Classic PM: 09 Human Resources

Human Resources

Everything that has been discussed previously is very useful for the project Execution, but the Project is not reports, charts, budget, schedule and WBS. The project is people. The people who will carry out this project, and everything else are just tools. Effective team management and motivation is the key to the success of any project.

But interaction with people is closely related to psychology, which is a separate scientific area. We will not touch it, although the basic principles of human psychology should be known not only to the Project Manager, but to every person.

What are the processes that make up the area of expertise of Human Resources management?

1. 9.1 Develop Human Resource Management Plan
2. 9.2 Acquire Project Team
3. 9.3 Develop Project Team
4. 9.4 Manage Project Team

9.1 Develop Human Resource Management Plan

Project teams require staffing, improvement and management, but how to do that if we haven’t planned it? How are we going to build a team if we don’t know the resource skill requirements? How are we going to improve the team when we don’t even know what state it is in right now? Finally, how will we respond to the success or failure of a single resource?

All these questions must be answered at the Planning phase of Human Resources management. The Project Manager should document as much of the necessary information that can help in managing the Team. But what is the sequence of actions? How to start, by touching all the details for succesfull compilation of Human Resource Management Plan?

As already mentioned, in terms of managing Human Resources, you can describe everything that you think can help to manage them, but there is a number of aspects that is desirable to specify Roles and Responsibilities.

Roles and Responsibilities

In order to interact effectively within Team Members, management and other Stakeholders, it is necessary to clearly divide their roles and responsibilities regarding the Project (although the latter refers more to the management of their interest in the Project). Of course, Human Resource management mostly implies work with the Project Team rather with those Stakeholders the project manager has limited influence on. So for the begining, let’s contemplate the most common roles and their responsibilities (as seen by PMI):

Project Phase	Responsibilities
Project Sponsor
Initiation	Helps in Collect Requirements of the Project
	Announcing the project
	Provides project support
	Provides project funding
	Draft Statement of Work (if the client did not draw it)
	Defines the boundaries of the Project Scope
	Can define Milestones and key dates of the Project (start, end, transition stages)
	Prioritizes between Constraints (in case of conflicting requirements)
	Provides information for the development of the Charter
	Allocates Authorities
	Prioritizes between projects
	Helps in obtaining Requirements for the Project
	Promotes the formal signing of the Charter of the Project
Planning	Provides Team time for project Planning
	Can perform WBS review
	Assists in compiling a Risk Register
	Defines reporting requirements
	Can act as an expert
	Can help with Schedule compression tools
	Officially certifies the Project Management Plan
Execution	Protects the Project against negative external influences
	Insists on Quality Requirements
	Can help with Schedule compression tools
	Participates in decision making regarding Change Requests
	Retaining the Scope of the Project under the Charter
	Protection of project Scope against overwork, Gold Plating
	Participates in project Monitoring and Control
Monitoring and Control	The same as at the Execution Phase*
Close	Official confirmation receiption of the Project Deliverables
	Assistance in the registration of Lessons Learned in the historical database of the company
Team
Initiation	Identify Stakeholders
	Identify Requirements
	Defines Constraints and Assumptions
	Helps in creating WBS
	Defines Activities (mainly those in which a member will be directly involved)
Planning	Helps to identify relationships between Activities
	Estimate Time and Cost of Activities, Estimate Activities Durations and Costs
	Participates in Risks management planning
	Participates in the Communications and the Quality planning
	Helps in defining the Ground Rules
Execution	Performs work according to the Scope of the Project
	Participates in project meetings
	Searches for suggestions to improve the processes adopted on the Project
	Offers Change Requests
Monitoring and Control	Offers Change Requests
Stakeholders
All phases	Define and Set Requirements Requirements
	Determine Constraints and Assumptions
	Participate in the development of the Charter
	Participate in the development of the Project Scope Statement
	Participate in the development of the Project Management Plan
	Assist in the Identify Risks activity
Project Manager
Initiation	Participates in the drafting of the Charter
	Responsible for the Project
	Defines Constraints and Assumptions
Planning	Selects only processes that are necessary for the Project
	Analyzes Constraints and Assumptions
	Manages the Planning process of the Project
	Defines the relationship between the Activities of the Project
	Creates a Schedule that is guaranteed to work
	Defines Quality rules for the Project
	Create Project Documents
	Defines project Reserves (in terms of Time and Cost)
Execution	Must maintain a good Team climate
	Ensures successful interaction between the Project Team and Stakeholders
	Follow professional ethics
	Perform Quality Assurance of the Project
	Provides all assistance to the Project Team and interested parties - Stakeholders
	Motivates Team Members according to the Human Resource Management Plan
	Uses leadership skills for successful project completion
Monitoring and Control	Quality Assurance of Deliverables
	Uses measurements to control the Project
	Uses measurements to analyze the progress of the Project
	Creates Change Requests to adjust project progress
	Mostly, try to prevent problems rather then to eliminate their consequences
Close	Closes the Project or phase in accordance with corporate standards and project management standard requirements

In addition to the responsibilities specified for the Project Manager in the table above, it is possible to highlight those relating specifically to the management of Human Resources:

• Responsible for ensuring that the Project uses only those resources that are needed;
• Negotiates with management to obtain necessary (or extra) resources;
• Creates job descriptions for each Team Member;
• Clearly and unambiguously describes all roles and responsibilities prior to the start of work;
• If a member of the team does not have enough skills to complete Activity, it is necessary to carry out his training (and only it’s impossible then replace performer with another resource);
• Training should be provided by the Project (in other words, in the company);
• Training costs should be documented and included to the Project Budget;
• The project manager should include performance reports of Team Members in the company’s historical documentation;
• Send letters with recommendation regarding of of Team Members (in case of Matrix or Functional structure of the company);
• The Project Manager is responsible for having all the necessary members of the Team to execute required Activities;
• Need a clear Recognition and Reward System.

Of course, this list does not claim to be complete and can be easily extended.

Enterprise Environmental Factors

For the successful drafting of a Human Resource Management Plan, we will be interested in the following: Is there anyone who is negative to the Project and why? Which organizations will be involved in the Project? What ways of learning are available? In other words, enything that can be useful for the Project, but lays outside of it.

Organizational Process Assets

This highlights the roles and responsibilities that are standard for an organization. It also contains the register of company employees, i.e. possible resources for the Project.

Organizational Chart

As noted earlier, roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined and one of the outcomes of the process is the Develop Human Resource Management Plan - a list of Team Members and their associated roles and responsibilities. It does not matter how the chart will be presented, but PMI highlights some of the most convenient tools presented below.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix

This matrix serves as a mean for implicit definition of the responsibilities of team members for various Activities, and also defines the role he or she will play on the Project. The most commonly used variant is RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform):

Despite humans resources - apparently, the most liquid kind of resource (they easily join and leave projects) - the position remains stable during the entire project lifetime. Because of the reason mentioned above, this RACI matrix will often require changes. One of the recommendations is to avoid tying the Activity to a specific member of the team, but contrary bind to the position.

Organizational Breakdown Structure

Builds only for large projects and divides the Project into areas of responsibility, linking each Activity to a department (not personally to an employee):

Resource Breakdown Structure

This diagram links Activities with some type of resource. Anything can be chosen as a criteria - place, group of people, some skills, etc.

Position Descriptions

Should describe fully and as clearly as possible what skills and experience is required for each employee. It’s not allowed to mention any names - remember that the description of the position is not linked to the person, on the contrary - the staff is chosen for the position.

Human Resource Management Plan

The Human Resource Management Plan is the main output of the process under consideration. The plan may include:

• Roles and responsibilities;
• Organizational Breakdown Structure;
• Project staff support plan.

Staff Management Plan

Usually this plan is only used for large and long projects and those where frequent staff changes is possible. The plan may include information of:

• where do we get the human resources for the Project?
• when resources are needed?
• will the company’s resources be used?
• how and when resources will be released?
• if they will not be released from the company at the end of the project, where should they be assigned?
• what security policy will be applied to the Project?
• which Recognition and Reward System will be used on the Project?

Again, this is not a complete list, it can be updated according to the Requirements of the project. Although the questions are not so few, all of them can be placed in several pages - that will describe the entire policy of managing Human Resources in the Project. Most Project Managers miss out on this plan, as the staff filling policy is often part of the corporate policy regarding human resource management. At the same time, if a non-standard situation arises, the Project Manager solves the problem «in words», which is a gross violation of methodology.

Staff Security Policy

This can be both corporate rules and requirements of international or state standards. Unfortunately, in Russia, labor safety is still rather neglected.

Recognition and Reward System

This system should be clear and transparent. It is a great tool for motivation. Of course, each person has their own preferences and expectations related to the Project - for example, for people aged 18-25, the main expectation is to gain work experience and improve professional skills; for 25-50 - the main priorities change to receive more compensation for their work. These are not mandatory rules for compiling Recognition and Reward System, but in most cases it refers to human aging concepts (a parallel can be drawn with Maslow Hierarchy of Need). When designing the Recognition and Reward System, you need to consider all of these points. Why? Very simple - you can find a cheaper resource whose skills will be enough to perform particular Activity, by implementing its intangible needs.

In the paragraph above, we have considered (so called) personal and professional expectations of the [Stakeholder] (do you remember that a Project Team Member is also a Stakeholder of the Project?) from the project. The task for the Project Manager is to identify these expectations and try to ensure that they can be implemented. To provide opportunity, not just to give it for free. Because if a person gets something for free, it won’t motivate him. It is not so important what methods of motivation are used, for example, it can be:

• expressing gratitude as often as possible (very useful);
• performance rewarding;
• give Project Members the opportunity to choose Activities;
• send a letter to the managers of the Team Members about the execution of the Team Members;
• organize celebrations and parties;
• organize training for employees at the expense of the Project Budget;
• assign Team Members to the Activities that are not on the Critical Path (contributing to its ability to learn).

For motivation PMI recommends not to use personal titles, such as «Employee of the month», «Employee of the year» etc.; but this statement can be argued - any success and any failure have a specific name.

Please, remember that the Recognition and Reward System, which mainly focuses on financial rewards, must be clearly defined. And first of all - the terms and the amount of rewards.

Resources Histogram

Used to estimate the load on each specific resource. That might looks like the following:

It can be used for different purposes, but most regularly for resource load balancing (similar to Resource Leveling from the Time knowledge area).

Finally, it is necessary to note that for every tool you can use not the names of a Member, but the positions he/she occupy. This will avoid the need to rebuild the table after each change in the squad.

9.2 Acquire Project Team

The proper name would be the the «complete project team collecting». In fact, this process may never be completely done. This process is executed in the Execution processes group and, basically, lasts throughout the whole project. For example, if a member of the Team has left the Project unexpectedly, then the Acquire Project Team process should be initiated again, bypassed through Integrated Change Control preliminary. The main input for the process is the Project Management Plan (do you remember that the Project Management Plan includes plans for each knowledge ares?).

The main objective of the process is:

• recruitment of new team members;
• negotiation with the most «profitable» resources («profitable» is considered as the most useful resource for the Project);
• signing existing resources in the company, which are «attached» to it before the start of work on the Project;
• assessment of the Risks associated with resources.

Pre-assignment

Resources that are already available in the company can be assigned to the Project before it starts. In practice, these are highly qualified staff who assist the Project Manager in drawing up Project Management Plans (Baselines). They often give expert assessments on both the way a project is carried out and the way it is managed.

Virtual Teams

In the age of high technology, this type of command has become widespread due to its effectiveness. But having a large number of advantages, Virtual Teams also have a large number of drawbacks, in particular the inability to dialogue with the performer directly.

Halo Effect

The essence of it is simple - everyone should do his business. Quite often, management-related positions are assigned to technically strong specialists who do not have good managerial skills - this can lead to negative consequences.

Outputs

The result of the process is to recruit team members and update resource calendars (both project and company calendars).

9.3 Develop Project Team

Basically, for any process of project management methodology, one of the main tasks is to reduce the cost of Execution. The [Develop Project Team] process is no exception - it is done by improving the interaction between Team Members and improving the performance of each individual.

Team Building

This is a relatively recent trend in management, although “new” is perhaps only the yelling title. Team Building in its modern sense, is a fairly well-known phenomenon and was practiced long before the creation of project management methodology. In the USSR, they can be easily called a pioneer group, in Japan there is a tradition on the morning line to sing the company anthem; and in the Arab countries, it is customary to hold a joint tea party every morning. But since we are talking about project management, let us consider aspects of this phenomenon in relation to it.

What is the Team Building? It’s a process of improving the efficiency of the team, including various techniques from different areas (not only provided by PMI). The result of this process should be an increase in team performance. In relation to project management, Team Building is characterized as follows:

• the direct responsibility of the Project Manager is to find means for managing and improving the interaction of Team Members;
• the Project Manager must correlate all Activities of the Project, including Team Building operations;
• WBS is desirable to create together with the Team;
• Team Building should start as early as possible in the Project and last until it is completed;
• the Project Manager should build trust within the Team.

Trusting relationships within the team are extremely important for the project. It will be very problematic to compel the team members to be honest and good-natured if the manager constantly introduces confusion into the team - this will inevitably lead to disastrous consequences. Under the term «trusting relationships» it is understood not only that each employee generously trusts another, but also that «trusting relationships» are something that brings people together and does not give them, in particular, the ability to cheat each other. You’ve probably often heard from the recently changed work the familiar phrase «I have a very good atmosphere at work» - most likely, the speaker wants to convey to you that relations within the collective are laid out in this way, that no member of the team has any desire to break some unspoken rules that unite the collective. Such an atmosphere should be the result of Team Building. Along with this, Team Building is an ongoing process and lasts throughout the Product Lifecycle.

Every event has a life cycle that it must pass through. Any Team is considered to go through the following stages:

• Forming - team formation, the first stage. People recognize each other for the first time; the level of interaction is minimal;
• Storming - the next stage in which people enter into minor (and sometimes significant) conflicts. Low level of interaction;
• Norming - is a neutral stage that can be compared with the standard weather. Medium-high level of interaction;
• Performing - the highest level of interaction; everyone knows clearly what to do and how to do it. Number of conflict situations reduced to zero;
• Adjourning - sooner or later, the Project ends. Final project stage and last relationship stage.

It should be noted that the team does not necessarily have to pass each of the stages; a general case is considered in relation to new teams.

Naturally, our goal is to reach the Performing as quickly as possible, but how?

Team Building tools:

• Co-education;
• Parties with the Team;
• Celebration of various dates;
• Friendly relations outside the Project;
• Co-creation of WBS.

Education

One of the very important components of managing a team, but there is little to say about it. Training can be both external (outside the Project) and internal (knowledge and skills are transferred within the Team). Where to do the training is up to you, but remember that the training must be done by the Project, and all the costs of the training should be reflected in the Schedule and Budget.

Ground Rules

These are the rules of conduct adopted by you on the project, which should guide every member of the Team. In general, they are slightly different from business etiquette, so we will not focus on them. Just remember that they can be described officially or be subconscious.

War Room

This term is mentioned here because it occurs in PMBok, and the essence of it is pretty simple - a place that is the main location of the Team - it can be a room, building, or any other place where most of the Project Team is located.

Team Performance Assessment

Evaluation of the performance of each Team Member. Of course, there must be some rules for evaluating performance that can be specified in the Human Resource Management Plan, corporate standards, or any other officially certified documents.

Please do not confuse with the Project Performance Appraisals from the [Manage Project Team] process - this is where the efficiency of the Project Team is evaluated as a whole.

9.4 Manage Project Team

Every Project Manager inevitably follows this process, even if they are not familiar with the methodology of project management. To organize a Team, the Project Manager can perform the following actions:

• maintain communications at the appropriate level;
• be a leader in the team;
• use the Issue Log;
• working with external organizations;
• make the right decisions;
• enter and successfully conduct negotiations;
• influence on Stakeholders of the Project;
• resolve conflict situations within the Team;
• perform Project Performance Appraisals.

It has already been noted that creating Project Baselines is more efficient with the project team. During the [Planning] phase, this is particularly useful because a team member can challenge a particular decision regarding the Activities assigned to him. For the Manage Project Team this can be useful. Particularly, it helps the team to understand what to do and for what to do better. What else can help us?

Observation and Conversation

The Project Manager does not have to sit in the office all day long and mold daily reports for management. It would be much more useful not to emphasize participation in the execution of the project. What? Yes, external observation, communication with the performers, and constant stimulation of the Team will increase the efficiency of the Team.

Project Performance Appraisals

This evaluation is to determine how well the Team Members interact as a solid team rather than as individual representatives. For example, when erecting walls for a house is not that important, the skill of the crane operator is, as well as how much he coordinates work with workers and the designer. Of course, this does not negate the importance of personal skills of a Team Member, but also the ability to work in a Team, a very important skill.

Issue Log

No person is safe from mistakes, and therefore it is necessary to store information about them somewhere. In the development of software, defects can be reviewed using Issue or Bug Tracker (for example, JIRA, Arctic, etc.); for Help Desk - IBM Rational or something similar. In fact, the format does not matter at all; you can keep a log of problems on sheet A4.

If you do not use special tools, the content of the log can be, for example, like this:

Powers of Project Manager

For successful project management, you need to have leverage on the project team. There are several types of influence on team members:

• Formal - the effect is on the member of the Team as a subordinate. This is far from the best type of influence, as it reduces Team Members’ trust;
• Reward - an influence with a reward and reward system. Not the most successful type, but can be applied;
• Penalty - an effect similar to Reward, but acting in the opposite direction. Extremely undesirable type of influence;
• Expert - influence on Team Members from the position of highly qualified specialist in the subject area or from the position of highly qualified project leader. Very good type of influence;
• Referent - influence using a third person (or group of third persons) who positively comments on the Project Manager. Highly effective type of influence.

Expert and Referent types are the most preferred. The Formal and Penalty effects are highly undesirable to apply.

Problem Solving

Truth is born in dispute.

Any phenomenon has two sides - good and bad. Thus, even from the conflict situation you can extract advantages.

Let’s start with the fact that conflicts are inevitable. Conflicts accompany any project, and their source can be anything. However, if one ranks the sources of conflict according to their frequency, the following picture emerges:

1. Schedule
2. Prioritization of projects
3. Resources
4. Technical solutions
5. Procedure
6. Cost of the project
7. Personal relationship

The Project Manager must manage conflicts to maximize their benefits and prevent them as quickly as possible. To resolve conflict situations, you need to refer to:

• informing the Team about major events related to the Project, key decisions regarding the Project;
• clearly define areas of responsibility;
• make the right decisions with the participation of Team Members.

As already noted, conflicts are inevitable. Well, if so, then how to resolve them? It is best that conflicts are resolved between the parties involved. If not, the Project Manager should be directly involved. If a conflict isn’t resolved yet, management must intervene and resolve the conflict based on its position. Regardless of the immediate solution to the conflict, they are usually distinguished by the following types:

• Confronting, Problem Solving - the elimination of a problem;
• Compromising - the search for a compromise solution to the problem with the condition that both sides of the conflict will suffer from the solution in one way or another;
• Withdrawal, Avoidance - avoiding a conflict solution. We just don’t pay attention to the conflict. Not the best reaction to conflict - problems must be solved(!);
• Smoothing, Accommodating - is based on finding points of agreement and trying to play on them, putting differences into the background;
• Collaborating - the parties try to find a solution by trying to reach consensus;
• Forcing - swelling the situation, claiming an object from a different point of view.

The conflict situation does not arise in an empty place but as a consequence of some problem. During the Perform Quality Control process, tools were considered to identify the source of the problem, but only technical problems, and conflicts arise not only on the basis of technical disagreements. Considering the solution of the problem, the sequence can be as follows:

1. Identify the source of the problem
2. Analyse the problem
3. Find solutions
4. Choose the solution
5. Solve the problem by the chosen method
6. Mark the solution as successful and enter the information in the Issue Log

Outputs

Traditionally, process outputs are Change Requests, Resource Calendars and Project Documents updates.

Extras

Expectancy Theory

Based on the expectation of staff members to benefit from its high productivity.

McGregor Motivation Theory

Assumes that all humans are divided into two groups - X (Theory of X) and Y (Theory of Y). The leaders, who are supporters of X theory, believe that people need a «whip» and they must be constantly adjusted. Those who lean towards the Y theory are more trusting in people’s honesty and decency, believing that it is enough to set goals.

Maslow Hierarchy of Need

Based on the work of psychologist Abraham Maslow and presents human needs in the form of a hierarchical pyramid.

The principle of it is that to move to a higher level, you must «consolidate» at a lower level. In principle, it is intuitively understandable, and to focus on it does not make sense.

McClelland Theory of Needs, Acquired Need Theory

Unlike Maslow Hierarchy of Need, this theory addresses only three needs:

1. Affiliation. People want to take at least some part in the project because it is very ambitious and prestigious;
2. Power. People with this need need power over other people; they are socially oriented and are true leaders
3. Achievement. For people inclined to this need, the main thing is to achieve the goal.

Herzberg Theory

Believes that there are two types of factors - motivational and demotivative. Motivating factors include those that motivate the employee to work, such as career prospects, recognition in the professional field, responsibility for something, etc. Demotivating factors include those that cause dissatisfaction with the job, for example, salary level, status, demand, security, relations with colleagues, etc.