Project Management: A Reflective Essay on Career Goals and Skills

This essay reflects on a student's career aspirations in project management, specifically aiming to become a marketing project manager. The paper begins with an introduction outlining the student's background, including an MBA in marketing and a project management course. It establishes the goal of securing a marketing project manager role within six months of course completion. A literature review explores project management principles, including the importance of planning, process, and people. The review highlights key project manager competencies, such as adaptability, management, communication, and leadership. The student then analyzes their skills, identifying strengths like adaptability and communication, while recognizing weaknesses in conflict and self-management. An action plan is proposed, including training in conflict management and self-control techniques like yoga and meditation, to bridge the skill gaps. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and development to achieve the desired career goal.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
Careers refer to an occupation undertaken by one for a significant period of life and with
opportunity for further progress. Choosing the right career is not only important to make a
living, but it is also crucial for the wellbeing of individuals. The purpose of the paper is to
provide a clear vision of what I want to achieve in the near future. I involved myself in the
course of project management in order to flourish my career in the near future. Previously I
enrolled master in MBA in marketing in order to achieve a better goal and improve my future
practice. The knowledge I have gathered from both unique and diverse course will help me to
improve my future practice. This paper will reflect on my career perspective with the assistance
of a literature review, critical analysis of skills I have according to the benchmark and action
plan to achieve the desired career option in the following paragraphs.
Discussion:
Goal:
The desired goal that I want to achieve is the following:
To involve myself in an organization as a marketing project manager with the assistance
of responsibility and relevant skills within 6 months after completing my course of project
management.
Rational:
The rationale behind setting this goal is that I gained in-depth understanding marketing
field as well as project management. Hence, having knowledge from two different fields would
facilitate the practice as a marketing project manager.

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Literature review:
Project management is a unique practice of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring
and closing the work of a team in order to achieve specific goals and success criteria within a
specific period of time. As discussed by Ziek, P. and Anderson (2016), the primary challenge of
project management is to achieve all project constraints. Waheed (2016), suggested that the
success of any project depends on how four key aspects of project management aligned with the
conceptual dynamics affect the project. These four key aspects referred to four P's (planning,
process, people power). On the other hand, Ziek, P. and Anderson (2016), highlighted that the
skills and competencies of a project manager are major contributing factors behind the success of
project management. There is a significant body of literature address project manager
competencies that can be observed within the private sectors. In order to identify the desired
competency, Topi et al. (2016), stated that the competency model is the unique framework for
defining the skills and knowledge required for the job. A competency model is widely used in
business organization for defining as well as assessing the competencies. According to Skorková
(2016), competency model highlighted certain fundamental skills such as accountability respect;
teamwork, openness, and respect are crucial establishing identity in the business field. However,
in order to be a successful project manager, de Carvalho et al. (2016), stated that leadership
strategy such as transformational leadership is the key strategy and most desired competency.
According to Berson (2015), goal setting theory can be applied by a leader in order to implement
a strategic vision which involved the development of an action plan with an intention of
motivating others and guide a team towards a common goal. Apart from the leadership skills
and other important human skills, Dave, Boddy and Koskela (2013) other researchers also
highlighted the importance of specific infrastructure. Brière et al. (2016), suggested that in

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order to be a project manager in the business industry an array of skills such as adaptability,
management, communication, self-management, ethics, interpersonal, capacity building.
Ramazani and Jergeas (2015), conducted an in-depth review and the result suggested that the
ability to adapt to the field’s reality is one of the most desired competency by the project
manager. One must able to able at several levels, especially in lack of resources. The spanning
ability is another crucial competency such as one must have in-depth knowledge and added
abilities directly connected to the area of expertise in which the projects are carried out
(Holtbrügge and Engelhard 2016). For example, in order to be a marketing project manager, I
have knowledge of project management as well as marketing as I have a degree of MBA.
Management skills with excellent communication are potential competencies identified in the
successful project manager. Management skills include team handling, conflict management,
intercultural skills, and financial management skills. In order to apply management skills,
effective communication skills are important, especially, resolving conflicts (vom Brocke and
Lippe 2015). A personal qualification such as self-management, stress management, humility,
patience, and thoughtfulness is required along with the knowledge of the specific area. It is the
fundamental skill of a project manager is to build a trust relationship between the partners and
clients in order to achieve the desired goal of the project (Hoda and Murugesan 2016). The
researchers suggested that the most successful project manager flourished in the business field
because of excellent management skills and interpersonal skills (Herbert et al. 2016). The
researchers also documented the importance of change management skills by implementing
proper change with the assistance of Lewis change management theory (Dhingra and Punia
2016). Lastly, researchers indicated that ethics are crucial, especially in the case of budget
management and marketing field. However, infrastructure and other human resource factors are

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also contributing factors in this profession. Hence, along with skills, project managers are
required to consider other factors that for successfully accomplishing the project.
Identification and analysis of skills:
After conducting an in-depth literature review, I have identified that in order to be a
successful project manager; certain competencies are crucial which act as a benchmark for
practicing project management success. These competencies include adaptability, management,
communication, self-management, ethics, interpersonal, capacity building. Considering these
competencies as a benchmark I have identified that while I have the majority of the
competencies which I have gathered after enrollment in MBA and project management. I have
identified that I have excellent adaptive skills which I have evaluated during my involvement in
projects. While I involved myself in the projected, I have observed that I have accomplished the
projects even after a lack of resources. I also evaluated that I have excellent communication and
team management skills since I was the supervisor of the project and I have accomplished the
project by promoting the collaborative practice. Since I have a degree of MBA in marketing, I
have gathered excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills which will help me to
design accurate project plan by involving my team members in the projects and facilitating
customer engagement. These skills empowered me and facilitated my career as a project
manager in the business industry. I have excellent leadership skills to lead the team as a project
manager with motivation and strategic vision. I have identified that I have excellent leadership
skills such as inspiring my team members for conducting the projects successfully,
communicating with them when needed. I also have good decision-making skills which I have
evaluated during the project I was allocated with. However, while these above competencies will
facilitate my practice as a project manager in the business field, I have identified that I have

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inadequate knowledge regarding certain skills which are used as a benchmark for the success
project manager. I have identified that I have poor conflict management skills. I have identified
the lack of skills while I was working in a project with 4 team members and two team members
had a conflict regarding the changes required for a successful project. I was unable to resolve the
conflict which further increased that conflict and one of the team members left. As discussed,
Einarsen et al. (2016), conflict management in the team with unique strategy is crucial for
achieving the desired goal. During this incident, I have also identified that I have poor self-
control skills. While I encountered with experience, I become stressful and emotional which
further will affect my future practice. I have identified that in order to be a successful project
manager; I would require to bridge that gap and acquire skills I have.
Plan for acquiring competency: ‘
After conducting an in-depth analysis of the skill, I have identified that I am conflicted
management and self-management skills. In order to improve my conflict management skills, I
would require to enroll myself in the training process of conflict management skills. I would
require to practice active listening without interrupting others. In that way, I would be able to
gather the information regarding what other person has to say and identify the prime reason
behind the conflict. In order to improve personal qualities such as improving self-control skills, I
would require to involve myself in relaxing techniques yoga and meditation. It will help me to
release the stress I was experiencing during the projects. Besides, I would consult my supervisor
to guild me in self-control techniques. I will involve myself in involving in daily physical
activity in order to manage my stress. These techniques will reduce the gap and help me to
acquire skills I would require to be a successful project manager.

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References:
Berson, Y., Halevy, N., Shamir, B. and Erez, M., 2015. Leading from different psychological
distances: A construal-level perspective on vision communication, goal setting, and follower
motivation. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(2), pp.143-155.
Brière, S., Proulx, D., Flores, O. N., and Laporte, M. 2015. Competencies of project managers in
international NGOs: Perceptions of practitioners. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(1), 116-125.
Dave, B., Boddy, S. and Koskela, L., 2013, August. Challenges and opportunities in
implementing lean and BIM on an infrastructure project. In Formoso, CT and Tzortzopoulos, P.,
21th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction. Fortaleza, Brazil (pp.
31-2).
de Carvalho, M.M., Patah, L.A. and de Souza Bido, D., 2015. Project management and its effects
on project success: Cross-country and cross-industry comparisons. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(7), pp.1509-1522.
Dhingra, R. and Punia, B.K., 2016. Relational analysis of emotional intelligence and change
management: A suggestive model for enriching change management skills. Vision, 20(4),
pp.312-322.
Einarsen, S., Skogstad, A., Rørvik, E., Lande, Å.B. and Nielsen, M.B., 2018. Climate for conflict
management, exposure to workplace bullying and work engagement: a moderated mediation
analysis. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(3), pp.549-570.

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Herbert, L.J., Collier, S., Stern, A., Monaghan, M. and Streisand, R., 2016. A pilot test of the
self-management and research technology project: A text message-based diabetes self-
management program for adolescents. Journal of Child Health Care, 20(4), pp.456-463.
Hoda, R. and Murugesan, L.K., 2016. Multi-level agile project management challenges: A self-
organizing team perspective. Journal of Systems and Software, 117, pp.245-257.
Holtbrügge, D. and Engelhard, F., 2016. Study abroad programs: Individual motivations, cultural
intelligence, and the mediating role of cultural boundary spanning. Academy of Management
Learning & Education, 15(3), pp.435-455.
Ramazani, J. and Jergeas, G., 2015. Project managers and the journey from good to great: The
benefits of investment in project management training and education. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(1), pp.41-52.
Skorková, Z., 2016. Competency models in public sector. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 230, pp.226-234.
Topi, H., Karsten, H., Brown, S.A., Carvalho, J.A., Donnellan, B., Shen, J., Tan, B.C. and
Thouin, M., 2017. MSIS 2016 global competency model for graduate degree programs in
information systems. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 40(1),
pp.MSIS-i.
vom Brocke, J. and Lippe, S., 2015. Managing collaborative research projects: A synthesis of
project management literature and directives for future research. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(5), pp.1022-1039.

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Waheed, Z., 2016. Understanding Project Management: Skills and Insights for Successful
Project Delivery. Facilities, 34(7/8), pp.493-494.
Ziek, P. and Anderson, J.D., 2015. Communication, dialogue and project
management. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 8(4), pp.788-803.

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Appendix:
Job adverstisement