Duties and responsibilities of the Functional Manager

Functional managers oversee the operations of an entire unit of an organization, ensuring that their division's projects are completed on time and on budget. This role requires a balance of high-level planning and direction and practical guidance to ensure that team members complete critical tasks as planned. Functional managers tend to direct the activities of project managers and team members, providing guidance and advice throughout the life cycles of several concurrent projects.

Functional managers make many decisions that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of their unit, from budget to personnel, and they are often the main point of contact between project teams and stakeholders.

Duties and responsibilities of the functional manager

Since they work in many industries, the duties of functional managers can vary. However, based on the publications we reviewed, there are several key responsibilities across all industries:

Assign Drive Resources

Functional managers make daily decisions about unit resources, including finances and personnel delegation, to meet expectations and complete projects effectively. Functional managers review the projects on site and assess the needs of the project managers responsible for completing those projects, then determine the best way to allocate unit resources to complete projects on time and on budget.

Keep the main programs

Because business units often have many projects happening at the same time, the functional manager manages and maintains a master plan to ensure work is completed on time. This schedule can include due dates for specific projects and deliverables, as well as specific staff schedules, which can be especially important if staff members work on multiple project teams.

Manage project budgets

Functional managers manage project budgets in all of their units. These budgets can include materials and staff decisions that affect project completion and costs. In this aspect of the role, the functional manager also identifies opportunities to reduce costs through cross-functional teams and efficiency improvements, such as using existing processes on a new project and changing delivery dates.

Hiring decisions and hiring staff

Because they manage an entire organizational unit, functional managers make decisions about hiring and hiring staff to improve team effectiveness. Working with project managers and stakeholders, the functional manager determines staffing needs for specific projects and efforts at the departmental level and directs recruiting and interviewing activities to hire team members to fill gaps in functional capabilities and department operations. Department. 'Unit.

Evaluate and train team members.

To build more effective teams, functional managers conduct regular evaluations and help train new staff members. In many cases, functional managers can be subject matter experts and help new staff members become familiar with the unit's goal or technologies, while in other cases the functional manager assigns team members to work closely. collaboration. collaboration with new hires to update them quickly.

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