Project Manager Role in Project Management Success

Abstract

Project management success is an interesting scientific subject from management perspective. Hence, numerous studies had been done by prior scholars to explore and identify the important factors for project success from holistic perspective. In addition, prior research also commonly agreed that project manager plays an important role toward project success. However, there is lack of study that particularly focuses on the roles played by project manager toward project success. Hence, this paper reviews the roles of project manager, reexamines the definition of project management from the project manager perspective and reassesses the relationship between project manager and project management success. Finding from this paper suggests that the capability of project manager on project team management, such as project activities planning, project team member skill evaluation and job distribution; knowledge on the application of project management tools and techniques; and how the project manager deals with political and cultural issues are the key elements for project success. Introduction Prior research tends to commonly agree that project manager plays an important role in achieving project goals and expectations (Kerzner, 2013). Hence, "project manager" has been well recognized by prior scholars as one of the important factors for project management success (Loufrani-Fedida and Missonier, 2015). A professional and effective project manager not only brings more prospective toward project success, but also promotes an effective project management process (Meredith and Mantel, 2011). As such, project-based organizations always focused on identifying, training and sustaining those project managers that could practically manage project towards the success that is in line with the company's vision, mission and strategy. Hence, project-based organization viewed project manager as one of the important company assets.