Salary

What is Salary? The official definition says - Money that is paid regularly for doing work. It means that if someone is doing work, as per the company’s rules and regulations, he must be paid. But what to do with those professionals who are not working as per the company’s rules and regulations? Do Company need to give them salary? 

The question raised above is a very diplomatic one. There are infinite “if and but” to answer the above query. Anyways, this is not the topic that I am going to cover in this blog.

Actually, I was thinking few days back about the factors that can influence most in any manager’s salary. Those are -  

1. Country of employment
2.  Number of years experience in a position or role
3. Average size of projects managed (including budget and team size)

Country of employment is very crucial. Look at the data below which is the average annualized salary of Project Professionals in different countries –

·         US - $ 105000

·         UK - $ 96384

·         Saudi Arabia - $ 63997

·         India - $ 31390

·         China - $ 23207

·         Japan - $ 86787

·         Australia - $ 139497

Average annualized salary of project professionals comes around $ 92000 around the world.

There is one more differential factor in the salaries in some organizations. That factor is gender based factor. I have seen in some organizations that there is a marginal (and sometimes big) difference in the salary between the male project manager and female project manager, having the same experience level.

United States, Canada and Malaysia are countries with the smallest gender gap among project professionals. Its around 65% male and 35% female. The three countries with the biggest gender gap are Saudi Arabia, South Korea and UAE with around 96% male and 4% female project professionals.

Experience also plays a major role in setting up your salary credentials. A person with a good management experience will definitely earn more than a person with less managerial experience. Sometimes, this statement becomes “null and void” for some resources. But again, the standard says like this only.

Average size of project managed is somehow related to the years of experience that a person is having. The only fact that this factor plays is about the experience, about the size and resources of the projects, handled by a specific person. 

- Sanat Sharma

Project Driver or Enabler 

Having a work experience of around 11 years, I spent around 2.5 years in project management. There I am witnessing two kinds of roles - Driver and Enabler. 

A driver is someone who takes on the responsibility and accountability for the project deliverables. Enablers act as complements to the driver.

Diplomatically speaking, I have found myself in both roles, but can honestly be classified as an enabler. 

In fact initially, when I started my career as Project Manager, I tried to become a driver. Driver is something like a person who always telling everyone what to do. As an enabler, we are working together, and my excitement level with regards to the project is higher and experienced by the other team members.  As an enabler, I need to listen to the people, their concerns, their issues, their problems (personal as well as professional).

I am a team/people-oriented person, so the enabler role comes naturally. I believe a project succeeds or fails as a team, not because of one person. When project managers are enablers, they are more in touch with the team dynamics and human factors as well as the project requirements. I am very much sure that teams tend to run more efficiently and are more motivated when the project manager is an enabler. Sometimes, you need to act as a enabler for a person whom you designate as a driver. 

But there is one more aspect here. When you are working in a company, you have to work with the same people again and again for various projects. It is more challenging and requires you to play as a Driver as well as Enabler. Being the driver gets you attention from management, which leads to the next project. Being an enabler helps form a healthy relationship with people.

Final words – select the role as per your personality and skill sets. Both the roles – Driver and Enabler – are important for the success of the project.

-       Sanat Sharma

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