20 Aug PJM460 MOD5 Peer Discussion Responses

PJM460 MOD5 Peer Discussion Responses

Please reply to both student POST1: and student POST2: in at least 200 words. I have included the original post only as reference.

Original post:

Select and briefly describe an organization. Compare and contrast leadership challenges of a Project Manager and a Functional Manager in that organization, using a Project Management example for the Project Manager and an Operations Management example for the Operations Manager.

POST1:

The organization I am choosing to write about in this discussion post is Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractor by sales, size, and revenue. Lockheed Martin consists of four business units, Aeronautics, Missiles & Fire Control, Rotary Mission Systems, and Space. Lockheed Martin’s net earnings for 2019 were $6.2 billion. Leadership challenges that arise within the organization between a Project Manager and a Functional Manager usually typically fall within conflicting priorities and the proper allocation of resources between functional and project teams. Lockheed Martin’s typical operations is structured similar to the standard operations management approach, broken into function, with production operations being the focus, operations support functions including Engineering, Production Control, and Supply Chain and Business support functions including Finance and Facilities / Maintenance. These functional groups in-turn have functional managers, whom support the synergized effort of meeting business operations goals and objectives. The dynamic of project teams within Lockheed Martin differ based upon the size and complexity of the site. Larger sites have dedicated function of Project Managers, Operations Engineers, etc. Luckily, where I work (a smaller site, < 400 individuals), all Project Managers are actually Project Leads, who in-turn report directly to functional managers, as projects are viewed as support to meet operations goals.

Leadership challenges of a Project Manager within Lockheed Martin (at my site) comprise of driving follow-through, initiative, and motivation from members of the project team. Though everyone on the project team has the same goal, the scope of work performed in their functional role usually take precedence.

Leadership challenges of a Functional or Operations Manager within Lockheed Martin (at my site) include being able to effectively communicate across a large, diverse, and dynamic team. Effective communication is key to all management and leadership activities. One must be able to adopt their style of communicating to account for the given audience of the organization. Driving performance and accountability at all levels.

Similarities between the Project Manager and Operations manager include communication. Being able to effectively communicate will result in the successful mitigation of both of their challenges.

References

Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2016). Leadership: Theory, Application & Skill Development. Australia: Cengage Learning.

Project Management Institute [PMI]. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (Links to an external site.) (PMBOK ® Guide — 6th ed.). Newton Square, PA: PMI Publications

POST2:

The company I am using for an example is Precision Machined Products. It is a machine shop that producing precision machined products for satellites, military, and space crafts. It is a highly demanded business due to the lack of competitors across the USA. I have knowledge of this workplace because my husband was the Operations Manager there for 7 years. It is a high stress job with constant demand and high expectations. There is small amount of room for errors due to the importance of the use of their products.

As the operations manager my husband was in charge of all the Project Managers and assigned them their tasks. He was also in charge of the budget, conflict resolution, and hiring. He also ran the shop floor and helped the machinist accomplish their designated timeline for their projects. Along with these many tasks, he was also in charge of communicating with the customers, discussing delays or issues, and bringing in new customers for future projects. To do these many jobs he had to travel to California at least once a month to Ball Aerospace to discuss their needs. As you can see, he was being spread very thin and the company refused to hire other employees to help complete these many talks.

The project managers he was in charge of had smaller tasks and itemized list of most important to least important to accomplish. They had to work together sometimes to accomplish the requested tasks. One PM in particular started training with my husband and was even traveling with his but she was struggling with all the responsibility and her confidence in her role.

In this situation there was a significant different between the operations manager and the project manager. The OM was in charge of the PM and would delegate any task that could be accomplished to the PMs. It was a difficult work environment for both the OM and the PMs and they have a very high turnover of employees. (On a brighter note, my husband found a new job where he is in charge of 60 employees building the Dream Chaser Space Vehicle to re-supply the International Space Station).

Precision Machined Products. (2020). Retrieved from http://www.pmpmach.com/website/

Sierra Nevada Corporation. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.sncorp.com/