Chapter 9: Project Human Resource Management
The Importance of Human Resource Management
Many corporate executives have said, “People are our most important asset”
People determine the success and failure of organizations and projects
What is Project Human Resource Management?
Making the most effective use of the people involved with a project
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Planning human resource management: identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships
Acquiring the project team: getting the needed personnel assigned to and working on the project
Developing the project team: building individual and group skills to enhance project performance
Managing the project team: tracking team member performance, motivating team members, providing timely feedback, resolving issues and conflicts, and coordinating changes to help enhance project performance
Keys to Managing People
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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 theories
influence and power
effectiveness
Ways to Influence that Help and Hurt Projects
Thamhain and Wilemon’s Ways to Have Influence on Projects
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- 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 others' use of discretionary funds
- Promotion: the ability to improve a worker's position
- Money: the ability to increase a worker's pay and benefits
Power
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- Penalty: the project manager's ability to cause punishment
- Work challenge: the ability to assign work that capitalizes on a worker's enjoyment of doing a particular task
- Expertise: the project manager's perceived special knowledge that others deem important
- Friendship: the ability to establish friendly personal relationships between the project manager and others
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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
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Power is the potential ability to influence behavior to get people to do things they would not otherwise do
Types of power include
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Coercive
Legitimate
Expert
Reward
Referent
Covey and Improving Effectiveness
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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
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 overallocation
Benefits of Resource Leveling
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When resources are used on a more constant basis, they require less management
It may enable project managers to use a just-in-time inventory type of policy for using subcontractors or other expensive resources
It results in fewer problems for project personnel and accounting department
It often improves morale
Five Dysfunctions of a Team
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Absence of trust
Fear of conflict
Lack of commitment
Avoidance of accountability
Inattention to results