Project Management Hierarchy

Project management is an essential concept to be considered for the overall success of the businesses. Project management can be defined as a process in which, a particular project is being subdivided into various activities and each single activity is being assigned to a responsible person having the expertise in that specific field. The successful completion of any project requires teamwork.

Thus, successful project management is dependent on the effective team building skills. A project management hierarchy can be defined as a list, in which various professionals are being ranked from top to bottom, in accordance with their job responsibilities and their significance to the whole project.

A project management hierarchy has lots of advantages for the organization. With the help of the hierarchy, it is being possible to determine the sequence of tasks, determine the expectation of each and every level of the project team and also to schedule the projects.

In this particular article, let’s talk about the different professionals who are the part of an IT project management team and work towards a single goal so as to effectively complete a project. Following are the major levels of the hierarchy:

Project Management Hierarchy
Project Management Hierarchy
  • Team members
  • Team Leader
  • Project Manager
  • Project Sponsor
  • Project Owner

Project Owner

The owner is known as the creator of the project. The owner holds the power of selecting, promoting and removing the other team members. S/he oversees the overall operations of the project and the duties of the individual team members also.

Project Sponsor

The project sponsor is the professional who provides the financial resources required by the project. The sponsor communicates with the project manager on a regular basis, in order to review the emerging issues regarding the project. They manage the resource needs of the project and prepare the financial reports of the different stages of the project.

Project Manager

The project manager takes into account the day to day activities related to the project and undertakes the strategic decision making process. The manager works with the vendors and develops various project schedules. S/he develops the budget and develops various strategies for managing the risks associated with the project. The professional communicates with the senior management regarding the performances of the project team.

Team Leader

A team leader assists all the team members involved in a particular project. The leader prioritizes the tasks and divides them in the members according to their particular area of expertise. S/he serves as a communication channel between the team members and the project manager. S/he plans and coordinates the various meetings of the project team and keeps the official records of all the accomplishments of the project.

Team members

The team members are the basic constituents of a project management hierarchy and their job titles and profiles differ as per the type of the project being undertaken in the organization. For example, a web development project is comprised of team members such as database architect, programmer and the designers.