Project Management vs Operations Management

The differences between Project Management and Operations Management are a matter of perspective. From the Project Management Institute (PMI) point of view, the differences are clear and distinct. However, from a practitioner's view, it appears to be a matter of management style where the best practices from project management and operations management can be combined for better efficiencies and effectiveness.

The Project Management Institute's PMBOK Guide provides the following differences between Project Management and Operations Management:

• Temporariness vs Permanence

• Definite Beginning and End vs Repetitive Cycle

• Scope, Time and Budget Constraints vs Supply Chain Constraints

Differences between Project Work and Traditional Functional Work

Project work and traditional functional work differ in many ways. It is important to understand these differences.

Functional work is routine ongoing work. Each day machine operators, car salesmen, secretaries, accountants, financial analysts and quality inspectors perform functional work that is routine, notwithstanding some variations from day to day. The functional worker gets training from a manager assigned to the specific function, and the manager supervises and manages the worker according to standards of productivity and quality set for the particular function.

In contrast to functional work, project work is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique, non-routine product or service. A project manager manages a specific project with people and other resources assigned to him only for project management support on the specific project, and not on an ongoing basis. The project manager is responsible for the approved objectives of a project such as budget, schedule and specifications. Project terms are typically not organised in the same hierarchical structure as that of functional group.

It is believed that the success of a project largely depends on the two most important factors: 1) People 2) Process. A group of people linked in a common purpose strives for the accomplishment of purpose which resides in contribution from individuals and individual’s integrated contribution depends to its ability and willingness to use ability. If a team member is not performing, there could be possible two types of reasons. First, he/she is facing technical problems which can be the lack of knowledge, skills, education etc. and second, could be the attitudinal reason like unwillingness to work. The technical problems can be solved by proper set training on methods and tools. For example if an accountant cannot prepare reports in time because of lack of spreadsheet knowledge then the solution could be a training of office tools etc.  But the most importantly the existence   attitudinal problem acts above all the problem and it intensifies the other small issues also. 

Company generally uses employee motivational strategies to convert the negative energy into positive and finally working attitude. There are ways to motivate the employees including appreciation, rewards, victory celebration and fun environment etc. There is a saying in Hindu methodology “sarvajan hitay sarvajan sukhay” this could be the thumb rule while implementing the motivational strategy in any organization. 

One most important way of motivating any employee is benchmarking them against their peers or sometimes superiors also. It's often assumed that employees who are benchmarked against each other work harder, to either hang onto a high ranking or raise a low ranking. "Many managers think that giving workers feedback about their performance relative to their peers inspires them to become more competitive -- to work harder to catch up, or excel even more. But in fact, the opposite happens;" says Barankay, management professor "Workers can become complacent and de-motivated. People who rank highly think, 'I am already number one, so why try harder?' And people who are far behind can become depressed about their work and give up."

The key to implement the motivation mechanism is critical not from motivating point of view but NOT to demotivating a single employee. The important lesson for employers is to consider how each employee will respond to motivational activity. Everyone should get something positive which increases the enthusiasm and courage to do the work. "A good employer knows its employees very well and should have a good idea how they will respond to the prospect of being ranked," he says. "The key is to devote more time to thinking about whether to give feedback, and how each individual will respond to it. If, as the employer, you think a worker will respond positively to a ranking and feel inspired to work harder, then by all means do it. But it's imperative to think about it on an individual level."