1.15 LOCATION OF THE PROJECT MANAGER

The success of project management could easily depend on the location of the project manager within the organization. Two questions must be answered:

• What salary should the project manager earn?

• To whom should the project manager report?

Figure 1-8 shows a typical organizational hierarchy (the numbers represent pay grades). Ideally, the project manager should be at the same pay grade as the individuals with whom he must negotiate on a daily basis. Using this criterion, and assuming that the project manager interfaces at the department manager level, the project manager should earn a salary between grades 20 and 25. A project manager earning substantially more or less money than the line manager will usually create conflict. The ultimate reporting location of the project manager (and perhaps his salary) is heavily dependent on whether the organization is project-or non–project-driven, and whether the project manager is responsible for profit or loss.

 
Figure 1-8: Organizational hierarchy.

Project managers can end up reporting both high and low in an organization during the life cycle of the project. During the planning phase of the project, the project manager may report high, whereas during implementation, he may report low. Likewise, the positioning of the project manager may be dependent on the risk of the project, the size of the project, or the customer.

Finally, it should be noted that even if the project manager reports low, he should still have the right to interface with top executives during project planning although there may be two or more reporting levels between the project manager and executives. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the project manager should have the right to go directly into the depths of the organization instead of having to follow the chain of command downward, especially during planning. As an example, see Figure 1-9. The project manager had two weeks to plan and price out a small project. Most of the work was to be accomplished within one section. The project manager was told that all requests for work, even estimating, had to follow the chain of command from the executive down through the section supervisor. By the time the request was received by the section supervisor, twelve of the fourteen days were gone, and only an order-of-magnitude estimate was possible. The lesson to be learned here is:

 
Figure 1-9: The organizational hierarchy: for planning and/or approval?

Forcing the project manager to use the chain of command (in either direction) for project planning can result in a great deal of unproductive time and idle time cost.

对企业来说，“项目经理在企业中排第几？”实际上决定两个问题，第一是他的使用资源的能力，科兹纳认为一个项目经理至少应该具有和那些掌握人事适用的部门经理具有平等对话的权力（汗！我公司的项目经理实为部门经理的走卒，这是不符合项目管理精神的）。

第二个问题就是项目经理的话语权--报告关系。科兹纳认为这与项目的大小和时期有关系，项目越早的时候，报告层次应越高。特别在计划期，项目经理应该可以直接、越级向最高层作汇报，以避免时间的浪费。

科兹纳对项目经理级别的划分无疑是科学的？可实际中呢？每个项目经理可能都会有自己的感触。

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