ABSTRACT
The project manager's job is to find ways of making consistent the standards of performance of the outsider and the needs of the project in regard to cost, schedule, and performance standards. Most projects begin when upper management creates the project office and assigns the project manager and gives him a budget that allows him to purchase "contributions" from these outside departments. A challenging aspect of the project manager's work can be seen when activities are being transferred from one organizational unit to another. The project manager functions as a giant metronome that enables the diverse parts of a large program—parts that would normally be responsive to an internal group rhythm—to respond to the same "beat." “The project manager has the job of getting these incompatible habitual patterns into more congruent form. The project people are in the position of endeavoring to get the others to justify their present courses of action, their decisions and choices.
