Knowledge of project management is not only important for IT and other kinds of technical experts. It may benefit everyone involved in projects, including HR professionals. HR people are ideal project managers, because they know how to manage people. Moreover, the very nature of their work requires project management.
A project is simply a temporary effort that aims to create a unique product or service. If we look at typical activities in the HR field, many of them meet this definition. HR project activities may involve implementing a new HR information system, securing workers for a new plant, updating employee manuals, or managing important organizational changes.
According to hrreporter.com, these activities even include drawing up compensation plans at the end of the year, conducting employee surveys, or launching various benefit programs. In addition, there are projects HR professionals commonly work on with colleagues from other departments.
All project managers have the same mission - to complete their project on time, within the scheduled scale and within the predetermined budget. That involves both the ability to plan and to manage people, for which HR professionals have good potential. They have to understand project management even in cases they are not working on any projects, since their clients - employees - work on projects and need their support.
Do you feel like a project managers? Have you had any formal PM training?
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