Chapter 9:
Project Human
Resource Management
Today…
Human Resource Management
Communications Management
1
The Importance of Human
Resource Management
• People determine the success and
failure of organizations and
projects
– People are our most important asset
– Consider the effort Southwest
Airlines has put into its employees, or
that Google has put into its
employees
• One of the toughest challenges
PM’s face
2
What is Project Human
Resource Management?
• Project human resource management
includes the processes required to
make the most effective use of the
people involved with a project.
Processes (PMBOK version 5) include
–
–
–
–
Plan HR management
Acquire project team
Develop Project team
Manage Project team
• In what stage do these processes 3
Processes and Process
Groups
• Go to the following website:
• http://www.thecourse.us/Student
s/PMBOK4Overview.htm
4
HR Management
th
Processes—5 Ed.
•
•
•
•
Plan HR Management
Acquire Project Team
Develop Project Team
Manage Project Team
5
Is ITPM still a discipline
in strong demand?
• YES! YES!
– YES to PM, especially PMP PM’s
are in heavy demand
– YES to IT types—also in Demand
• Tens of thousands of IT
professionals are now PMPs—
certified by PMI; even so, many
thousands more are needed
6
More Digital Planet Report
Findings
• With almost 6 billion mobile-cellular
subscriptions, global penetration of cell
phones is 87 percent, with 79 percent in the
developing world
• Fortune magazine lists IT as the number one
“hot career for 2012 and beyond” in the United
States. Openings for software application
developers are projected to increase by 34
percent by 2018, while companies will hire 20
percent more computer systems analysts
• The 2011 average salary for project
management professionals was $105,000 per
year
in the United States,
not including
Information
7
bonuses
Technology Project
What skills/competencies
are important?
• Writing skills
– You will be writing between 100 and
500 pages of material a year
– Your writing, like your programming,
must be completely without defects
• Negotiation skills
• Presentation skills
• THESE ARE ALL COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
8
Name some of the
motivation gurus
Maslov – Hierarchy of needs
– Hertzberg – Motivation/Hygiene
theory
– McClelland’s Acquired-Needs
theory
– McGregor’s theory x and theory y
– Thamhain and Wilemon’s Influence
and Power
9
– Covey’s Seven Habits
McClelland’s Acquired-Needs
Theory
• Specific needs are acquired or
learned over time and shaped by
life experiences, including:
– Achievement: Achievers like challenging
projects with achievable goals and lots of
feedback
– Affiliation: People with high Aff desire
harmonious relationships and need to feel
accepted by others, so managers should try
to create a cooperative work environment
for them
– Power: People with a need for power desire
either personal power (not good) or
institutional power (good for the
organization).
Provide10institutional power
Information
Technology Project
seekers
with management opportunities
Let’s Review: Covey’s
Effectiveness Habits
•
•
•
•
•
Be proactive
Begin with the end in mind
Put first things first
Think win/win
Seek first to understand, then to
be understood
• Synergize
• Sharpen the saw
11
The four dimensions of
psychological type coming
from MBTI
•
•
•
•
Extrovert/Introvert
Sensation/Intuition
Thinking/feeling
Judgment/Perception
• Project managers can benefit
from knowing their team
members’ MBTI profiles
12
Questions
• Who gave us the five phases of
team development?
• What does MBTI stand for?
• How is Bill Gates classified on
the MBTI?
• How are most IT professionals
classified?
» Intuitive Thinkers
13
High-Performing Teams
•Synergy
– 1+1+1=
– 1+1+1=
10 (positive synergy)
2 (negative synergy)
•Characteristics of High-performing
Teams
1. Share a sense of common purpose/vision
2. Make effective use of individual talents
and expertise
3. Have balanced and shared roles
4.
Maintain a problem solving focus
11–14
5. Accept differences of opinion
High-Performing Teams
1. Encourage risk taking and creativity
2. Sets high personal performance
standards
3. Identify with the team
15
Conditions Favoring Development of
High Performance Project Teams
• Ten or fewer team
members
• Members report only to
the project manager
• Voluntary team
membership
• All relevant functional
areas are represented
on the team
• Continuous service on
the team
• Full-time assignment to
the team
• An organization culture
of cooperation and trust
11–16
• The project has a
compelling objective
• Members are in
speaking distance of
each other
Keys to Managing
People
• Psychologists and management
theorists have devoted much
research and thought to the field of
managing people at work
• Important areas related to project
management include
– motivation
– influence and power
– effectiveness
17
Creating a High-Performance Project
Team
11–18
FIGURE 11.3
Establishing a Team Identity
Effective Use
of Meetings
Co-location of
team members
Creation of project
team name
Team rituals
11–19
Requirements for an Effective Shared
Vision
11–20
FIGURE 11.4
Managing Project
Reward Systems
• Group Rewards
– Who gets what as an individual reward?
– How to make the reward have lasting
significance?
– How to recognize individual
performance?
• Letters of commendation
• Public recognition for outstanding work
• Desirable job assignments
11–21
• Increased personal flexibility
Managing Conflict within
the Project Team
• Encouraging Functional Conflict
– Encourage dissent by asking tough
questions.
– Bring in people with different
points of view.
– Designate someone to be a devil’s
advocate.
– Ask the team to consider an
unthinkable alternative
11–22
• Managing Dysfunctional Conflict
–
–
–
–
–
Mediate the conflict.
Arbitrate the conflict.
Control the conflict.
Accept the conflict.
Eliminate the conflict.
23
Motivation
• Abraham Maslow developed a
hierarchy of needs to illustrate his
theory that people’s behaviors are
guided by a sequence of needs
• Maslow argued that humans possess
unique qualities that enable them to
make independent choices, thus
giving them control of their destiny
• He rejected Sigmund Freud
24
Figure 9-1. Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs
25
Herzberg’s Motivational
and Hygiene Factors
• Frederick Herzberg wrote several
famous books and articles about
worker motivation. He distinguished
between
– motivational factors: achievement,
recognition, the work itself,
responsibility, advancement, and growth,
which produce job satisfaction
– hygiene factors: cause dissatisfaction if
not present, but do not motivate workers
to do more. Examples include larger
salaries, health care and pension plans,
and a more attractive work environment 26
Motivational Factors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Achievement
Recognition
The work itself
Responsibility
Advancement
Growth
All of which produce job
satisfaction
27
Hygiene Factors
• larger salaries, health care and
pension plans, and a more
attractive work environment
• These produce dissatisfaction if
not present
• Do not motivate workers
• NOW, lets cast this into Maslov’s
28
Hierarchy
Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs
People are at different levels on this chart
29
Thamhain and
Wilemon’s VIEW
People are at different levels of the
hierarchy depending on their life
experiences
These needs are acquired or learned
They address a somewhat different
question—how to have influence and
power over stakeholders-30
Thamhain and Wilemon’s Ways
to Have Influence on Projects
1. Authority: the legitimate hierarchical right to
issue orders
2. Assignment: the project manager's perceived
ability to influence a worker's later work
assignments
3. Budget: the project manager's perceived
ability to authorize others' use of
discretionary funds
4. Promotion: the ability to improve a worker's
position
5. Money: the ability to increase a worker's pay
31
and benefits
Thamhain and Wilemon’s Ways
to Have Influence on Projects
6. Penalty: the project manager's perceived
ability to dispense or cause punishment
7. Work challenge: the ability to assign work
that capitalizes on a worker's enjoyment of
doing a particular task
8. Expertise: the project manager's perceived
special knowledge that others deem
important
9. Friendship: the ability to establish friendly
personal relationships between the project
manager and others
32
Ways to Influence that
Help and Hurt Projects
• Projects are more likely to succeed
when project managers influence with
– expertise
– work challenge
• Projects are more likely to fail when
project managers rely too heavily on
– authority
– money
– penalty
33
Power
• Power is the potential ability to
influence behavior to get people to
do things they would not otherwise
do
• Types of power include
–
–
–
–
–
Coercive
Legitimate
Expert
Reward
Referent
34
Improving Effectiveness
- Covey’s 7 Habits
• Project managers can apply Covey’s
7 habits to improve effectiveness on
projects
–
–
–
–
–
Be proactive
Begin with the end in mind
Put first things first
Think win/win
Seek first to understand, then to be
understood
– Synergize
– Sharpen the saw
35
Empathic Listening and
Rapport
• Good project managers are empathic
listeners; they listen with the intent to
understand
• Before you can communicate with
others, you have to have rapport
• IT professionals often need to develop
empathic listening and other people
competencies to improve relationships
with users and other stakeholders
36
Improving Relationships
Between Users and
Developers
• Some organizations require business
people, not IT people, to take the lead in
determining and justifying investments
in new computer systems
• CIOs push their staff to recognize that
the needs of the business must drive all
technology decisions
• Some companies reshape their IT
units to look and perform like
consulting firms
37
Organizational Planning
• Organizational planning involves
identifying, documenting, and
assigning project roles,
responsibilities, and reporting
relationships
• Outputs and processes include
–
–
–
–
project organizational charts
work definition and assignment process
responsibility assignment matrices
resource histograms
38
Figure 9-2. Sample
Organizational Chart for a
Large IT Project
39
Figure 9-3. Work
Definition and
Assignment Process
40
Figure 9-4. Sample
Responsibility
Assignment Matrix
(RAM)
41
Figure 9-5. RAM Showing
Stakeholder Roles
42
Figure 9-6. Sample
Resource Histogram for a
Large IT Project
12
Number of People
10
8
6
4
2
0
Jan
Excel
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Java programmers
Managers
file
Testing specialists
Jun
Jul
Aug
Business analysts
Administrative staff
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Technical writers
Database analysts
43
Figure 9-6. Sample Resource
Histogram
Information
Technology Project
44
Issues in Project Staff
Acquisition and Team
Development
• Staffing plans and good hiring
procedures are important in staff
acquisition, as are incentives for
recruiting and retention
• Some companies give their
employees one dollar for every hour a
new person they helped hire works
• Some organizations allow people to
work from home as an incentive
45
Resource Loading and
Leveling
• Resource loading refers to the
amount of individual resources an
existing project schedule requires
during specific time periods
• Resource histograms show resource
loading
• Over-allocation means more
resources than are available are
assigned to perform work at a given
time
46
Figure 9-7. Sample Histogram
Showing an Over-allocated
Individual
Project 98 file
47
Resource Leveling
• Resource leveling is a technique
for resolving resource conflicts
by delaying tasks
• The main purpose of resource
leveling is to create a smoother
distribution of resource usage
and reduce over-allocation
48
Figure 9-8. Resource Leveling
Example
49
Team Development
• It takes teamwork to successfully
complete most projects
• Training can help people understand
themselves, each other, and how to
work better in teams
• Team building activities include
– physical challenges
– psychological preference indicator tools
50
Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
• MBTI is a popular tool for determining
personality preferences and helping
teammates understand each other
(www.keirsey.com)
• Four dimensions include:
–
–
–
–
Extrovert/Introvert (E/I)
Sensation/Intuition (S/N)
Thinking/Feeling (T/F)
Judgment/Perception (J/P)
• Most IT professionals are NTs or
rationals
• Vary most from general population in
51
not being extroverted or sensing
Reward and Recognition
Systems
• Team-based reward and recognition
systems can promote teamwork
• Focus on rewarding teams for
achieving specific goals
• Allow time for team members to
mentor and help each other to meet
project goals and develop human
resources
52
General Advice on
Teams
• Focus on meeting project objectives
and producing positive results
• Fix the problem instead of blaming
people
• Establish regular, effective meetings
• Nurture team members and encourage
them to help each other
• Acknowledge individual and group
accomplishments
53
Using Software to Assist
in Human Resource
Management
• Software can help in producing RAMS
and resource histograms
• Project management software
includes several features related to
human resource management such
as
– viewing resource usage information
– identifying under and over-allocated
resources
– leveling resources
54
The Bottom Line for HR
Management
• Respect your team
– Treat them with dignity and
professionalism
• Build rapport with your team
• Motivate them using their ‘hot
buttons’
• Articulate the goal and the
reality and use the resulting
tension to pull performance up
55
Chapter 10:
Project Communications
Management
56
Importance of Good
Communications
• The greatest threat to many projects
is a failure to communicate
• Our culture does not portray IT
professionals as being good
communicators
• Research shows that IT
professionals must be able to
communicate effectively to succeed
in their positions
• Strong verbal skills are a key factor
in career advancement for IT
57
professionals
Project Communications
Management Processes
• Communications planning: determining
the information and communications
needs of the stakeholders
• Information distribution: making
needed information available in a
timely manner
• Performance reporting: collecting and
disseminating performance information
• Administrative closure: generating,
gathering, and disseminating
information to formalize phase or
58
project completion
Project Communications
Management
th
Processes—5 edition
• Plan Communications
• Manage Communications
• Control Communications
59
Processes and Process
Groups
• Go to the following website:
• http://www.thecourse.us/Student
s/PMBOK4Overview.htm
60
Communications
Planning
• Every project should include
some type of communications
management plan, a document
that guides project
communications
• Creating a stakeholder analysis
for project communications also
aids in communications planning
61
Communications
Management Plan
Contents
• A description of a collection and
filing structure for gathering and
storing various types of information
• A distribution structure describing
what information goes to whom,
when, and how
• A format for communicating key
project information
62
Communications
Management Plan
Contents, continued
• A project schedule for producing the
information
• Access methods for obtaining the
information
• A method for updating the communications
management plans as the project
progresses and develops
• A stakeholder communications analysis
63
Table 10-1. Sample Stake holder
Analysis for Project
Communications
Stakeholders
Document Name
Document
Format
Contact Person Due
Customer
Management
Monthly Status
Report
Hard copy
Gail Feldman,
Tony Silva
First of month
Customer
Business Staff
Monthly Status
Report
Hard copy
Julie Grant,
First of month
Customer
Technical Staff
Monthly Status
Report
E-mail
Internal
Management
Monthly Status
Report
Hard copy
Bob Thomson
First of month
Internal
Business and
Technical Staff
Monthly Status
Report
Intranet
Angie Liu
First of month
Training
Subcontractor
Training Plan
Hard Copy
Jonathan Kraus
11/1/1999
Software
Subcontractor
Software
Implementation
Plan
E-mail
Barbara Gates
6/1/2000
Jeff Martin
Evan Dodge,
First of month
Nancy Michaels
64
Information Distribution
• Getting the right information to
the right people at the right time
and in a useful format is just as
important as developing the
information in the first place
• Important considerations include
– using technology to enhance
information distribution
– formal and informal methods for
distributing information
65
What Went Wrong?
A well publicized example of misuse of e-mail comes
from the 1998 Justice Department's high profile,
antitrust suit against Microsoft. E-mail emerged as a
star witness in the case. Many executives sent
messages that should never have been put in writing.
The court used e-mail as evidence, even though the
senders of the notes said the information was being
interpreted out of context.
Some companies, such as Amazon.com, have
established policies to encourage employees to watch
their use of e-mail and delete it often. Their "Sweep and
Clean" program instructed employees to purge e-mails
that were no longer required for business or legal
purposes. They even offered free café lattes to
employees who complied immediately.
Harmon, Amy, "E-mail comes back to haunt companies," November 29, 1998
66
Figure 10-1. The Impact of the
Number of People on
Communications Channels
67
Performance Reporting
• Performance reporting keeps
stakeholders informed about how
resources are being used to achieve
project objectives
– Status reports describe where the project
stands at a specific point in time
– Progress reports describe what the project
team has accomplished during a certain
period of time
– Project forecasting predicts future project
status and progress based on past
information and trends
– Status review meetings often include
68
performance reporting
Suggestions for Improving
Project Communications
• Resolve conflicts effectively
• Develop better communication
skills
• Run effective meetings
• Use templates for project
communications
70
Conflict Handling Modes, in
Preference Order
• Confrontation or problem-solving:
directly face a conflict
• Compromise: use a give-and-take
approach
• Smoothing: de-emphasize areas of
differences and emphasize areas of
agreement
• Forcing: the win-lose approach
• Withdrawal: retreat or withdraw from
an actual or potential disagreement
71
Table 10-3. Sample
Template for a Monthly
Progress Report
I.
Accomplishments for Month of February (or appropriate month):
 Describe most important accomplishments. Relate to project's Gantt chart
 Describe other important accomplishments, one bullet for each. If any issues were
resolved from the previous month, list them as accomplishments.
II.
Plans for March (or following month):
 Describe most important items to be accomplished in the next month. Again relate
to the project's Gantt chart.
 Describe other important items to accomplish, one bullet for each
III.
Issues: Briefly list important issues that surfaced or are still important. Managers
hate surprises and want to help the project succeed, so be sure to list issues.
IV.
Project Changes (Date and Description): List any approved or requested
changes to the project. Include the date of the change and a brief description.
72
Table 10-5. Sample Template
for a Letter of Agreement for
a Class Project
I.
Project Description: Describe the project's objective, scope, assumptions, cost
information, and schedule information, as shown in Figure 9-2. Be sure to include
important dates that the project's sponsor needs to be aware of
II.
Organizational Goals and Expectations: Have the main sponsor from the
organization briefly state their goals and expectations for the project.
III.
Student Goals and Expectations: Students on the project team should briefly
state their goals and expectations for the project.
IV.
Meeting Information. It is a good idea for the project's sponsor and all students
on the project team to agree on at least one hour per week where all parties can meet
to work on this project. The meeting place should be a convenient location without
distractions. Virtual meetings may be an option for some people and projects.
V.
Contact Information and Communications Plan: List the sponsor's and
students' names, phone numbers, e-mails, and important procedures for
communications. It is a good idea to set up a web site for all project information.
VI.
Signatures: Have the main sponsor and students on the project team sign the
letter of agreement. Designate which student is the project manager. This student
should be the main contact for all project information.
73
Figure 10-3. Gantt Chart Template for a
Class Project
Project 98 file
74
Table 10-6. Guidance for
Student’s Lessons Learned
Report
Every two weeks or after a major event in your group
project, write a brief journal entry describing what happened
and how you felt about it. At the end of the term, write a 2-3
page paper describing your lessons learned based on your
group project. Answer the following questions:
•What were your roles and responsibilities on the team? How were
they decided?
•What did you like/dislike about the project?
•What did you learn about project management and yourself by
doing the project?
•What did you learn about teamwork and yourself by doing the
project?
•What would you have done differently? What will you remember to
do on the next project you work on after this experience?
75
Developing a Communications
Infrastructure
• A communications infrastructure is a set of
tools, techniques, and principles that provide a
foundation for the effective transfer of
information
– Tools include e-mail, project management
software, groupware, fax machines,
telephones, teleconferencing systems,
document management systems, and word
processors
– Techniques include reporting guidelines and
templates, meeting ground rules and
procedures, decision-making processes,
problem-solving approaches, and conflict
resolution and negotiation techniques
– Principles include using open dialog and an76
agreed upon work ethic
Using Software to Assist
in Project
Communications
• There are many software tools to aid
in project communications
• The “What Went Right?” example on
pg. 264 describes several new webbased and wireless communications
tools
• Microsoft Project includes several
features to enhance communications
77
Figure 10-4. MS Project Information Saved as
HTML File
Project 98 file
78