Chapter 8
Human Resource Management
Developing courage, personal commitment and performance
standards
Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
Chapter overview
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Planning for human resource management
Acquiring the project team
Developing the team
Teams and their personalities
Learning and development opportunities
Managing the project team
Dealing with conflict
Project organisational structures
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
2
Planning for human resource management
The human resource management plan establishes the baseline
for identifying the prerequisite resource needs (and necessary
skills) for the project’s success.
A well thought out resource management plan could contain:
 internal or external acquisition strategy
 roles and responsibilities
 acquisition and release timetables
 identification of professional development needs
 team building strategies
 plans for recognition and rewards
 performance management procedures
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
3
Acquiring the project team
 negotiating with operational managers to release or share resources
 investigating prevailing market conditions for availability and commercial
rates for contractors
 reviewing preferred supplier arrangements
 communicating potential consequences to stakeholders on failing to acquire
the necessary resources
 evaluating potential resources against the ambit of legal, regulatory,
mandatory and/or other specific criteria covering their assignment
 considering the professional development plans for the nominated resources
and how this time and cost will be addressed by the project budget
 factoring in the challenges of managing resources collocated in multiple
locations each with different time zones and communication protocols
 determining how performance throughout the project will be measured and
evaluated
 reflecting on the managers ability to manage a group of diverse
resources brought together for a finite time span
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
4
Developing the team
 Forming – a room full of strangers
 Storming – cliques forming, turf wars developing
 Norming – work rhythm established
 Performing – balanced productivity and cohesion
 Adjourning – impending sense of loss and identity
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
5
Teams and their personalities
People will bring their personalities to the project.
Consideration should be given to understanding (and
accepting) their:
 natural preferences for focusing their energy, gathering
information, making decisions and living a certain way
 preferred way to respond to team challenges
 style of interacting and communicating with others
 unique way in how they make a distinctive contribution
 areas of strength and weakness in being on the
team
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
6
Learning and development opportunities
 Resources need to be able to the technical knowledge
that so often prescribes their learn, unlearn and relearn—
and not just position description.
 The pool of knowledge, skills, insights, experience and
information held by the team will need to be tapped and
developed throughout the project.
 Learning shouldn’t be limited to just plugging the gaps, as
it should also be about ‘…strengthening existing skills,
identifying development opportunities and developing
people for the future’ (Cole 2010).
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
7
Managing the project team
 Motivation
o Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
o Herzberg satisfaction and productivity
 This innate driving force will:
o energise the team to complete their scheduled work
o direct the team towards meeting deadlines, milestones and
other constraints
o draw the team together cohesively
o enable the team to function in self-directed mode
o allow the team to self-correct much of their own work.
 Performance management
o developing and sustaining peak performance
o five conversations
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
8
Dealing with conflict
 Forcing (win/lose)
 Avoiding (lose/lose)
 Accommodating (lose/win)
 Compromising (50/50)
 Collaborating (win/win)
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
9
Project organisational structures
 Functional
o a traditional structure aligned with the existing organisational
department or functions (in effect, an overlay of the existing
organisational chart)
 Matrix
o A blended structure supporting both the existing functional
authority, priorities, performance and accountabilities with
the (at times) competing and conflicting authority, priorities,
performance and accountabilities from the project
 Projectised
o a separate and discrete structure that technically sits outside
the existing organisational structure with dedicated
full-time resources assigned to the project
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
10
Review questions
1. Why is human resource management planning
fundamental to the success of the project?
2. What information and decisions must be factored in to
acquiring the project team?
3. How does the project manager help their team
develop throughout the project?
4. Should conflict be viewed as a positive force in a
project and how should it be dealt with?
5. What is the role of the performance review in
contributing to peak project performance?
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
11
Group learning activities
 Discuss what value a human resource management
plan would produce beyond an existing human
resource department
 Discus the different strategies required to get the best
out of any team
 Debate the notion that the underpinning theory behind
team development often differs ‘in practice’ – Figure 8.1
 Discuss why team performance measurement is crucial
in developing the project team
 Identify areas in projects where conflict has created
positive outcomes
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
12
Assessment options
 Develop a (one page) human resource management plan
 Create a checklist of skills, knowledge and/or attitudes
required by a (generic) project team
 Develop a learning and development plan template for
project resources
 Critique both Maslow and Herzberg’s theories of motivation as
they apply to project management
 Write a report on the value of ongoing project performance
management
 Evaluate each of the organisational structures and justify the
choice made on a current project
 Short answer questions
 Multiple choice questions
© 2014 Hartley, Project Management: Integrating Strategy, Operations and Change, 3e
Tilde Publishing
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