Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Executive sponsor

The role of Executive sponsor sometimes called Project sponsors a role in project management, usually the senior member of the project board and often the chair. Where the role of executive sponsor exists as a separate role the person in that role rarely becomes involved in the running of the project.

In smaller organizations or small projects within larger organizations the executive sponsor may also be the project manager but typically especially where a methodology is used the project sponsor will be a senior executive in a corporation often who is responsible to the business for the success of the project.

Due to the problem solving needs of the role the executive sponsor often needs to be able to exert pressure within the organization to overcome resistance to the project. For this reason the executive sponsor will ideally be a person with great executive/political authority and natural authority.

A few research studies have been published that not only detail the role of this individual within project management but also provide a way to ensure that the success of a project is greater increased if this individual plays a more active role.

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