The following will be discussed in this chapter: The PM’s roles, the PM’s responsibilities to the project, selection of a project manager, project management as a profession, fitting projects into the parent organization, the project team, multidisciplinary teams - balancing pleasure and pain.
ProjectManagementinPractice FifthEdition Chapter2 TheManager,the Organization, andtheTeam Copyrightâ2014JohnWiley&Sons,Inc 1ư1 Introduction ã • • • Project manager usually selected after project is selected It is job of project manager to make sure that the project is properly planned, implemented, and completed Project manager then recruits qualified people for the project Learning project tools and techniques is easy, succeeding as a project manager is hard 12 The Project Manager’s Roles • Facilitator – Facilitator versus supervisor • – Systems approach • • Must ensure that those working on project have the appropriate knowledge, resources, and time to accomplish their responsibilities Must understand how everything impacts the overall project Communicator – Must communicate effectively with the various stakeholders of the project 13 Communication Paths for a Project Manager Figure 21 14 Virtual Project Manager • More and more often, project teams are geographically dispersed – – • Often referred to as “virtual projects Much of the communication is conducted via email, through websites, by telephone, or video conferencing To succeed, communication between project manager and project team must be frequent, open, and twoway 15 Responsibility to Senior Management • • Must keep senior management up to date on the state of the project Particularly important to keep management informed of any problems – • Or any likely to affect the project in the future Never let the boss be surprised 16 Responsibility to the Client • • The project manager is also responsible to the client Clients often want changes to the project – – • Cost, schedule, scope change Cost of changes often exceed client’s expectations Project manager must be certain the client understands the impact of the changes on the project’s goals of delivery time, cost, and scope 17 Responsibility to Project Team • • • Facilitate the work of the team Help the team succeed Serve as advisor, counselor, confessor, and interested friend 18 The Project Manager’s Responsibilities to the Project • Acquiring resources – – • It is the project manager’s responsibility to ensure the project has the appropriate level of resources This is especially difficult with human resources Fighting fires and obstacles – – Early obstacles linked to need for resources Later fires associated with technical problems, supplier problems, and client problems 19 The Project Manager’s Responsibilities to the Project Continued • Leadership and making tradeoffs – – – • Tradeoffs are between cost, schedule, scope, and risk Scope is usually the most important Another type of tradeoff occurs between projects Negotiation, conflict resolution, and persuasion – – Cannot meet these responsibilities without being a skilled negotiator and resolver of conflict Success depends on the project manager’s skill at persuading others to accept the project • As well as changes in its methods and scope once it has been accepted 110 The Project Management Office and Project Maturity • • Another way of solving some of the problems of choosing an organizational form for projects Parent organization can set up a project management office (PMO) like a functional group – – • It can handle the budgeting, scheduling, reporting, scope, compliance with corporate governance, and risk management activities The functional units supply the technical work The PMO often serves as a repository for project documents and histories 128 The Project Team They must be technically competent Senior members of the project team must be politically sensitive Members of the project team need a strong problem orientation Team members need a strong goal orientation Project workers need high selfesteem 129 Matrix Team Problems • • The smaller the project, the more likely it is to be organized as a weak (functional) matrix As a result: – – – • Project manager may have no direct reports Ability to communicate directly with team members will be critical Important to maintain good morale … since team loyalty may be limited A project “war room” may be helpful 130 Matrix Project Teams and Unusually Difficult to Manage • Such teams are seen by their members to be temporary – • The technical specialists working on the teams are often perfectionists – • • So, the tendency to develop team loyalty is limited Have a strong desire to keep tinkering with a project deliverable that already meets requirements Project teams can cause scope creep High levels of conflict 131 Intrateam Conflicts • • • Matrix projects have lots of conflict Sources of conflict differs when the project is in different stages of its life cycle Four common threads for reducing or preventing these conflicts Careful project planning Participative management Interaction and negotiation between the project manager and the functional manager Communication between the project manager and all project stakeholders 132 Multidisciplinary TeamsBalancing Pleasure and Pain • Using multidisciplinary teams on projects raises serious problems for the project manager – • Managing the way these groups work together is called interface coordination – • A.k.a. transdisciplinary teams Arduous and complicated Coordinating the work of these groups is called integration management – Arduous and complicated 133 Five Dysfunctions of a Team Absence of trust Fear of conflict Lack of commitment Avoidance of accountability Inattention to results 134 Integration Management • Independent and sequential tasks are difficult to optimize at the system level – • Changing to where the tasks are performed concurrently (parallel) solves sequential problem – • Leads to conflicts between the various functional groups Known as concurrent engineering or simultaneous engineering Parallel tasking has been widely used for a great diversity of projects 135 Interface CoordinationInterface Management • • • • • One of more difficult problems with multidisciplinary teams is coordinating the work Team members come from different functional areas and are not used to working together Have no established dependencies on each other One approach to the problem is to expose the structure of the work assigned to the team No single approach to interface coordination is sufficient alone 136 The Design Structure Matrix • • • • Both integration management and parallel tasking are fundamentally concerned with coordinating the flow of information The use of multidisciplinary teams tends to magnify this challenge Compounding problem is that traditional project management tools are primarily intended to coordination the execution of tasks The Design Structure Matrix (DSM) can address the issue of information flow 137 A Coordination Structure Model for Project Management Figure 28 138 Comments on Empowerment and Work Teams Teams generate highquality solutions to appropriate problems Micromanagement is avoided The team is given accountability for some part of the project deliverable Synergistic solutions are frequent The PM has a tool for timely team evaluation and feedback 139 Six Signs of Excessive Stress in the Workplace Inability to switchoff work issues Disturbed sleep Lack of pleasure in nonworkrelated leisure activities Difficulty concentrating or making decisions Tendency to anger quickly Lack of energy 140 Ways to Keep Stress Under Control Keep a journal Prioritize all tasks Give yourself time to unwind Engage in afterwork physical activities Improve your physical surroundings Become aware of the control you have 141 Copyright Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted in Section 117 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without express permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Request for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The purchaser may make backup copies for his/her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages, caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information herein 142 ... Using multidisciplinary teams on projects raises serious problems for? ?the? ?project? ?manager – • Managing? ?the? ?way these groups work together is called interface coordination – • A.k.a. transdisciplinary teams... Interaction? ?and? ?negotiation between? ?the? ?project? ? manager? ?and? ?the? ?functional manager Communication between? ?the? ?project? ?manager? ?and? ?all project? ?stakeholders 132 Multidisciplinary TeamsBalancing Pleasure? ?and? ?Pain • Using multidisciplinary teams on projects raises ... Facilitate? ?the? ?work of? ?the? ?team Help? ?the? ?team? ?succeed Serve as advisor, counselor, confessor,? ?and? ? interested friend 18 The? ?Project? ?Manager’s Responsibilities to? ?the? ?Project • Acquiring resources – –