PJM460 MOD5 Peer Discussion Responses

Pleasereply to both student POST1: and student POST2: in at least 200 words. Ihave included the original post only as reference.

Original post:

Select and briefly describe an organization. Compare and contrastleadership challenges of a Project Manager and a Functional Manager inthat organization, using a Project Management example for the ProjectManager and an Operations Management example for the Operations Manager.

POST1:

Theorganization I am choosing to write about in this discussion post isLockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest aerospace anddefense contractor by sales, size, and revenue. Lockheed Martin consistsof four business units, Aeronautics, Missiles & Fire Control,Rotary Mission Systems, and Space. Lockheed Martin’s net earnings for2019 were $6.2 billion. Leadership challenges that arise within theorganization between a Project Manager and a Functional Manager usuallytypically fall within conflicting priorities and the proper allocationof resources between functional and project teams. Lockheed Martin’stypical operations is structured similar to the standard operationsmanagement approach, broken into function, with production operationsbeing the focus, operations support functions including Engineering,Production Control, and Supply Chain and Business support functionsincluding Finance and Facilities / Maintenance. These functional groupsin-turn have functional managers, whom support the synergized effort ofmeeting business operations goals and objectives. The dynamic of projectteams within Lockheed Martin differ based upon the size and complexityof 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, whoin-turn report directly to functional managers, as projects are viewedas support to meet operations goals.

Leadership challenges of a Project Manager within Lockheed Martin (atmy site) comprise of driving follow-through, initiative, and motivationfrom members of the project team. Though everyone on the project teamhas the same goal, the scope of work performed in their functional roleusually take precedence.

Leadership challenges of a Functional or Operations Manager withinLockheed Martin (at my site) include being able to effectivelycommunicate across a large, diverse, and dynamic team. Effectivecommunication is key to all management and leadership activities. Onemust be able to adopt their style of communicating to account for thegiven audience of the organization. Driving performance andaccountability at all levels.

Similarities between the Project Manager and Operations managerinclude communication. Being able to effectively communicate will resultin 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 ProjectManagement 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 forsatellites, military, and space crafts. It is a highly demanded businessdue to the lack of competitors across the USA. I have knowledge of thisworkplace because my husband was the Operations Manager there for 7years. It is a high stress job with constant demand and highexpectations. There is small amount of room for errors due to theimportance of the use of their products.

As the operations manager my husband was in charge of all the ProjectManagers and assigned them their tasks. He was also in charge of thebudget, conflict resolution, and hiring. He also ran the shop floor andhelped the machinist accomplish their designated timeline for theirprojects. Along with these many tasks, he was also in charge ofcommunicating with the customers, discussing delays or issues, andbringing in new customers for future projects. To do these many jobs hehad to travel to California at least once a month to Ball Aerospace todiscuss their needs. As you can see, he was being spread very thin andthe company refused to hire other employees to help complete these manytalks.

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

In this situation there was a significant different between theoperations manager and the project manager. The OM was in charge of thePM and would delegate any task that could be accomplished to the PMs. Itwas a difficult work environment for both the OM and the PMs and theyhave a very high turnover of employees. (On a brighter note, my husbandfound a new job where he is in charge of 60 employees building the DreamChaser 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/