Exploring the Role of Soft Skills in Project Management Processes

This report thoroughly examines the influence of soft skills on project management, emphasizing their critical role in achieving project success. The report delves into various aspects, including the impact of interpersonal skills, communication skills, and leadership skills on project outcomes. It under...Read More

Running head: SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Soft Skills in Project Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Abstract
This report discusses several kinds of procedures by which soft skills could impact the
management of several kinds of projects. The report also discusses the importance of the
utilization of the soft skills which are really very necessary for communication of the correct
information among each and every stakeholders along with every single member of the team.
This report discusses the interpersonal skills which are important for managing the project along
with the relationship among them. This report also discusses the important roles played by the
soft skills regarding easy administration of the projects. This report also discusses the impacts of
soft skills regarding administration of several projects in a correct manner. This report also
focuses on several kinds of advantages which are faced by the managers of the project by
possessing stronger soft skills.

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SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
2 Literature Review.....................................................................................................................5
2.1 Interpersonal skills and project management....................................................................5
2.2 Importance of soft skills in project management..............................................................7
2.3 Impacts of soft skills in project management....................................................................9
2.4 Advantages of soft skills for the project managers.........................................................13
3 Literature Gap.........................................................................................................................17
4 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................18
5 References..............................................................................................................................20

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SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
1 Introduction
Soft skills are often indicated to as a bunch of attributes which helps in enabling somebody
for interacting in both effective as well as harmonious manner with other people (Jena &
Satpathy, 2017) Soft skills are frequently referred to as the combination of social skills,
personality or character traits, people skills, attitudes, communication skills, career attributes,
and quotients of social and emotional intelligence to name few which in turn is accountable for
enabling people for navigating their environment, working well with others, and helps them in
incrementing their levels of performances (Ritter et al., 2018). Not only this, but also these soft
skills are also accountable for enabling people in the achieving their respective goals along with
complementing of their hard skills.
Project management is described as the exercise of the initiation, planning, execution,
controlling and completion of the entire work of the teams for the aim of grabbing strategic aims
and meeting specific criteria of success within a particular time span (Beard, Schweiger &
Surendran, 2019). The initial challenge in the context of management of project forms the
achievement of all the goals of any particular project within a set of constraints which is linked
with that particular project.
The most interesting factor is that the various kinds of soft skills like that of coordination
skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, skills of delegation and building of teams are
very essential for the achievement of success with respect to any project (Matteson, Anderson &
Boyden, 2016). Good skills of communication is surely responsible for making the project
successful because communication of all the objectives as well as the deliverables of the project
in a clear manner would help every single member of the team along with each and every

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stakeholder linked with the project in what actually needs to be done or executed such that every
single objectives and deliverables as well gets considered.
Every single essential information needs to be communicated in a very understandable
manner such that which activity needs to completed after which particular activity becomes very
clear to the members of the team such that the team could commence working on any particular
project in an effective manner (Geithner & Menzel, 2016). Next comes the interpersonal skills
where it basically focuses on various kinds of skills as well as capabilities of the project manager
in motivating, persuading along with dealing with several kinds of people possessing very
different backgrounds such that every single essential activity of the project gets executed in a
very successful manner.
In addition to this, development of numerous association with the respective peers also
helps in successful handling of the project. Adoption of new and advanced ideas from the peers
also helps in understanding as well developing various types of phases of the project in a
comparatively better manner (Stevens & Norman, 2016, February). The other important soft skill
forms the skills of coordination as it is very commonly known that good coordination is directly
proportional to good performance and this in turn indicates towards higher rates of the success of
the project.
It becomes very important for the supervisors of any kind of project in possessing higher
levels of coordination skills for the aim of developing harmonious relationships among not only
with the entire team but also with each and every member directly linked with the team (Gibert,
Tozer & Westoby, 2017). On the other hand, it also becomes very important for the supervisors

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in understanding several kinds of capabilities of all the members of the team and assigning
several tasks tasks according to their capabilities such that they could be able to give their best.
This research paper aims to describe the important role of soft skills in the areas of
management of project. This research paper focuses to discuss the interpersonal soft skills,
importance of soft skills and a literature review in the context of management of the projects.
This research paper also purposes to discuss the impacts of soft skills with the inclusion of
advantages of soft skills for the managers of the projects for the aim of successful management
as well as the completion of the projects.
2 Literature Review
2.1 Interpersonal skills and project management
Interpersonal skills are referred to as those soft skills which is essential for management of
the projects in a successful manner (Ibrahim, Boerhannoeddin & Bakare, 2017). These particular
skills are very much essential for the managers of the project such that they could perform their
respective tasks in an effective and an efficient manner (Livesey, 2016). An essential role is
played by the method of interaction that gets utilized in the management of the projects. It forms
one of the major factors in getting the job completely done by all the members of the team who
are accountable for the accomplishment of the project in a successful manner.
There are various kinds of skills which directly falls under the soft skills and which holds
higher levels of importance for successful management of the projects. These comprises of
effective skills of communication, skills of leadership, adaptability, negotiation, diligence
(Gustavsson, & Hallin 2014). An essential role is played by all of these factors for the aim of
successful accomplishment of the project. The skill of communication forms the most important

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soft skill for managing the projects, getting each and every activity linked with any particular
project done in both efficient as well as effective manner. Good levels of communication skill
would help in each and every members of that particular team in getting an idea of the scope of
the project in a better manner.
Higher levels of skills of communication would further help each and every members of
that particular team in clearly comprehending the their individual duties as to what kinds of
activities need to be performed one after the other for completing the project in a time span
which was previously planned considering various kinds of constraints linked with the project
and countering as much as it could be done by them (Alias et al., 2014). In addition to this, good
skills of communication also helps in solving several kinds of problems which tends to arise
during the development of the projects. Clear communication within all the members of the team
along with the managers of the projects helps in reduction of the several kinds of complications
linked with the project.
Next soft skill forms the style of leadership which is utilized should possess capabilities of
inspiring, motivating and governing the members of the team who are responsible for the
progress of the project in an efficient manner (Ahmed et al., 2015). Positive feedback along with
constructive criticism is very essential as it encourages the members of the team in proceeding in
a systematic manner and counter the drawbacks that occurred during development of various
kinds of activities linked with the project.
Then comes negotiation which allows and helps the people associated with the
management of the project in effectively reaching the agreements with the concerned members

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of the crew along with the identification of the common grounds irrespective of the occurrences
of the disagreements.
2.2 Importance of soft skills in project management
Soft skills makes the procedures for managing the projects much easier as it becomes very
much essential for the managers of the project for interacting with their respective customers
and understand their needs and demands as to what needs to be done and how they want their
project to be managed as well as developed (Takey & de Carvalho, 2015). Good levels of soft
skills would in turn help the higher levels of the management of the project in interacting with
every single member of the team as well each and every stakeholder who are associated with any
particular project. Soft skills also becomes necessary as it helps the managers of the project in
communicating with all the stakeholders and understanding the contribution of all the
stakeholders linked with the development of the project.

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Figure 1: Essential soft skills for managing projects (Takey & de Carvalho, 2015)
Good skills of communication would further help in making entire objectives of the
projects much transparent among every single member of the team. Several skills of management
are also very essential for the successful management of all the projects apart from various skills
of communication. On the other hand, it is also known that successful procedure of
communication is directly proportional to the successful achievement of all the goals which are
related with the projects (Ellis, Kisling & Hackworth, 2014). In addition to this, effective soft
skills also help in resolution of various kinds of conflicts connected with the projects along with

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the development of the team in a correct manner along with mentoring and directing the team in
accordance with the best possible methods.
Effective soft skills additionally helps in distribution of the several kinds of activities
among all the members of the team in a very easy manner. Higher levels of project management
is accountable for enabling and maintaining the bonding among the members of team such that
they could easily collaborate with each other for taking up of the tasks and completing it in a
correct manner (Itani & Srour, 2016). These soft skills are accountable for interfacing with the
customers along with the inclusion of the management of all the stakeholders. Effective levels of
soft skills in turn helps in handling of the complaints of the customers with respect to the
management of the projects.
It also helps in achieving the delight of the customers along with achieving the satisfaction
and belief of the customers. On the other side, the other necessary soft skill for making the
project forms the skills of delegation along with building of teams because a good team would in
turn become accountable for trying their best in achieving all the objectives of the project in a
systematic order such that all the desired outcomes which were expected in accordance with any
kind of project could easily be met.
On the other side, the occurrence of good levels of communication among every single
member of the team becomes extremely very important as they could easily understand the
causes of the errors in accordance to the development of any project and could work accordingly.
In addition to this, this would also help in countering the problems and further it would also help
in the reduction of the occurrence of various kinds of risks and errors (Deng, Thomas &

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Trembach, 2014). In simple words, reduction of occurrence errors directly indicates towards less
hampering of the development of the project and less wastage of time.
This further would also help in reducing the consumption of the extra cost in the context
of the development of the project. Higher quality of soft skills would also help the managers of
the project along with every member of the team in identifying several kinds of problems which
could hamper successful development and execution of the project along with holding of
analysis of those particular problems. Essential soft skills of the supervisors also helps in
anticipation of any kind of problem in the initial stages as well as final stages of the project.
Figure 3: Graph showing importance of soft skills (Itani & Srour, 2016)

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SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Utilization of higher quality of soft skills also helps the supervisors of the project along
with the members in jointly discussing and analyzing the causes of the problems and jointly
identifying the solution. Solution to any sort of problem could be identified by taking into
consideration several kinds of strategies for the aim of mitigating those particular problems along
with identifying various types of alternative steps such that those particular problems would not
possess any chances of occurrence in the future (Schwalbe, 2015). This all could be done if the
members of the team listens to the managers and in turn the supervisors of the project takes
suggestions from the members of the team as well. If both parties could be able to communicate
with each other following certain protocols along with the inclusion of continuous coordination,
they the project could be become successful by meeting all the objectives and strategic goals.
2.3 Impacts of soft skills in managing projects
An essential role is played by the utilization of higher levels of soft skills with respect to
the context of successful accomplishment of the project. If a good level of soft skill is utilized by
the manager of any particular project, it would become easier for that person in communicating
with the other members of the team regarding various kinds of activities of the project in a much
systematic manner. The members of the team in turn would feel encouraged to perform their
duties if they are directed in a correct and understandable manner.

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Figure 2: Graph showing importance of soft skills (Iriarte & Orè, 2017, October)
On the other hand, soft skills helps in describing the capabilities of the manager of the
project that how that person becomes successful in dealing with several kinds of stakeholders
who are linked with a particular project (Iriarte & Orè, 2017, October). In addition to this, good
utilization of soft skills also indicates towards the personality traits as well as the capacity of the
managers of the project to cope with the stress which is already linked with every single activity
which is linked with the accomplishment of any particular project in a very successful manner. In
additional to this, soft skills of good quality in turn helps the managers of any types of project in
remaining productive and at the same time qualitative.
Possessing soft skills of higher quality helps in improving the quality of communication
among the clients and the managers of the project and it becomes easy to understand the
demands and needs of clients and work accordingly for achievement of better results in the best
possible manner. If the people associated with the development of any kind of project expresses
their individuals views in a systematic procedure, the strategic goals linked with that particular

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project could be accomplished in a very successful manner (Araújo & Pedron, 2016). An
important role is also played by the procedure in which soft skills are utilized by the accountable
managers of any project for the aim of fostering the internal as well as external relationship of
the organization within several kinds of stakeholders who are directly associated with the
development along with the maintenance of the project. The major concern of the managers of
the project lies in bringing out the best from the team.
On the other hand, if goof skills of communication is not utilized by the managers in the
context of successfully managing the projects, then several kinds of problems might be faced
with respect to the development and the maintenance of numerous activities. In addition to this,
poor levels of soft skills might also result in creation of various types of confusion among the
stakeholders regarding their individual duties and the project would take longer time to complete.
This in turn indicates that the project would consume higher costs as compared to what was
estimated in the phase of planning with respect to any kind of project.
Utilization of higher quality of soft skills also results in encouraging every single
members of the team in performing each and every duty linked with the project with utmost
responsibility and confidence. The members of the team would in turn become more responsible
for the duties which are already performed by them and which needs to be performed by them in
the near stages as well. An essential role with respect to the accomplishment of the project in a
successful manner is played the quality of the relationship which is shared between both the
manager of the project and every single member of the team.
The reason behind this is a relationship of good quality would enhance the development of
the project with meeting all requirements expected with respect to the project before the deadline

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and in very systematic procedure also (Ziek & Anderson, 2015). But, on the other hand, if a
lower quality of relationship is being shared among the members of the team along with their
supervisors as well, it would further hamper the development of the project and the project
would fail in a miserable manner without satisfying and meeting the requirements of the clients
of that particular project.
As it is very commonly known by everyone that utilization of higher quality of soft skills
could make a project successful. But, in contrary to this, it is also very common utilization of
poor levels of soft skills might in turn break the project and could be one among several other
major reasons behind the failure of any kind project as well (Zahra et al., 2014). In other words,
it could be stated that soft skills are extremely necessary as they suffice in the form of strength
for the aim of achievement of the desired outcomes and keeping the members of the team
engaged and at the same time motivated to keep proceeding with their work.
In addition to this, utilization of several procedures for effective coordination and
communication along with the development of several functional relationships for the sole
creation of several types of opportunities for making the project successful by every bit possible.
An important role is also played by delegation of the tasks for making the project successful in
best ways possible.

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Table 1: Project reason and skills required for handling them
Project Reason Skill required for handling this particular
reason
Lack of good amount of leadership for
handling each and every phase of managing
the projects in a correct manner for making
the project successful.
Strong soft skills should be utilized by the
managers of the projects for directing each
and every phase of managing the project such
that it becomes clear to every single member
of the team regarding what needs to be done
at what point of time (Balve & Albert, 2015).
Wrong alignment of both the culture as well
as ethics.
Soft skills are highly required for aligning the
culture as well as ethics among the team as
well as among everybody who are linked with
the execution of several activities connected
with any kind of project in a correct manner
Mismatching of the goals of the members of
the project team along with the particular
organization which is in turn served by the
project team.
Higher levels of soft skills becomes essential
for making a match between the planned
goals of the business organization along with
the strategic goals of the particular members
of the team of the project by whom the
organization is supposed to get served by.
Wrong communication of information. Soft skills of higher levels needs to be utilized
by the manager of the project, every single

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stakeholders along with the members of the
team such that right information could be
communicated with the avoidance of creation
of any kind of confusion (Matturro,
Raschetti, & Fontán, 2015, May).
2.4 Advantages of soft skills for the project managers
Utilization of higher levels of soft skills also helps the managers of the project in getting
aware of different kinds of complexities occurring within the team along with knowing the
capabilities of the entire team (Massaro, Bardy & Garlatti, 2016). The reason behind this is that
if the manager of the project does not become aware of the capabilities of the members of the
team, then it would turn difficult in assigning several kinds of tasks in accordance with the
criteria of the eligibility of the members of the team.
Additionally, with the utilization of several soft skills of higher quality, it becomes easy for
the managers as well as the supervisors of the project in building certain positive relationship
with the accountable team for the development of the project along with several types of
stakeholders which would turn helpful for making the project really very successful.
Building of several positive relationships with both the stakeholders along with the team
would also be of great help for the managers of the project in the context of resolving several
kinds of conflicts which would occur with respect to the various phases linked with the
development of any kind of project. Utilization of good soft skills also becomes beneficial for
them as it helps them in keeping the members of the team motivated such that they could feel

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free to resolve their respective queries at any point of time irrespective of what any particular
manager of project would suggest or criticize about. It also becomes extremely important for the
manager of several kinds of projects to communicate regarding any kind of transformation with
the planning procedures and how they need to be executed.
Apart from the above mentioned points, the managers of the projects needs to behave with
all the members of the project team very politely and pleasantly without being rude over any of
the members of the team. This is because each and every member associated with the project
team possess several kinds of essential roles to play for making the project as desired and
required by their respective clients (Davidson, 2016). If the manager of the project could be able
to take the place of a good role model, then all the members of the team would in turn follow that
particular manager of project and perform their respective duties as directed by their respective
supervisors.
The inclusion of the soft skills in the daily routine also helps the managers in including
every single member of the project team in making of certain decisions and in turn receiving
feedbacks with respect to the matter that has been discussed (Pachauri & Yadav, 2014). Hence, it
becomes extremely important for the supervisors along with the managers of the project to have
strong soft skills such that they could communicate as well as coordinate several kinds of
activities and measures for the aim of successful accomplishment of the projects.
According to (Awan, Ahmed & Zulqarnain, 2015), soft skills of all the accountable
managers of the projects highly impacts the rates of success of the projects. In addition to this,
the soft skills of all the accountable manager of the project also has a major impression on the
members associated with the team of any project along with every single stakeholder in the way

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they get directed by the manager of the project (Kang & Ritzhaupt, 2015). In addition to this, it
also becomes easy for the managers in monitoring of the progress of the project by the inclusion
of healthy communication along with providing of feedbacks and constructive criticism as well
such that the it could become clear for all the members of the team in understanding what actions
need to be actually taken for countering several parts which would not entirely justify the rates of
the success of any kind of project.
Utilization of good soft skills also helps the managers of any kind of project in creating an
inviting environment where the members of the team of the project could easily share their
respective views regarding what advanced measures could be opted for successfully completing
the project without any kinds of drawbacks associated with the project.
According to (Jena & Satpathy, 2017), if correct soft skills are utilized in a correct manner,
then the project is bound to be successful. With the inclusion of strong soft skills, it becomes
much easier for the managers of the project in allocation of the resources as well as tasks with
respect to the expertise levels of each and every members of the team (Hurrell, 2016). The
project could be managed in a successful manner if the all the people starting from all the
members of the team of any project to the managers of any of the project to all the stakeholders
associated with any type of project remain on good communication terms and cooperate with
each other such that the project could be successfully accomplished.
According to (Carvalho & Rabechini Junior, 2015), an essential role is played by utilizing
soft skills with respect to the context of managing the risks which are related with the any
particular projects for successful completing the projects with respect to the requirements
provided by the clients. Involvement of good presentation skills along with good communication

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SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
skills which in turn performs an essential part in saving the project from being prone to several
kinds of risks which in turn could become the barrier behind the project not becoming successful.
According to (Davis, 2014), various kinds of stakeholders of the project have different kinds
of perception with respect to the success of any kind of project (Bailey, 2014). Soft skills should
also be possessed by them such that they could maintain a positive relationship with the manager
of the project along with several other people who are linked with the completion of the project
in a successful manner. In other words, perceptions would always vary among various kinds of
stakeholders but the motive is the same which is making the project successful in all respects
((De los Ríos-Carmenado et al., 2015). For this, maintenance of strong soft skills are important
such that no conflicts or no confusion could occur in the procedure of the execution of several
kinds of activities which are linked with any particular project.
In addition to this, resolving of conflicts too becomes much easier for the managers of the
project as feedback are equally provided both the members of any team of project along with the
stakeholders as well. The managers of project becomes successful in identifying the several
kinds of conflicts very easily without taking much time to in finding the solution (Brière et al.,
2015). On the other side, the quality of the projects could easily be handled with the involvement
of the ideas collected from several peers with respect to the development and completion of the
project in a successful procedure.
The soft skills would additionally help the managers of the project in holding numerous
meeting on a weekly or a monthly basis (Anthony & Garner, 2016). Apart from this, several
other soft skills which are very important to be present for successfully managing the projects
comprises of management of the exceptional cases without creating big issues out of it.

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SOFT SKILLS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The managers should know the procedure of influencing the members of the team for
getting the entire activities linked with the project done in a successful manner. Soft skills in turn
helps in aligning both culture along with ethics as well. Hence, an essential role is played by the
utilization of soft skills by the managers in making the project a great success (Cimatti, 2016).
The utilization of soft skills further turns very much helpful for the managers of the project as the
objectives as well as the goals of the project remains very clear with every single stakeholder
along with each and every member of the project team.
3 Literature Gap
From all the gathered information, it could be seen that everybody has mostly focused on the
essential role which is played by the soft skills with respect to the context of correctly managing
all the projects and accomplishment of any kind of project in a successful manner. It is true that
with the utilization of stronger soft skills, it has already become much easier for the managers of
the projects in communicating correct information, handling of various kinds of conflicts as well
as risks related with any particular project.
Possessing of stronger soft skills have also helped the managers of the projects in directing
each and every members of the team in correct manner regarding which activities needs to be
performed after what activity (Awan, Ahmed & Zulqarnain, 2015). But apart from that, the
essential role of soft skills with respect to various perceptions of the stakeholders have not been
elaborated much. This particular context needs to be elaborated such that the success of the
project as well as easy management of the projects could be related with the contributions along
with the aims of the stakeholder as well.

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4 Conclusion
In simple words, it could be stated that soft skills directly contributes in incrementing the
rates of success of any project. The soft skills needs to be exercised by both the managers of the
team along with all the members of the team for the aim of making the project successful and
achieving the desired outcome. The successful accomplishment of any project directly adds up
value to the organization as well. Utilization of higher levels of soft skills also helps in
identifying along with various kinds of problems which are directly related with the development
and the execution of various kinds of activities of any particular project. From the above
mentioned points, it is very clear that if the projects need to be successful then it needs to be
managed in a correct manner.
For correct management of the projects, an essential role is played by the utilization of soft
skills by each and every person be it the manager of the project, be it any member of the team of
the project or be it any essential stakeholder of the project. Utilization of higher levels of soft
skills also helps in clearing of any kinds of doubts linked with the objectives or the procedures of
the development of the project. It also helps in building of certain fruitful relationships with the
peer who in turn could help in the procedure of successfully completing the project.
In addition to this, stronger soft skills that are possessed by all the managers along with the
supervisors of any type of project also helps assuring that the project would succeed only after
each and every activity related with the project has been executed and also has been completed in
a successful manner. On the other hand, communication of the correct information within certain
amount of time directly boosts up the procedure of managing the project. Several abilities of the
managers of the projects like that of solving of several kinds of critical problems with the

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involvement of the feedbacks provided by all the stakeholders along with the members in turn
adds up value in solving all the occurred conflicts.
Hence, the rates of success of the projects gets increased and the projects could very easily
be managed if all the people associated with the management of the project associated stronger
soft skills along with themselves. The managers along with the members of the team of the
project would feel free to communicate regarding any kind of query among their respective
members of the team or with their respective manager of the project for completing each and
every activity related with the project in very successful manner.

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