Evolution of the Role of Project Manager

Abstract

Upjohn Laboratories established the position of project manager with the introduction of a new Project Management Department in 1985. Project management skills and department procedures have improved with experience since 1985, and the department has become generally accepted as an important force in managing the development of new products. Over the last several years the vice president of project management sponsored a sequence of studies which captured the evolution of the role of project manager within Upjohn Laboratories. A project manager appraisal was conducted in 1989 to identify the most important skills for an effective project manager. That study was followed in 1992 by a project management operations analysis within the Project Management Department, as an internal self-evaluation of operations and performance. In the third study, conducted in 1993, line and division management in Upjohn Laboratories, Marketing, Chemical, Control, Manufacturing, and Regulatory Affairs divisions were asked to rate the value added of project management within new product development operations, and then to evaluate performance in those roles.