The Difference between a People Manager and a Project Manager
In recent times, there has been a trend in multinational companies to
have a people manager apart from the project manager for employees in
teams and units. This division of responsibilities between the people
manager and the project manager has been necessitated because of the
importance being given to employee enabling and employee empowering
strategies. The key aspect here is that the people manager is
responsible for the personal and professional development of the
employee and the project manager is responsible for work and project
related activities. Further, the appointment of a people manager
distinct from the project manager is being done because of the need felt
by the organizations to develop the employees in a more rounded manner
and to let them actualize their potential. For instance, while the
project manager looks after the project deliverables and associated work
related aspects, the people manager concentrates on the personal
development of skills, soft attributes, and how far the employee is
fulfilled in his or her current role. The post of people manager is akin
to the HR manager who is responsible for the unit but differs in the
respects of having a functional individual be the people manager who can
understand the functional and operational aspects as well as contribute
to the personality development of the employee.
How the Different Roles work in Practice
In many multinational organizations like Fidelity and IBM, the people
manager is designated from the pool of project managers and is usually
responsible for two or three project teams. The additional
responsibilities vested in the people manager run concurrent to their
core responsibilities of looking after their own teams’ project
deliverables. The idea here is to have an independent individual
separate and distinct from the project manager to introduce objectivity
and to provide an unbiased perspective to the employee and his or her
needs for personal development and actualization. Further, some
multinationals have also experimented with having a people manager who
does not have any project related responsibilities so that the person
can fully focus and concentrate on the people side of project
management. The key aspect here is that the people manager would conduct
one-one meetings with the employees to find out if they have any issues
with the project teams and their role in it and to elicit feedback from
them about how the organization and the project managers are letting
them fulfill their potential. At appraisal time, it is usually the case
that the review would be conducted by both the project manager and the
people manager. Of course, the inputs of the project manager are more
important as they pertain to the core reason for the organization’s
existence namely that of project deliverables but the people manager has
a significant role to play in determining the personal development and
the progress made by the employee towards his or her personal
development goals as set forth at the start of the review period.
The Emergence of SHRM and the Need for People Enabling and People Empowerment
The reason why many organizations are keen to have the post of a
people manager is mainly because of the need felt by the organizations
to treat people as key assets and sources of competitive advantage as
opposed to treating them as yet another factor of production. This shift
in emphasis or paradigm shift is known as the strategic human resource
management perspective wherein employees are considered the chief asset
and sources of sustainable advantage to the organizations. When compared
to the earlier paradigms where employees were treated as yet another
factor of production and the intervening paradigm where employees were
considered important but not to the level that is being witnessed in the
SHRM view. The reason for this is the rise in the services sector
wherein technology and financial services firms have taken center stage
in the economy and where people make the difference between success and
failure. This is the key aspect of multinationals having a people
manager distinct from a project manager.
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