager and the team members and other stakeholders works to enhance the creation of a better working environment that favours the successful execution of the project at hand. Team building as a soft skill is however backed up by other skills such as trust building, communication, conflict management and Influencing (Babou, 2013). Decision Making Information systems project management is characterised by many decisions that come as part of the project of process. The decisions made at every stage are crucial and a project manager has to be part of the decision making since the organisation’s management require them to be accountable for the decisions made. The Project managers should in their capacity as team leaders to be able to lead the team in making the most appropriate decisions [Lyn15]. Manoeuvring around challenges, looking for suitable options, and deciding to pick a particular option are composite of a project manager’s activities on a daily basis. The decisions made affect the final outcome of the project. It is thus essential for the project manager to be equipped with the decision making skill and to be in a position to make the best approach to solving problems. Political & Cultural Awareness The existence of politics in an organisation is not a rare occurrence. Their existence is encouraged so long as they lead to the creation of an environment where there is healthy competition that in the final run would result in the growth of the organisation. The information systems project managers should thus be in a position to create awareness on the organisations politics and should go ahead to ensure that such knowledge is used appropriately for the success of the project (Scott, 2015). In the instances when the teams formed to handle the information system projects are located in several parts of the world, the project managers should ensure that they have a better understanding of the cultural differences between the team members in order to know how to work with them accordingly. Political and cultural awareness are therefore a must have skills for information systems project managers. The reasons why information systems project managers need soft skills Self-related Difficulties People working in information systems management projects often find themselves in situations demanding that they work on irregular schedules. The environment in which they work in is characterised by tight schedules, changing customer’s needs and many technological changes and thus they always are caught up in situations that they have almost no time to prioritise the activities they carry out. Their work environment also leaves them with very little time for personal development activities. In such a state, self-management may be an issue in those caught up in this manner of environment and they may end up not coping appropriately (Marion et al., 2014). That’s why it’s important for those in involved in information systems projects management to learn soft skills to enable them to cope. Leadership Leadership is almost obvious tasks that information systems project managers have to handle. There comes a time when they have to be at the top in a team in those time they are working on some projects. In their capacity as team leaders, they are tasked with keeping the team motivated, in the management of the teams, managing change, managing then learning processes, the management of knowledge and creating the shared vision (Scott, 2015). Those are often not easy tasks to handle since the project managers have to deal with different kinds of people whose perception of things varies a great deal. Most team members usually have different cultural and educational backgrounds, varying capabilities and have different life commitments (Marion et al., 2014). The team members appear to be individually excellent but at the time of forming the teams based on short life cycles, the final team formed is used a poor one. Leading in information systems project management thus calls for those involved to brace themselves with adequate soft skills in order to see the team through. Managerial Role The managerial roles also come up in the information systems project management. The managerial roles require that those in the team be able to make presentations both inn oral form and in written form. These team members may be faced with the challenge of expressing themselves when it comes to breaking down the technical bits of the project to people who are not in a position to understand the information. People in the information technology sector often rise to managerial positions because of their technical abilities. Once they are at the top, they are required to be able to present feedback on the poor performance by the team members and to break unpleasant news to them e.g. schedule slippage with customers and senior management (Scott, 2015). Soft skills are thus a necessity for the information systems project managers in their managerial roles for them to achieve success. Customer-related Issues As seen earlier, project managers in the field of information technology, which includes information systems, are well versed with the technical knowledge of their field of work but almost surely have a hard time handling other people. This may also apply in the manner in which they are able to handle the customers they deal with. A lack of knowledge in the customers they are dealing with, the problem they have with their products, the business plans and the market understanding may all be elusive issues to the information systems project managers (Scott, 2015). They are thus in a bad position to handle the customers, who may not understand that cause of the incapability ass that rising from the lack of soft skills. Acquiring soft skills is thus a must have for the success of the information systems project managers. Project & Process Management Related Issues Project and process management is in itself a challenge to those working in this field. It is common for the project managers to be in situations where there are tight schedules and there is a lot of pressure coming from the other departments in the organisation or from the nature of project they are dealing with (Scott, 2015). Succumbing to such pressure would come as no surprise if those involved are not well equipped with skills to help them pull through. Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Research Information systems project management like any other form of project management in the field of information systems calls for project managers to enable themselves to cope and to create the best atmosphere for the teams they are in charge of to work efficiently. Soft skills they should have include the following: leadership, conflict management, coaching, negotiation, team building, decision making, and political and cultural awareness (Babou, 2013). A suggestion for future research in this case should be the in depth exploration of the traits of the team members and the other stakeholders that the project managers interact with. This is in order to have an approach that is geared towards the information systems project managers having a better understanding of the soft skills they are meant to apply and when to apply them[Had14]. References Eller College of Management. (2016). what is MIS? [Web log post]. Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/HcbX8r Babou. (2013, April 12). Project manager’s essential soft skills [Web log post]. Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/d08AbU Livesey, P. V. (2016). Insights of project managers into the problems in project management. Construction Economics and Building, 16(1). Marion, J. W., Richardson, T. M., & Earnhardt, M. P. (2014). Project manager insights: An analysis of career progression. Organisational Project Management, 1(1). Bourne, L. (2015, June 3). Why project managers should value soft skills [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://goo.gl/nOj4Dc Scott, L. (2015, February 3). Soft skills training - What do project managers really do? [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://goo.gl/YDkIzO MPUG. (2016).what is project Management. Retrieved from MPUG: http://www.mpug.com/education/what-is-project-management/ Prospects. (2016). Information Systems Manager. Retrieved from Prospects: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/information-systems-manager Haddad, M. S. (2014). The Effect of Soft Skills on Project Management Success in IT Industry Read More