MIS Project Management
Chapter 8
Project Human Resource
Management
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What is Project Human Resource
Management?
The processes required to make the most effective use
of the people involved with the project.
It includes all the project stakeholders-sponsors,
customers, partners, individual contributors,
performing organization, project and team members.
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Project Human Resource Management
Major Processes
• Organizational Planning
– Identify, document, and assign project roles,
responsibilities, and reporting relationships
• Staff Acquisition
– Getting the human resources needed assigned to and
working on the project
• Team Development
– developing individual and group competencies to
enhance project performance
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Organizational Planning Process
• Usually done as part of the earliest project phases
• Results should be reviewed throughout the project
• Organizational planning is often tightly linked with
communications planning
• involves identifying, documenting and assigning project
roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships
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Organizational Planning Process
Inputs
• Project Interfaces
– Organizational interfaces - formal and informal
reporting relationships
– Technical interfaces - relationships among different
technical disciplines
– Interpersonal interfaces - relationships among
individuals on the project
• Staffing Requirements - kinds of
competencies and individuals needed and
in what time frame
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Organizational Planning Process
Inputs Cont.
• Constraints - factors that limit a project team’s
options such as:
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Organizational structure
Collective bargaining agreements
Preferences of the project management team
Expected staff assignments
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Organizational Planning
Types of Organizations
• Functional - stove pipe/ managers and territories
and no crossovers (do have a clear chain of command)
• Project Expeditor - functional organization with
recognition of project activities, PM reports to
functional management
• Project coordinator - PM reports to higher
management
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Organizational Planning
Types of Organizations Cont.
• Weak Matrix - Functional managers and project
managers in a matrix organization with all money done
within the functions of the organizations
• Strong Matrix - PMs have budget authority with
firing/hiring/rewards decisions
• Projectized - PM is a supervisor in control of all
activities
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Organizational Planning Process
Tools and Techniques
• Templates - Often prior projects role and responsibility
definitions or reporting relationships can help expedite the process
•Human Resource Practices - Knowledge of HR policies,
guidelines, and procedures can help with organizational planning
•Organizational Theory - Understanding organizational theory will
better enable the PM to respond to project requirements
•Stakeholder Analysis - Identification and analysis of needs of
stakeholders will ensure that their needs will be met
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Organizational Planning
Outputs
• Role and responsibility assignments
– A responsibility Assignment Matrix is often used to
closely link assignments to the project scope
definition
• Staffing management Plan
– describes when and how human resources will be
brought onto and taken off of the project team
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Organizational Planning
Outputs Cont.
• Organization chart
– Any graphic display of project reporting
relationships
• Supporting detail - includes such detail as:
– Organizational impact
– Job descriptions
– Training needs
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Human Resource Management
Roles and Responsibilities
• Roles and responsibilities
– PMI states that it is the project manager’s responsibility to
plan, estimate, and schedule a project, interface management and
integration of our project’s subsystems.
– The team’s role is to help plan what needs to be done
(WBS), the project flow (Network Diagram), as well as to
estimate times for their tasks.
– Senior management’s role is to approve the overall project
plan, budget, and schedule and to approve any changes to
these.
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Human Resource Management
Roles and Responsibilities Cont.
• Roles of a PM - Integrator, communicator, team
leader, decision maker, and climate creator
• Qualifications - works well with others; experienced
in particular areas of expertise (such as technical,
contract negotiations, supervisory, etc.); level of
education; previous project management experience
• PM’s leadership skills - Directive, facilitating,
coaching, supportive
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Human Resource Management
Responsibility Chart
• Responsibility Assignment Matrix
– A chart that cross references team members with the tasks
they are to accomplish.
– It may also cross reference team members and issues.
– NOTE: The matrix does not show when people will do
their jobs (time).
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Human Resource Management
Powers
• Powers of the project manager
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Formal (legitimate) - power based on your position
Reward - Giving rewards
Penalty (coercive) - being able to penalize team members
Expert - Being the technical or project management expert
Referent - Referring to the authority of someone in a higher
position
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Human Resource Management
Powers
• Powers of the project manager cont.
– Purse string - whoever has the money has the power
– Bureaucratic - Because you know the system and how to
work it you have the power
– Charismatic - your power derives from your charm
• PMI says the best forms of power are EXPERT and
REWARD. PENALTY is the worst. FORMAL,
REWARD, and PENALTY are powers derived from
the PM’s position in the company. EXPERT power is
earned on your own
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Staff Acquisition Process
• Getting the needed human resources assigned to
and working on the project
• Ensure that the resources that are available will
meet project requirments
• Usually provided or supported heavily by the HR
staff
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Staff Acquisition Process
Inputs
• Staffing management plan
• Staffing pool description - considering
characteristics such as previous experience,
personal interests, personal characteristics,
availability, competencies and proficiency
• Recruitment practices
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Staff Acquisition Process
Tools and Techniques
• Negotiations - with responsible functional managers,
with other project management teams
• Pre-assignment - usually in the case of a competitive
proposal and staff was promised, or for an internal
service project
• Procurement
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Staff Acquisition Process
Outputs
• Project staff assigned
• Project team directory
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Team Development Process
Team development includes both enhancing the ability
of stakeholders to contribute as individuals as well as
enhancing the ability of the team to function as a
team.
Team development on a project is often complicated
when individual team members are accountable to
both a functional manger and the project manager.
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Team Development Process
Inputs
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Project staff
Project plan
Staffing management plan
performance reports - provide feedback to the project
team about performance against the project plan.
• external feedback - periodical measure against the
expectations of those outside the project.
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Team Development Process
Tools and Techniques
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Team-building activities
General management skills
reward and recognition systems
collocation
training
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Team Development Process
Outputs
• Performance improvements - can come from many
sources and affect many areas of project performance;
for example:
– Improvement in individual skills
– Improvements in team behaviors
– Improvements in either individual or team competencies
• Input to performance appraisals
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Team Development
Team Building
• Concerted team building at the start of a project
• Look for opportunities to build the team throughout the project
• Team members need to be aware of:
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interdependent - work together
Consensus - together on project goals and objectives
committed - working together in a positive way
Accountable - to the organization and roles that each has
conflict/competition - acknowledge ahead of time that their will be
conflict and competition
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Team Development
Symptoms of Poor Teamwork
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Frustration
Unhealthy competition
Unproductive meetings
Lack of trust in the project manager
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Team Development
Team Building Rules
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Start early in team building
Do it early and often
Recruit the best people
Everyone is ON THE TEAM (including part-timers, vendors
etc.) and they recognize themselves as on the team
• PM needs to behave as a role model
• Trust and delegate (don’t try to force or manipulate)
• Process: Plan ahead, negotiate for team members, organize the
team and have a kickoff
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Team Development
Team Building Exercises
• Needed to get team members motivated
• Understanding various motivational theories
• Know personnel issues
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Team Development
Motivation Theories
• Maslow - Hierarchy of needs; people don’t work for security or
money, they work to get a chance to contribute and to use their
skills (highest level is self actualization)
• McGregor - Theory of X / Y; all people are either X (people
need to be watched every minute) or Y (people are willing to
work without supervision and want to achieve); theory Z (put a
firm environment around Y workers)
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Team Development
Motivation Theories
• Herzberg - Hygiene factors and motivating agents
– Hygiene factors related to dissatisfaction such as working conditions,
salary, personal life, relationships at work, security, status
– Motivators - relate to increased satisfaction such as responsibility, selfactualization, professional growth, recognition
– To retain or maintain team members need to think of hygiene factors but
to really jazz members need to consider motivations
• Expectancy theory - Employees who believe that their efforts
will lead to effective performance and who expect to be
rewarded for their accomplishments stay productive as rewards
meet their expectations
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Team Development
Personnel Issues
• Arbitration
• Perquisites (perks usually more individualized) - Parking spaces,
corner offices, work from home, etc.
• Fringe benefits - (generally everybody gets) Education, benefits,
insurance, profit sharing
• Halo effect - tendency to rate high or low all factors
• War room - project team located in one room also called colocation
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Human Resource Management
Conflict
• Conflict is unavoidable because of the
– Nature of projects
– Limited power of the project manager
– Necessity for obtaining resources from the functional
managers
• Conflict can be avoided by: Informing the team,
clearly assigned tasks, making work assignments
interesting and challenging
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Human Resource Management
Sources of conflict
in actual order of frequency
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Schedules
Project priorities
Resources
Technical opinions
Administrative procedures
Cost
Personality
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Human Resource Management
Conflict management methods
• Problem solving / confrontation (same thing);
confrontation is usually the correct choice
• Compromising - favorite mode for dealing with
peers
• Smoothing - de-emphasizing the opponents
differences
• Withdrawal - Retreat or postpone
• Forcing - (worst method) JUST DO IT {usually
results in a stalemate}
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