Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-1
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-2
• Students be able to identify the role of human resources in managing project
• Students be able to explain the role of project manager
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
• IS project work environments
• Common project team problems
2-3
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-4
•
Information Systems Project Management,
David Olson, Olson, David L., 2003,
Introduction to Information Systems
Project Management , 2nd Ed.,
McGrawHill, ISBN: 0-07-282402-6.
•
Schwalbe, Kathy, 2003, Information
Technology Project Management , 3rd Ed.,
Course Technology, Inc., ISBN: 0619159847.
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-5
• Organizational Planning, which involves identifying, assigning, and documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships
• Staff acquisition, which involves getting the needed personnel assgined to and working on the project
• Team development, which involves building individual and group skills to enhance project performance
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-6
• IS projects bring diverse people together
– Working with computers creates a machine focus in some
– Working with people creates a different mindset
– IS project managers need to make both work together
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-7
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Social
4. Esteem
5. Self Actualization
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-8
• Very valuable
• Highly diverse
– Web sites
– Transactional processing
– Decision support systems
– Enterprise resource planning systems
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-9
Stage
Feasibility analysis
Software requirements
Product design
Personnel
Systems analysts , users, finance
Systems analysts , users
Systems analysts
Detailed design
Coding
Systems analysts
Programmers, Testers
Integration
Implementation
Systems analysts, Programmers, Testers,
System administrators
System administrators, Testers
Operation & Maintenance Maintenance
, users
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-10
• Conflict inherent in
– Human organizations
– information systems
• Lack of trust & understanding
• Hostility
• Frustration
• Barki & Hartwick [2001]
• Disagreement
• Interference
• Negative emotion
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
Barki & Hartwick [2001]
2-11
Individual Team Project Organization
Personality Size Time pressure
Culture
Background Heterogeneity Resources Form
Role & status Leadership Success
Individual goals
Participation Top support
History
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-12
• Personality
– Technical people tend to dominate IS projects
– Users need to participate as well
• Background
– Different education, experience
• Organizational Role & Status
– Hierarchical power won’t match expertise
• Individual Needs & Goals
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-13
• Team size
– Larger tends to have more conflict
• Team heterogeneity
– More diverse tends to have more conflict
• Team Leadership
• Participation
• History
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-14
• Time pressure inherent in most IS projects
– People react differently
• Resource constraints
– Often have to work with what’s available
• Success criteria
– Expectations
• Top management support
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-15
• Organizational culture
• Form of organization
– Many project organizations use Matrix
• Creates high pressure, highly dynamic environment
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-16
• Better to avoid interpersonal conflict
– High conflict in some high performing groups
• Need to be able to reach closure
– Low performing groups often had less conflict until the end
• Encourage
– Open discussion
– High levels of personal respect
– Cohesive & supportive team leadership
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-17
• H.J. Thamhain and D.L. Wilemon identified 9 influence bases available to project managers:
– Authority –the legitimate hierarchical right to issue orders
– Assignment-the project manager’s perceived ability to influence a worker’s later work assignments
– Budget- the project manager’s perceived ability to authorize other’s use of discretionary funds
– Promotion –the ability to improve a worker’s position
– Money -the ability to increase a worker’s pay and benefits
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004

Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-18
• H.J. Thamhain and D.L. Wilemon identified 9 influence bases available to project managers:
– Penalty –ability to dispense or cause punishment
– Work challenge –ability to assign work that capitalize on a worker’s enjoyment of doing a particular task, which taps an intrinsic motivational factor
– Expertise –perceive special knowledge that others deem important
– Friendship –ability to establish personal relationships between PM with others
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-19
• Coercive Power: punishment, threats or other negative approaches to get people to do things
• Legitimate Power: getting people to do things based on a position of authority
• Expert Power: using one’s personal knowledge and expertise to get people to change their behaviour
• Reward Power
• Referent Power: personal’s charisma
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004

Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
2-20
• Information systems projects very valuable
• Many difficulties in managing personnel
– New activities
– Diverse people
– Dynamic environment
– Pressure (time, budget)
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004